Epilepsy : in what class of cases, and under what circumstances, may we reasonably hope for cure in epilepsy? / by William Camps.

  • Camps, William.
Date:
1866
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Epilepsy : in what class of cases, and under what circumstances, may we reasonably hope for cure in epilepsy? / by William Camps. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    matters becoming lodged, or, at any rate, retarded, in the intes- tines, constitute a source of irritarion to the intestinal canal itself, to its proper nerves, or to the nerves of its blood-vessels, and transmitted from these to the ganglionic nerve-substance of the spinal cord, medulla oblongata, and brain, thus giving origin to attacks or paroxysms of the disease under consider- ation—epilepsy. Tulpius, in his medical observations, relates the case of a young female, who suffered from frequent and distressing paroxysms of epilepsy, the chief exciting cause of which he attributed to a prolonged constipation, succeeded by obstructions, and the formation of offensive, and, consequently, irritating matters existing in the spleen, the pancreas, the mesentery, and the large intestines, accompanied by a sensation of pain and heat in the sides and in the loins ; in this case, in proportion as easy, loose, regular evacuations were obtained from the bowels, the paroxysms of epilepsy gradually diminished in frequency and in intensity, until at length they altogether disappeared, and the patient ultimately recovered. The presence, the existence of worms in the intestines, either se, as in conjunction with other irritating substances, has been long known, and recognised as a frequent exciting cause of epileptic paroxysms ; indeed, so much so, that it passes almost for a medical axiom, in such cases of syufifto- matic or sympathetic epilepsy, to say, expel the worm or worms, and, at the same time you expel the demon, the disease. Daily medical experience confirms and assures us of the correctness of the opinion, that the presence of parasitic animals, such as worms, is amongst the most frequent, common causes of epilepsy in young persons ; and, moreover, not an uncommon, exciting cause of symptomatic or sympathetic epilepsy in adults; so much so, that this has been acknowledged, that all writers upon this disease refer to this as a frequent exciting cause, and hence we have a variety of the disease spoken of by some under the epithet of verminous epilepsy—“ L’epilepsie vermi- neuse,” of French .medical authors. Other organs in the abdomen not unfrequently become the seat, the source of origin of symptomatic or sympathetic epilepsy. Many cases are upon record, and, therefore, to be'found scattered throughout the writings of physicians, in which the spleen, the pancreas, the gall-bladder, the kidneys, and^ the urinary bladder, have each, or all, been the seat or origin of paroxysms of the disease under consideration. The presence of calculi in the gall-bladder, has been known to give rise to paroxysms of epilepsy, and there is one very remarkable case in which pressure over the region of the spleen sufficed to produce epileptiform convulsions. The presence of calcidi, also, in the pelvis of the kidneys, has been known to give rise to