PATHOLOGY OF 



thus afFectcd dies during the seizure, and on post- 

 mortem examination there may be found some ex- 

 travasation of blood or effusion of serum within the 

 cranium ; or a turgid condition of some of the cerebral 

 vessels may exist ; or, lastly, no morbid appearance 

 whatever may be perceptible in the brain or other 

 nervous structures. From the paroxysmal nature of 

 the attacks, and from the occasional absence of all 

 morbid appearances in the affected organ, it has 

 been concluded that these diseases do not essentially 

 depend upon structural lesion or change in the 

 brain ; while the premonitory and accompanying 

 symptoms point to disorder of the cerebral circula- 

 tion as at least a frequent coincidence in these 

 singular maladies. Pathologists have therefore na- 

 turally been led to inquire, whether the arrangement 

 of the brain and its blood-vessels presents any ana- 

 tomical or physical peculiarities, and if so, whether 

 those peculiarities are at all instrumental in pro- 

 ducing, or are capable of rendering intelligible the 

 occurrence of, the extraordinary disorders now under 

 consideration. 



Anatomy shows that the brain is differently cir- 

 cumstanced from other internal organs by being 

 placed within a bony case which it completely fills, 

 and by its venous blood being collected in large and 

 strong intra-cranial reservoirs, prior to its discharge 

 into the veins communicating with the heart. But 

 while all pathologists agree in supposing these con- 

 ditions, and particularly the former, to exercise a 

 considerable influence upon the cerebral circulation, 

 they are by no means agreed as to the mode in which 



