70 



LECTURES ON THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



of epilepsy which begin with contractions or convulsions in one 

 limb and spread to other members, or over the whole body ; in 

 the latter instance presenting a typical picture of an epileptic 

 seizure. Consciousness does not always disappear so long as 

 the attack remains partial. After the attack there sometimes 

 : remain paralyses, which are generally confined to the regions 

 first attacked. This partial or; cortical epilepsy cannot be differ- 

 entiated from the classical epilepsy. The latter is apparently' 



FIG. 40. 

 Diagrammatic I'epresentatiori of a part of the association fibres of one hemisphere. 



oaily a form in which the initial symptoms succeed each other 

 with greater rapidity. 



It is, however, not necessary that an irritation should spread 

 from a given point over the rest of the brain by way of the fibrse 

 proprite. There are many other ways offered by which this 

 might be accomplished. For instance, through the fine*.; net- 

 work of nerve-fibres on the surface of the brain ; then, too,*T;he 

 whole cortex may be influenced by fluctuation in the blood- 

 pressure, and many other ways might be thought of. 



It is not very difficult to trace the course of the fibrse pro- 



