EPILEPSY FITS FALLING SICKNESS. 265 



and was to her a source of life-long misery. It is said that long-continued anxiety 

 may be the cause of epilepsy, but it is not a common cause. Sometimes epilepsy is 

 brought on by seeing another person in a fit. Not only will a patient who has 

 already suffered such attacks often fall into one upon seeing another so affected, but 

 people will even sometimes do so who have never before shown any symptoms of it. 

 Such instances, however, are rare, and practically there is not the slightest danger in 

 attending a person with fits. 



Just as we know very little about the cause of epilepsy as a whole, so we know 

 very little about what brings on each individual attack. They very often come on 

 at night, and at the commencement often occur solely at night. It has been 

 noticed that when the fits are growing less frequent in their occurrence they come 

 on chiefly or only at night, so that this must be regarded as a favourable sign. 



There is no disease which is more frequently feigned than epilepsy. Many 

 people think that nothing can be easier than to throw your arms and legs about and 

 pretend to have a fit. Soldiers and sailors sometimes endeavour by this means to 

 obtain their discharge from the service, and in France it is often employed with the 

 view of avoiding the conscription. Feigned epilepsy is not uncommon in the street, 

 the performer hoping to excite compassion and obtain money from the bystanders. 

 It is, of course, very important to distinguish the sham from the real disease. This 

 is often rendered difficult from the fact of the impostor being unwilling to perform 

 in the presence of any one at all likely to detect the fraud. Pretended epileptics 

 sometimes get admitted into our hospitals, and then they take care to have their fits 

 just before the hour of the visit, or directly the physician has gone his rounds. You 

 cannot assert positively that a patient is not really suffering from epilepsy, if you 

 have never seen him in a fit, and he knows this perfectly well. But still you may 

 find out a great deal by asking him questions, by, in fact, a system of cross-examina- 

 tion. The real sufferer does not mind a bit how often you ask him about his complaint, 

 he is only too glad to tell you, and hopes you will be able to do something for him ; 

 but the impostor does not like it at all, and says as little as possible, being always 

 afraid of committing himself. A man who is telling you the truth gives the same 

 account time after time, but not so one who has to rely on his powers of imagination. 

 He tells you one thing to-day, and his memory being short, another to-morrow. 

 Moreover, he "will tell different people different stories, and a comparison of notes 

 often serves to detect the fraud. By putting leading questions to an impostor, you 

 can often get him to make the most astonishing statements. For instance, you say 

 to him, "Now, during a fit, do you see everything of a sky-blue colour?" and he, 

 thinking this is a symptom of the disease, promptly answers, "Yes;" whilst the 

 true epileptic would regard you with astonishment, and reply in the negative. Then 

 there is another point that is worth attending to. The impostor naturally chooses 

 for his exhibitions places which are most suited for his purpose, as a crowded 

 street, the promenade, and so on. The true epileptic does not care much for walking 

 in the streets, especially about the time of an expected paroxysm, and when he does 

 take the air, prefers some retired spot where, should a fit come on, there will be less 

 chance of his being observed. Again, the real epileptic often gets seriously injured 

 &y his falls, and his face and body are covered with marks and scars; but the 



