Epilepsy and other convulsive diseases : a study in neuro-dynamics and pathogenesis / by F.W. Langdon.

  • Langdon, Frank Warren, 1852-1933.
Date:
[1896]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Epilepsy and other convulsive diseases : a study in neuro-dynamics and pathogenesis / by F.W. Langdon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    Did any one ever know them to absolutely cure a well- defined case of prolonged duration ? On the other hand- cases occur of undoubted epilepsy which recover per- manently under careful hygienic and nutrient treatment, and to whom some drug or other may have been admin istered. These cases, if sifted, will be found mostly, perhaps always, in the early developmental period of life and this would suggest that they were simply exam- ples of delayed development of collateral or other processes, which has been finally completed through the hygienic measures adopted and time. As may readily be seen by all familiar with the tech- nique of n-ui-o-pathological investigation, even with the latest additions to our resources, the difficulties in the way of an actual demonstration of these supposed defects 111 collateral processes and end-brushes are enormous, yet we cannot say insurmountable; for who can set a limit to human achievement in this direction after the advances of the past ten years? May we not hope that the obstacles, great though they seem, may yet yield to the persistent, painstaking efforts of future investigators, as apparently equally difficult problems have yielded in the past. GENERAL SUMMARY. The foregoing considerations, anatomical, physiolog- ical and pathological, would appear to the writer to jus- tify the following propositions as a working hypothesis ; (1) That epilepsy, the choreas and probably most con- vulsive disorders, are the dynamical expression of an in- hibitory insufficiency; not indications of an over produc- tion of nerve energy, nor “ explosions ’’ due to a “ molec- ular instability,”/^ se. (2) That the cause of this inhibitory insufficiency is to be sought for in the end-brushes of collateral processes of various cortical neurons, the situation varying with the “type” of the disease, whether sensory, psychic or motor. • « (3) That the defect consists most probably, in a struc- tural incompleteness (small capacity, defective insulation imperfect contact), or a numerical deficiency, or both, in the collateral processes of the neurons referred to. (4) Defective collaterals may favor occurrence of con- vulsions in two ways: (a) by impairing connection with other neurons (inhibitory, storage?); (b) by increased