EPILEPSY. 131 



from the earliest stages of its progress, for most of 

 the duties of life. It is liable at any moment to 

 render him unconscious, to precipitate him into fire or 

 water, or from a height, while it may in a moment 

 convert a rational being into a very angel of destruc- 

 tion. Like an evil genius it is ever present with its 

 victim, lying in wait to strike him down at the most 

 inopportune time and place. It may even, without 

 the slightest warning, put an end to the life of its 

 victim by the virulence of its attack, or, which is 

 more common, by accident or suicide. This fact, 

 however, is hardly to be deplored ; indeed, such a ter- 

 mination is almost to be preferred to the fate which 

 awaits the greater number of such sufferers, who in 

 time sink into drivelling idiocy, or some of the most 

 degraded and repulsive forms of vacuous dementia. 



It may be truly said of the epileptic that he is 

 doubly cursed. Racked in body, and robbed of mind, 

 he soon becomes the most pitiable creature on earth. 

 If he be so unfortunate as to survive, to escape all 

 the pitfalls which his disease spreads in his path, too 

 often he is only spared for a worse fate. All along 

 he is liable to convulsions, which distort the features 

 beyond recognition, convulse every muscle in the 

 body, and rob him for the time being of consciousness. 

 These attacks are usually followed by deep sleep, but 

 they may be followed, preceded, or replaced, by out- 

 bursts of the wildest frenzy, which frequently takes 

 a homicidal or suicidal form. When these outbursts 

 occur, the epileptic will make ferocious and murderous 



