Epilepsy : a study of the idiopathic disease.

  • Turner, William Aldren, 1864-1945.
Date:
1907
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: Epilepsy : a study of the idiopathic disease. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    / tumour, or persisting as confirmed epilepsy after the original exciting cause has been removed. 10. Miscellaneous Causes. Many causes are assigned as factors in the production of epilepsy and of recurring epileptic fits, which have in all likelihood little or nothing to do with the onset of the disease. There are, however, others, not included amongst the preceding, which act as occasional determining agents and require brief consideration; but it should be borne in mind that these are only efficacious in the production of fits, when a hereditarily acquired disposition to the disease already exists. (a) Toxaemic influences arising in the gastro-intestinal tract, in connection with the processes of digestion, have within recent years received considerable attention as causes of epileptic fits. There is some evidence, which will be referred to on a later page, (199), to show that a type of epilepsy may be ascribed to such influences. There is, however, little known as to their nature or their action, and treatment directed more especially towards intestinal asepsis has not produced modifi- cation or cure. (b) Reflex causes. A variety of the disease has been described as reflex epilepsy, in which a lesion of a peripheral nerve has led to the onset of the first epileptic attack, and consequent development of recurring epileptic seizures. It is more common to find cases of already existing epilepsy in which peripheral irritation of various kinds may bring about the recurrence of seizures, or in which a source of local irritation may primarily start convulsions in a person hereditarily and structurally predisposed to epilepsy. It is to the latter type of case that attention is directed, as it seems to form a not uncommon cause of some of the epilepsies found in children and young adults. It is in cases, also, with an initial warning, referred, for example, to an organ of special sense, that a local peripheral lesion may be discovered, removal of which materially diminishes, or even arrests, the epileptic seizures. The arrest may only be temporary, as convulsions, once induced by whatever cause, may persist as confirmed epilepsy, even after the removal of the original exciting irritation. 1. Nose. The nares are frequently the seat of adenoid