CLASS III. 1. 1. 7. OF VOLITIOX. 285 



in the same manner in about half an hour, both which evidently 

 shortened the convulsion fits, and the consequent stupor; he 

 then took thirty more drops, which for the present removed the 

 fits. He became rather insane the next day, and after about 

 three more days lost the insanity, and recovered his usual state 

 of health. 



The case mentioned in Sect. XXVII. 2. where the patient was 

 left after epileptic fits with a suffusion of blood beneath the tunica 

 adjunctiva of the eye, was in almost every respect similar to the 

 preceding, and submitted to the same treatment. Both of them 

 suffered frequent relapses, which were relieved by the same 

 means, and at length perished^ I believe, by the epileptic fits. 



In those patients, who have not been subject to epilepsy be- 

 fore they have arrived to about forty years of age, and who 

 have been intemperate in respect to spirituous potation, I have 

 been induced to believe, that the fits were occasioned by the 

 pain of a diseased liver; and this became more probable in one 

 of the above subjects, who had used means to repel eruptions 

 on the face; and thus by some stimulant application had pre- 

 vented an inflammation taking place on the skin of the face in- 

 stead of on some part of the liver. Secondly, as in these cases in- 

 sanity had repeatedly occurred, which could not be traced from 

 an hereditary source; there is reason to believe, that this as well 

 as the epileptic convulsions were caused by spirituous potation; 

 and that this therefore is the original source both of epilepsy and 

 of iilsanity in those families, which are afflicted with them. This 

 idea however brings some consolation with it; as it maybe in- 

 ferred, that in a few sober generations these diseases may be era- 

 dicated, which otherwise destroy the family. 



M. M. Venesection. Opium. Bark. Steel. Arsenic. Opium 

 one grain twice a day for years together. See the preceding ar- 

 ticle, and the succeeding one. 



Anorexia epileptica, as mentioned in Class II. 2. 2. I. is a 

 dreadful disease, originating I believe, from a paralysis of the 

 stomach, and generally occasioned by the application of great ex- 

 ternal cold to the skin. A young lady, whom I saw yesterday, 

 who had long experienced a weak state of health, went to church 

 on an uncommonly cold Sunday, when the thermometer was said 

 to stand tielow 20 during the w r hole day. She became immedi- 

 ately indisposed, and was seized in a day or two with tremors 

 and convulsions in her sleep; and which returned every two or 

 three days. Her extremities are now always uncommonly cold, 

 and her appetite to food totally defective. She took three drops 

 of a saturated solution of arsenic and a bitter draught twice a day 

 for a fortnight, and gradually recovered her former state of health. 



