Epilepsy, Hysteria, and Neurasthenia

Epilepsy, Hysteria, and Neurasthenia

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Title: Epilepsy, Hysteria, and Neurasthenia
Author: Isaac G. Briggs
Release Date: February 4, 2005 [EBook #14901]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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EPILEPSY, HYSTERIA, AND NEURASTHENIA
THEIR CAUSES, SYMPTOMS, & TREATMENT
BY ISAAC G. BRIGGS A.R.S.I.
METHUEN & CO. LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON
_First Published in 1921_
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TO ALBERT E. WOODRUFF OF STOKE PRIOR NR. BROMSGROVE MY OLD SCHOOLMASTER
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CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
PREFACE ix
I. MAJOR AND MINOR EPILEPSY 1
II. RARER TYPES OF EPILEPSY 7
III. GENERAL REMARKS 15
IV. CAUSES OF EPILEPSY 20
V. PREVENTION OF ATTACKS 25
VI. FIRST-AID TO VICTIMS 28
VII. NEURASTHENIA 30
VIII. HYSTERIA 39
IX. ADVICE TO NEUROPATHS 46
X. FIRST STEPS TOWARD HEALTH 53
XI. DIGESTION 56
XII. INDIGESTION 60
XIII. DIETING 63
XIV. CONSTIPATION 67
XV. GENERAL HYGIENE 71
XVI. SLEEPLESSNESS 76
XVII. THE EFFECTS OF IMAGINATION 79
XVIII. SUGGESTION TREATMENT 82
XIX. MEDICINES 86
XX. PATENT MEDICINES 90
XXI. TRAINING THE NERVOUS CHILD 98
XXII. DANGERS AT AND AFTER PUBERTY 109
XXIII. WORK AND PLAY 115
XXIV. HEREDITY 118
XXV. CHARACTER 123
XXVI. MARRIAGE 131
XXVII. SUMMARY 140
BIBLIOGRAPHY 142
INDEX 145
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PREFACE
I hope this book will meet a real need, for when one considers how prevalent epilepsy, hysteria and neurasthenia are, among all ranks and ages of both sexes, it seems remarkable some such popular book was not written long ago.
I add nothing to our knowledge of these ills, my object being to put what we know into simple words, and to insist on the necessity for personal discipline being allied to expert aid. The book aims at helping, not ousting, the doctor, who may find it of use in getting his patient to see--and to act on--the obvious.
"Nervous Disease", as here used, includes only the three diseases treated of; "Neuropath"--victims of them.
"Advice" to a neuropath is usually a very depressing decalogue of "Thou Shalt Nots!" If it be made clear why he must not do so-and-so, the patient endeavours to obey; peremptorily ordered to obey, he rebels. Much sound advice is wasted for lack of an interesting, convincing, "Reason Why!" which would ensure the hearty and very helpful co-operation of a patient who had been taught that writing prescriptions is not the limit of a doctor's activities.
Many folk, with touching belief in his own claims, regard the quack as a hoary-headed sage, who from disinterested motives devotes his life to curing ailments, by methods of which he alone has the secret, at low fees. To fight this dangerous idea I have tried to show in an interesting way how science deals with nerve ills, and to prove that qualified aid is needed. Suggestions and criticisms will be welcomed.
I. G. BRIGGS THE UNIVERSITY, BIRMINGHAM, June, 1921
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"Lette than clerkes enditen in Latin, for they have the propertie of science, and the knowing in that facultie: and lette Frenchmen in their Frenche also enditen their queinte termes, for it is kyndely to their mouthes; and let us showe our fantasies in soche wordes as we lerneden of our dames tongue."
--Chaucer.
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EPILEPSY, HYSTERIA, AND NEURASTHENIA
* * * * *

CHAPTER I
MAJOR AND MINOR EPILEPSY
(_Grand and Petit Mal_)
"My son is sore vexed, for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and ofttimes into the water."--Matthew xvii, 15.
"Oft, too, some wretch before our startled sight, Struck as with lightning with some keen disease, Drops sudden: By the dread attack o'erpowered He foams, he groans, he trembles, and he faints; Now rigid, now convuls'd, his labouring lungs Heave quick, and quivers each exhausted limb.
* * * * *
"He raves, since Soul and Spirit are alike Disturbed throughout, and severed each from each As urged above, distracted by the bane; But when at length the morbid cause declines, And the fermenting humours from the heart Flow back--with staggering foot first treads Led gradual on to intellect and strength."--Lucretius.
Epilepsy, or "Falling Sickness", is a chronic abnormality of the nervous system, evinced by attacks of alteration of consciousness, usually accompanied by convulsions.
It attacks men of every race, as well as domesticated animals, and has been known since the earliest times, the ancients imputing it to demons, the anger of the gods, or a blow from a star.
It often attacks men in crowds, when excited by oratory or sport, hence the Roman name: morbus comitialis (crowd sickness).
In medi?val times, sufferers were regarded with awe, as being possessed by a spirit. Witch doctors among savages, and founders and expounders of differing creeds among more civilized peoples, have taken advantage of this infirmity to claim divine