Table Of Content

The History of Modern Epilepsy The Beginning, 1865–1914 Walter J. Friedlander GREENWOOD PRESS The History of Modern Epilepsy RecentTitles in Contributionsin MedicalStudies Fertility Control: NewTechniques,NewPolicy Issues Robert H. Blank A Community Approachto AIDSIntervention:Exploring the Miami OutreachProject for InjectingDrug Usersand OtherHigh Risk Groups Dale D. Chitwood, James A. Inciardi, Duane C. McBride,Clyde B. McCoy, H. Virginia McCoy, and Edward Trapido Beyond Flexner:MedicalEducationin the TwentiethCentury Barbara Barzansky and Norman Gevitz,editors Mother and Fetus: Changing Notions of MaternalResponsibility Robert H. Blank The Golden Wand of Medicine:A History of the CaduceusSymbol in Medicine Walter J. Friedlander CancerFactories:America’sTragicQuest for Uranium Self-Sufficiency Howard Ball The AIDSPandemic:Social Perspectives Howard Ball Childbed Fever: A ScientificBiography of IgnazSemmelweis K. Codell Carter and Barbara R. Carter James Cook and the Conquest of Scurvy Francis E. Cuppage Romance, Poetry, and SurgicalSleep: LiteratureInfluences E. M. Papper Sex, Disease,and Society Milton Lewis, Scott Bamber,and M. Waugh, editors Histories of Sexually TransmittedDiseasesand HIV/AIDSin Sub-SaharanAfrica Philip W. Setal, Milton Lewis, and MaryinezLyons, editors The History of Modern Epilepsy The Beginning, 1865–1914 Walter J. Friedlander ContributionsinMedicalStudies,Number45 GREENWOODPRESS Westport,Connecticut • London LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Friedlander,WalterJ.,1919– Thehistoryofmodernepilepsy:thebeginning,1865–1914/WalterJ.Friedlander. p. cm.—(Contributionsinmedicalstudies,ISSN0886–8220;no.45) Includesindex. ISBN0–313–31589–2(alk.paper) 1.Epilepsy—History—19thcentury. 2.Epilepsy—History—20thcentury. I.Title: Historyofepilepsy,1865–1914. II.Title. III.Series. RC732.F75 2001 616.8'53'009—dc21 00–061708 BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationDataisavailable. Copyright(cid:1)2001byWalterJ.Friedlander Allrightsreserved.Noportionofthisbookmaybe reproduced,byanyprocessortechnique,without theexpresswrittenconsentofthepublisher. LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber:00–061708 ISBN:0–313–31589–2 ISSN:0886–8220 Firstpublishedin2001 GreenwoodPress,88PostRoadWest,Westport,CT06881 AnimprintofGreenwoodPublishingGroup,Inc. www.greenwood.com PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica TM Thepaperusedinthisbookcomplieswiththe PermanentPaperStandardissuedbytheNational InformationStandardsOrganization(Z39.48–1984). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To my grandson, Thomas Walter. As it was. It is better now; It will be much better later. Contents Preface ix 1. Definition, Incidence and Prognosis 1 2. Pathology: Part I 13 3. Pathology: Part II 27 4. Classification 55 5. Diagnosis 79 6. Etiology 107 7. Treatment 151 8. Psychological Aspects 209 9. Societal Aspects 239 Conclusion 277 Index 281 Preface IfIwishedtoshowastudentthedifficultiesofgettingattruthfrommedical experience,I would give him the history of epilepsy to read. —Oliver WendellHolmes, 1860 [1] There are two ways that history can be offered: (1) as a process evolving to what there is at present or (2) portraying a situation as it existed at a particular time in order to examine what it was like at that time. For example, theAmer- ican Revolution can be written about as one of the important steps toward the political situation that presently exists in this country. Here the past is of value as the means to understand the present. This sort of history has been referred to as “presentism.” On the other hand, the period around the time of the Amer- ican Revolution may be presented only to relate the life and politics in the last part of the eighteenth century in this country. This present history of modern epileptology intends to view the topic both ways. The things which occurred that eventually led to what we now know aboutepilepsyareconsidered,aswellashowthismedicaldisorderwasregarded during a limited number of years and in a particular place. As we look back over the progress made in epilepsy, the important contributions of those who laid down the foundation stones of our present knowledge are noted, but also included are the ideas and works of those who were of that time, even though, looking from the vantage point of the present, they may appear to haveoffered little, if anything, toward progress. Both are the records of the past, and both are history. Acompleterecordofthepastisimpossiblebecauseitisbeyondthecapability of a reasonably sized group of individuals, let alone the ability of any one person. Also, since the past continues to usurp the present, the record of the