IQS PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. ' [aNNO 1685. 



to be entirely free from the convulsions. After this she experienced an aggra- 

 vation of her complaints, the convulsions observing at first tertian, then quar- 

 tan, and afterwards quintan periods, i. e. with an interval of 4 complete days 

 between each paroxysm, and this with the utmost regularity. The convulsions 

 lasted for an hour or two, and were preceded by some degree of rigor, and a 

 copious discharge of limpid urine. The same kind of evacuation took place as 

 the convulsive paroxysm ceased, when the patient fell into a sleep which con- 

 tinued for several hours. When she awoke, she was wholly unconscious of 

 what had happened. For 3 days after each attack she remained so extremely 

 weak, as scarcely to be able to raise herself up from her bed or chair, much less 

 to walk across the room without the help of her attendants. The cure was at 

 first attempted by testaceous medicines and Sp. C. C. (from a suspicion of acidity) 

 but as these remedies proved to be of no service, it occurred to Dr. Cole, that it 

 would be proper to resort to the treatment adopted in the case of intermittent 

 fevers. Accordingly he had recourse to the Peruvian bark, by means of which 

 (in conjunction with the testaceous and volatile medicines before mentioned) the 

 paroxysms were completely removed. 



2. Historia Convuhivi Affeclus octonarium Periodum d multis Annis ohservantis, 

 per Clariss. i)""" Guil. Cole, M.D. descripta et communicata. Abridged and 

 .. translated from the Latin. N° J 74, p. 1115. 



Dorothy Cook, a widow 6o years old, was seized with epileptic fits 36 years 

 ago, 3 days after her marriage. These fits recurred frequently at first, but at 

 no stated periods. After some months they came on about the full and new 

 moon, at which periods she had several attacks in a day. Some months after- 

 wards, instead of coming on once a fortnight, the fits seized her twice a week, 

 viz. on Thursdays and Saturdays. Soon after her marriage she became preg- 

 nant, and was brought to bed, at the usual time, of a child, who died epileptic 

 a short time afterwards. Her second child died in the same way ; but although 

 she bore several children afterwards, none of them were subject to attacks of 

 this sort. 



The fits had continued in the manner above-mentioned for about 3 years, 

 when they were stopped for some months by a quack medicine. They then 

 returned again in consequence of a fright, and the same remedy was again 

 resorted to, but without success. By the assistance, however, of a celebrated 

 practitioner, Dr. Johnson, the fits were a second time removed, and she con- 

 tinued to enjoy her health until the famous battle of Worcester, in l651, when 

 the scenes of horror and bloodshed consequent to the taking of the city of 

 Worcester (where she lived) by Cromwell, threw her, as well as the rest of the 



