622 Traubactions. — 3IisceUaneous. 



to, the subject of which he was speaking. And epilepsy of 

 the greater kind, when the fits are periodic, frequently pre- 

 sents the phenomenon that some one fit may not occur, its 

 place being taken by an attack of ungovernable rage. Taking 

 this fact with my own cited case — the general connection of 

 epilepsy with uncontrolled temper, and the sometimes striking 

 effect of hypnotism in the reduction of the number of fits — I 

 am strongly inclined to regard it as often an heirloom of long 

 periods of time, extending over many generations, during 

 which no control was gained of the moods, and in which every 

 fit of irritability was allowed the utmost scope — was allowed 

 its fling. The connection of epilepsy and of general irrita- 

 bility of temper with the presence of uric acid in the blood — 

 the gouty tamper — admits of similar explanation. If rage, 

 sullen moods, fear, anxiety, and some other emotions and 

 colours of feeling can, as we know, upset the liver, and cause 

 the development of uric acid and urates, sometimes along 

 with jaundice, then it would seem probable that, short 

 of these violent outbreaks, a general state of irritability, 

 proneness to acrid criticisms, readiness to quarrel for 

 one's slightest ' right,' to resent trifles, to see intentional 

 ofi'ence in innocent acts, may maintain a slight and 

 continued uric-acid condition of blood, and, maintaining 

 the mental state to which it is due, eventuate in a vicious 

 circle. In a phrase, bad temper may be not only one effect 

 but also one cause of gout and epilepsy, and of all other 

 maladies due to chemical auto-toxcemia. Haig has done much 

 to enlighten us upon the connection of this crystalline poison, 

 uric acid, with a large number of diseases, acute and chronic, 

 functional and organic. It is normally formed in the body at 

 the rate of about 13 gr. per day. Its presence and excretion 

 in increased amount is associated with many phenomena, 

 all morbid, both of body and mind, and notably with head- 

 aches, melancholia, depression of spirits, epilepsy, and, in 

 general, with a lowered tone of consciousness. Normally the 

 cells of the body excrete their waste products as the harmless 

 body, urea. When, instead of producing urea, they produce 

 uric acid, as is normal among serpents, for example, the result 

 is a set of changes of a most far-reaching character, which 

 tend to vary with irregularities in the output of uric acid. In 

 a sense, there is an attempt at reversion to the cold-blooded type. 

 And the discrepancy is felt by the mind giving rise to the 

 associated mental phenomena." 



The serpent's hate, the peacock's vanity, the baboon's 

 lust, these are reversions if found in man, and yielding to 

 them as mental emotions will actually induce bodily rever- 

 sions towards those lower types of being from which we have 

 escaped upward ; and to return even partially towards such 



