32 HEREDITAR! NESS OF EPILEPSY IN THE GUINEA-PIG. 
come very offensive, the other two remaining free from smell. 
At the end of four days, that containing the chloride of lime 
began to emit a disagreeable odour, while the perchloride of 
iron remained perfectly inodorous, and continued so after the 
lapse of nine days. As it respects the time required for 
clarification after the addition of the disinfectant, the decided 
preference is also given to the perchloride of iron, while, from 
the quantity required being less, it is likewise the cheapest 
agent. 
HEREDITAEINESS OE THE EPILEPSY INDUCED IN THE 
GUINEA-PIG. 
By M. Brown-Sequard. 
One of the most interesting facts among those discovered 
by M. Brown-Sequard, is the production of epilepsy in the 
mammalia, and especially the guinea-pig, as a consequence 
of certain lesions of the spinal cord. He has frequently re¬ 
peated these experiments, and with the same results. At a 
recent meeting of the Biological Society he related the re¬ 
sults of the observations he had made during several years 
upon the young ones born of parents thus rendered epileptic. 
In some of these he has met with a very distinct epileptiform 
affection, with well-characterised paroxysms, but differing 
somewhat from the epilepsy of the parents. In the latter, 
not only are there spontaneous paroxysms, but others may 
be induced at will, by irritating or pinching the skin of the 
face; but in the pigs which appear to derive their convulsive 
affection from their parents, paroxysms cannot be induced 
in this manner; while the form of those occurring sponta¬ 
neously is not exactly the same. The animal is first seized 
with trembling, and then falling on its flank it agitates its 
limbs spasmodically. The young pigs thus affected have 
proceeded in about an equal number from epileptic mothers 
and fathers. Sometimes parents thus rendered epileptic by 
myelo-traumatism produce little ones, none of whom exhibit 
the affection, or while some do others do not. M. Brown- 
Sequard has had under his observation a very large number 
of guinea-pigs, and while not denying the possibility of the 
fact, he has never seen a single animal present an analogous 
convulsive affection, unless it had previously undergone a 
lesion of the medulla, or was the offspring of a parent who 
had been rendered epileptic in this manner .—Gazette Heb- 
domadaire , No. 44, and Medical Times and Gazette. 
