Epilepsy, Hysteria, and Neurasthenia: Their Causes, Symptoms, & Treatment

(Grand and Petit Mal)

"My son is sore vexed, for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and ofttimes into the water."-Matthew xvii, 15.

"Oft, too, some wretch before our startled sight,

Struck as with lightning with some keen disease,

Drops sudden: By the dread attack o'erpowered

He foams, he groans, he trembles, and he faints;

Now rigid, now convuls'd, his labouring lungs

Heave quick, and quivers each exhausted limb.

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"He raves, since Soul and Spirit are alike

Disturbed throughout, and severed each from each

As urged above, distracted by the bane;

But when at length the morbid cause declines,

And the fermenting humours from the heart

Flow back-with staggering foot first treads

Led gradual on to intellect and strength."-Lucretius.

Epilepsy, or "Falling Sickness", is a chronic abnormality of the nervous system, evinced by attacks of alteration of consciousness, usually accompanied by convulsions.

It attacks men of every race, as well as domesticated animals, and has been known since the earliest times, the ancients imputing it to demons, the anger of the gods, or a blow from a star.

It often attacks men in crowds, when excited by oratory or sport, hence the Roman name: morbus comitialis (crowd sickness).

In medi?val times, sufferers were regarded with awe, as being possessed by a spirit. Witch doctors among savages, and founders and expounders of differing creeds among more civilized peoples, have taken advantage of this infirmity to claim divine inspiration, and the power of "seeing visions" and prophesying.

Epilepsy has always interested medical men because of its frequency, the difficulty of tracing its cause, and its obstinacy to treatment, while it has appealed to popular imagination by the appalling picture of bodily overthrow it presents, so that many gross superstitions have grown up around it.

The description in Mark ix. 17-29, is interesting:

"Master, I have brought Thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit. And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: ... straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.

"And He asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him.

"And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting."

Up to the present, epilepsy can be ascribed to no specific disease of the brain, the symptoms being due to some morbid disturbance in its action. Epilepsy is a "functional" disease.

GRAND MAL ("Great Evil")

An unusual feeling called an aura (Latin-vapour), sometimes warns a patient of an impending fit, commonly lasting long enough to permit him to sit or lie down. This is followed by giddiness, a roaring in the ears, or some unusual sensation, and merciful unconsciousness. In many cases this stage is instantaneous; in others it lasts some seconds-but an eternity to the sufferer. This stage is all that victims can recall (and this only after painful effort) of an attack.

As unconsciousness supervenes, the patient becomes pale, and gives a cry, which varies from a low moan to a loud, inhuman shriek. The head and eyes turn to one side, or up or down, the pupils of the eyes enlarge and become fixed in a set stare, and the patient drops as if shot, making no effort to guard his fall, being often slightly and sometimes severely injured.

The whole body then becomes stiff. The hands are clenched, with thumbs inside the palms, the legs are extended, the arms stiffly bent, and the head thrown back, or twisted to one side. The muscles of the chest and heart are impeded in their action, breathing ceases, the heart is slowed, and the face becomes pale, and then a livid, dusky blue.

The skin is cold and clammy, the eyebrows knit; the tongue may be protruded, and bitten between the teeth. The eyeballs seem starting from their sockets, the eyes are fixed or turned up, so that only the sclerotic ("whites") can be seen, and they may be touched or pressed without causing blinking. The stomach, bladder, and bowels may involuntarily be emptied.

This tonic stage only lasts a few seconds, and is followed by convulsions. The head turns from side to side, the jaws snap, the eyes roll, saliva and blood mingle as foam on the lips, the face is contorted in frightful grimaces, the arms and legs are twisted and jerked about, the breathing is deep and irregular, the whole body writhes violently, and is bathed in sweat.

The spasms become gradually less severe, and finally cease. Deep breathing continues for some seconds; then the victim becomes semi-conscious, looks around bewildered, and sinks into coma or deep sleep.

"...As one that falls,

He knows not how, by force demoniac dragg'd

To earth, and through obstruction fettering up

In chains invisible the powers of Man;

Who, risen from his trance, gazeth around

Bewilder'd with the monstrous agony

He hath indured, and, wildly staring, sighs:

..."

In a few hours he wakes, with headache and mental confusion, not knowing he has been ill until told, and having no recollection of events just preceding the seizure, until reminded of them when they are slowly, and with painful effort, brought to mind. He is exhausted, and often vomits. In severe cases he may be deaf, dumb, blind, or paralysed for some hours, while purple spots (the result of internal hemorrhage) may appear on the head and neck. Victims often pass large quantities of colourless urine after an attack, and, as a rule, are quite well again within twenty-four hours.

This is the usual type, but seizures vary in different patients, and in the same sufferer at different times. The cry and the biting of the tongue may be absent, the first spasm brief, and the convulsions mild. Epilepsy of all kinds is characterized by an alteration (not necessarily a loss) of consciousness, followed by loss of memory for events that occurred during the time that alteration of consciousness lasted.

Attacks may occur by day only, by day and by night, or by night only, though in so-called nocturnal epilepsy, it is sleep and not night that induces the fit, for night-workers have fits when they go to sleep during the day.

Victims of nocturnal epilepsy may not be awakened by the seizure, but pass into deeper sleep. Intermittent wetting of the bed, occasional temporary mental stupor in the morning, irritability, temporary but well-marked lapses of memory, sleep-walking, and causeless outbursts of ungovernable temper all suggest nocturnal epilepsy.

Such a victim awakes confused, but imputes his mental sluggishness to a hearty supper or "a bad night". A swollen tongue, blood-stained pillow, and urinated bed arouse suspicion as to the real cause, suspicion which is confirmed by a seizure during the day. He is more fortunate (if such a term can rightly be used of any sufferer from this malady) than his fellow victim whose attacks occur during the day, often under circumstances which, to a sensitive nature, are very mortifying.

Epileptic attacks are of every degree of violence, varying from a moment's unconsciousness, from which the patient recovers so quickly that he cannot be convinced he has been ill, to that awful state which terrifies every beholder, and seems to menace the hapless victim with instant death. Every degree of frequency, too, is known, from one attack in a lifetime, down through one in a year, a month, a week, or a day; several in the same periods, to hundreds in four-and-twenty hours.

PETIT MAL ("Little Evil")

This is incomplete grand mal, the starting stages only of a fit, recovery occurring before convulsions.

Petit mal often occurs in people who do not suffer from grand mal, the symptoms consisting of a loss of consciousness for a few seconds, the seizure being so brief that the victim never realizes he has been unconscious. He suddenly stops what he is doing, turns pale, and his eyes become fixed in a glassy stare. He may give a slight jerk, sway, and make some slight sound, smack his lips, try to speak, or moan. He recovers with a start, and is confused, the attack usually being over ere he has had time to fall.

If talking when attacked, he hesitates, stares in an absent-minded manner, and then completes his interrupted sentence, unaware that he has acted strangely. Whatever act he is engaged in is interrupted for a second or two, and then resumed.

A mild type of petit mal consists of a temporary blurring of consciousness, with muscular weakness. The victim drops what he is holding, and is conscious of a strange, extremely unpleasant sensation, a sensation which he is usually quite unable to describe to anyone else. The view in front is clear, he understands what it is-a house here, a tree there, and so on-yet he does not grasp the vista as usual. Other victims have short spells of giddiness, while some are unable to realize "where they are" for a few moments.

Frequent petit mal impairs the intellect more than grand mal, for convulsions calm the patient as a good cry calms hysterical people. After a number of attacks of petit mal, grand mal usually supervenes, and most epileptics suffer from attacks of both types. Some precocious, perverse children are victims of unrecognized petit mal, and when pushed at school run grave risks of developing symptoms of true epilepsy. The "Little Evil" is a serious complaint.

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If it be true that: "One half the world does not know how the other half lives", how true also is it that one half the world does not know, and does not care, what the other half suffers.

Epilepsy shows every gradation, from symptoms which cannot be described in language, to severe grand mal. Gowers says: "The elements of an epileptic attack may be extended, and thereby be made less intense, though not less distressing. If we conceive a minor attack that is extended, and its elements protracted, with no loss of consciousness, it would be so different that its epileptic nature would not be suspected. Swiftness is an essential element of ordinary epilepsy, but this does not prevent the possibility of deliberation."

In Serial Epilepsy, a number of attacks of grand mal follow one another, with but very brief intervals between. Serial epilepsy often ends in

Status Epilepticus, in which a series of grand mal attacks follow one another with no conscious interval. The temperature rises slowly, the pulse becomes rapid and feeble, the breathing rapid, shallow and irregular, and death usually occurs from exhaustion or heart-failure. Though not invariably fatal, the condition is so very grave that a doctor must instantly be summoned. Nearly all victims of severe, confirmed epilepsy (25 per cent of all epileptics) die in status epilepticus.

Jacksonian Epilepsy, named after Hughlings Jackson, who in 1861 traced its symptoms to their cause, is not a true epilepsy, being due to a local irritation of the cortex (the outermost layer) of the brain.

There is usually an aura before the attack, often a tingling or stabbing pain. The chief symptoms are convulsions of certain limbs or areas of the body, which, save in very severe cases, are confined to one side, and are not attended by loss of consciousness.

The irritation spreads to adjacent areas, as wavelets spread from a stone thrown into a pond, with the result that convulsions of other limbs follow in sequence, all confined to one side.

As every part of the brain is connected to every other part by "association fibres", in very violent attacks of Jacksonian epilepsy the irritation spreads to the other side of the brain also, consciousness is lost, the convulsions become general and bilateral, and the patient presents exactly the same picture as if the attack were due to grand mal.

All degrees of violence are seen. The convulsions may consist only of a rapid trembling, or the limb or limbs may be flung about like a flail.

Jackson said: "The convulsion is a brutal development of a man's own movements, a sudden and excessive contention of many of the patient's familiar motions, like winking, speaking, singing, moving, etc." These acts are learned after many attempts, and leave a memory in certain groups of brain cells; irritate those cells, and the memorized acts are performed with convulsive violence.

The convulsions are followed by temporary paralysis of the involved muscles, but power finally returns. As we should expect, this paralysis lasts longest in the muscles first involved, and is slightest in the muscles whose brain-centres were irritated by the nearly exhausted waves. If the disease be untreated, the muscles in time may become totally paralysed, wasted, and useless.

Friends should very carefully note exactly where and how the attack begins, the exact part first involved, and the precise order in which the spasms appear, as this is the only way the doctor can localize the brain injury. The importance of this cannot be overrated.

The consulting surgeon will say if operation is, or is not, advisable, but operation is the sole remedy for Jacksonian epilepsy, for the causes that underly its symptoms cannot be reached by medicines.

Patients must consult a good surgeon; other courses are useless.

Psychic or Mental Epilepsy is a trance-state often occurring after attacks of grand or petit mal, in which the patient performs unusual acts. The epileptic feature is the patient's inability to recall these actions. The complaint is fortunately rare.

The face is usually pale, the eyes staring, and there may be a "dream state". Without warning, the victim performs certain actions.

These may be automatic, and not seriously embarrassing-he may tug his beard, scratch his head, hide things, enter into engagements, find the presence of others annoying and hide himself, or take a long journey. Such a journey is often reported in the papers as a "mysterious disappearance". Yet, had he committed a crime during this time, he would probably have been held "fully responsible" and sentenced.

The actions may be more embarrassing: breaking something, causing pain, exhibiting the sexual organs; the patient may be transported by violent rage, and abuse relatives, friends or even perfect strangers; he may spit carelessly, or undress himself-possibly with a vague idea that he is unwell, and would be better in bed.

Finally the acts may be criminal: sexual or other assault, murder, arson, theft, or suicide.

In this state, the patient is dazed, and though he appreciates to some extent his surroundings, and may be able to answer questions more or less rationally, he is really in a profound reverie. The attack soon ends with exhaustion; the victim falls asleep, and a few moments later wakes, ignorant of having done or said anything peculiar.

We usually think of our mind as the aggregate of the various emotions of which we are actually conscious, when, in reality, consciousness forms but a small portion of our mentality, the subconscious-which is composed of all our past experiences filed away below consciousness-directing every thought and act. Inconceivably delicate and intricate mind-machinery directs us, and our idlest fancy arises, not by chance as most people surmise, but through endless associations of subconscious mental processes, which can often be laid bare by skilful psycho-analysis.

Our subconscious mind does not let the past jar with the present, for life would be made bitter by the eternal vivid recollection of incidents best forgotten. Every set of ideas, as it is done with, is locked up separately in the dungeons of subconsciousness, and these imprisoned ideas form the basis of memory. Nothing is ever forgotten, though we may never again "remember" it this side the grave.

In a few cases we can unlock the cell-door and release the prisoner-we "remember"; in some, we mislay the key for awhile; in many, the wards of the lock have rusted, and we cannot open the door although we have the key-we "forget"; finally, our prisoner may pick the lock, and make us attend to him whether we wish to or not-something "strikes us".

Normally, only one set of ideas (a complex) can hold the stage of consciousness at any one time. When two sets get on the boards together, double-consciousness occurs, but even then they cannot try to shout each other down; one set plays "leading lady", the other set the "chorus belle" and so life is rendered bearable.

This "dissociation of consciousness" occurs in all of us. A skilled pianist plays a piece "automatically" while talking to a friend; we often read a book and think of other things at the same time: our full attention is devoted to neither action; neither is done perfectly, yet both are done sufficiently well to escape comment.

Day-dreaming is dissociation carried further. "Leading lady" and "chorus belle" change places for a while-imaginary success keeps us from worrying about real failure. Dissociation, day-dreaming, and mental epilepsy are but few of the many milestones on a road, the end of which is insanity, or complete and permanent dissociation, instead of the partial and fleeting dissociation from which we all suffer. The lunatic never "comes to", but in a world of dreams dissociates himself forever from realities he is not mentally strong enough to face.

The writing of "spirits" through a "medium" is an example of dissociation, and though shown at its best in neuropaths, is common enough in normal men, as can be proved by anyone with a planchette and some patience.

If the experimenter puts his hands on the toy, and a friend talks to him, while another whispers questions, he may write more or less coherent answers, though all the time he goes on talking, and does not know what his hand is writing. His mind is split into two smaller minds, each ignorant of the other, each busily liberating memory-prisoners from its own block of cells in the gaol of the subconscious. The writing often refers to long-forgotten incidents, the experiment sometimes being of real use in cases of lost memory.

Dreams are dissociations in sleep, while the scenes conjured up by crystal-gazing are only waking dreams, in which the dissociation is caused by gazing at a bright surface and so tiring the brain centres, whereupon impressions of past life emerge from the subconscious, to surprise, not only the onlookers to whom they are related, but also the gazer herself, who has long "forgotten them".

It is childish to attach supernatural significance to either dreams or crystal-gazing, both of which mirror, not the future, but only the past, the subject's own past.

It is noteworthy that women dream more frequently and vividly than men. When a dreamer has few worries, he usually dreams but forgets his dream on waking; when greatly worried, he often carries his problems to bed with him, and recent "representative dreams" are merely unprofitable overtime work done by the brain. Occasionally, dreams have a purely physical basis as when palpitation becomes transformed in a dream into a scene wherein a horse is struggling violently, or where an uncovered foot originates a dream of polar-exploration; in this latter type the dream is protective, in that it is an effort to side-track some irritation without breaking sleep.

Since Freud has traced a sex-basis in all our dreams, many worthy people have been much worried about the things they see or do in dreams. Let them remember that virtue is not an inability to conceive of misconduct, so much as the determination to refrain from it, and it may well be that the centres which so determinedly inhibit sexual or unsocial thoughts in the day, are tired by the very vigour of their resistance, and so in sleep allow the thoughts they have so stoutly opposed when waking to slip by. The man who is long-suffering and slow to wrath when awake, may surely be excused if he murders a few of his tormentors during sleep.

Epileptiform Seizures are convulsions due to causes other than epilepsy, and only a doctor can tell if an attack be epileptic or not and prescribe appropriate treatment. To give "patent" medicines for "fits", to a man who may be suffering from lead poisoning or heart disease, is criminal.

Convulsions in Children often occur before or after some other ailment. Such children need careful training, but less than 10 per cent of children who have convulsions become epileptic. Epilepsy should only be suspected if the first attack occurs in a previously healthy child of over two years of age. There are many possible causes for infantile convulsions, and but one treatment; call in a doctor at once, and, while waiting for him, put the child in a warm bath (not over 100° F.) in a quiet, darkened room, and hold a sponge wrung out of hot water to the throat at intervals of five minutes. Never give "soothing syrups" or "teething powders".

The "soothing" portion of such preparations is some essential oil, like aniseed, caraway or dill, and there are often present strong drugs unsuitable for children. According to the analyses made by the British Medical Association, the following are the essential ingredients of some well-known preparations for children:

Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup. Potassium Bromide, Aniseed, and Syrup (sugar and water).

Woodward's Gripe Water. Sodium Bicarbonate, Caraway, and Syrup.

Atkinson and Barker's Royal Infant Preservative. Pot. and Magnesium Bicarbonate, several Oils, and Syrup.

Mrs. Johnson's American Soothing Syrup. Spirits of Salt, Common Salt, and Honey.

Convulsions During Pregnancy. Send for a doctor instantly.

Feigned Epilepsy is an all-too-common "ailment". The false fit, as a rule, is very much overdone. The face is red from exertion instead of livid from heart and lung embarrassment, the spasms are too vigorous but not jerky enough, the skin is hot and dry instead of hot and clammy, the hands may be clenched, but the thumb will be outside instead of inside the palm, foam comes in volumes but is unmixed with blood, and the whole thing is kept up far too long. Almost before a crowd can gather an epileptic seizure is over, whereas the sham sufferer does not begin seriously to exhibit his questionable talents until a crowd has appeared.

Pressure on the eye, which will blink while the "sufferer" will swear; bending back the thumb and pressing in the end of the nail, when the hand will be withdrawn in feigned but not in true epilepsy; blowing snuff up the nose, which induces sneezing in the sham fit alone, or using a cold douche will all expose the miserable trick.

It is, unfortunately, far easier to suggest than to apply these tests, for anyone foolish enough to try experiments within reach of the wildly-waving arms will probably get such a buffet as will damp his ardour for amateur diagnosis for some time.

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"Do not muse at me, my most worthy friends;

I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing

To those that know me."

"Macbeth," Act III.

Starr's table shows that combinations of all types of epilepsy are possible, and that mental epilepsy is rare:

Grand mal 1150

Grand and petit mal 589

Petit mal 179

Jacksonian 37

Mental 16

Grand mal and Jacksonian 10

Grand mal, petit mal and Jacksonian 8

Grand mal and mental 3

Grand mal, petit mal and mental 6

Petit mal and mental 2

Fits by day only 660

Fits day and night 880

Fits by night only 380

The majority of victims have attacks both by day and by night. Of 115,000 seizures tabulated by Clark, 55,000 occurred during the day (6 a.m. to 6 p.m.) and 60,000 by night.

The usual course of a case of epilepsy is somewhat as follows: the disease begins in childhood, the first convulsion, about the age of three, being followed some twelve months later by a second, and this again by a third within a few months. Then attacks occur more frequently until a regular periodicity-from one a day to one a year-is reached after about five years, and this frequently persists throughout life.

The effect of epilepsy on the general health is not serious, but it has a more serious effect on the mind, for epileptic children cannot go to school (though special schools are now doing something towards removing this serious disability), and grow up with an imperfect mental training. They become moody, fretful, ill-tempered, unmanageable, and at puberty fall victims to self-abuse, which helps to lead to neurasthenia. Then they may drift slowly into a state of mental weakness, and often require as much care as imbeciles. If the fits are severe from an early age, arrest of mental development and imbecility follow. If the disease be very mild in character, and especially if it be petit mal, the victim may be very precocious, get "pushed" at school, and later become eccentric or insane.

Adult victims necessarily lead a semi-invalid life, often cut off from wholesome work and from the pleasures of life, and become hypersensitive, timid, impulsive, forgetful, irritable, incapable of concentration, suspicious, show evidences of a weakened mind, have few interests, and are difficult to manage.

About 10 per cent-the very severe cases-go on to insanity; either temporary attacks of mania, calling for restraint, or permanent epileptic dementia with progressive loss of mind. Some victims are accidentally killed in, or die as a result of a fit; about 25 per cent-severe cases again-die in status epilepticus, but the majority after being sufferers throughout life are finally carried off by some other disease.

There are many exceptions to this general course. Some patients have attacks very infrequently, and are possessed of brilliant talent, though apt to be eccentric. Others may have a number of seizures in youth, and then "outgrow" the complaint.

A few victims are attacked only after excessive alcoholic or sexual indulgence, some women only during their menses, while other women are free from attacks during pregnancy, which state, however (contrary to popular belief), commonly aggravates the trouble. Victims may be free from attacks during the duration of, and for some time after, an infectious disease; while Spratling says that a consumptive epileptic may have no fits for months, or even years.

Some epileptics are normal in appearance, but many show signs of degeneration. This is common in the insane, but less frequent and pronounced in neurasthenics. An abnormal shape of the head or curvature of the skull, a high, arched palate, peculiarly-shaped ears, unusually large hands and feet, irregular teeth from narrow jaws, a small mouth, unequal length and size of the limbs, a projecting occiput, and poor physical development may be noted.

These are most pronounced in intractable cases, in whom mental peculiarities are most frequently seen-either dullness, stupidity and ungovernable temper, or very marked talent in one direction with as marked an incapacity in others. In all epileptics, the pupils of the eye are larger than normal, and, after contracting to bright light soon enlarge again.

The facial expression of most epileptics indicates abnormal mentality. When the seizures have been so frequent and severe as to cause mental decay, the actions are awkward, and the gait slouching and irregular. Progressive poor memory is one of the first signs of intellectual damage consequent upon severe epilepsy.

Though the disease may occur at any age, most cases occur before the age of twenty, there being good reason to look for other causes (often syphilis) in cases which occur after that age. Of 1,450 of Gowers' cases, 30 per cent commenced before the age of ten; 75 per cent before twenty. In Starr's 2,000 cases, 68 per cent commenced before the patient was twenty-one.

According to Turner, the first epoch is from birth to the age of six, during which 25 per cent of all cases commence, usually associated with mental backwardness, and some due to organic brain trouble. The second epoch is ten to twenty-two, the time of puberty and adolescence, during which time no less than 54 per cent of all cases commence. This is, par excellence, the age of onset of genuine epilepsy, the mean age of maximum onset being fourteen in men and sixteen in women. The remaining 21 per cent of cases occur after the age of twenty-two.

In 430 cases of epilepsy in children, Osler found that 230 were attacked before they reached the age of five, 100 between five and ten, and 100 between ten and fifteen.

Epilepsy, then, is a disease of early youth, coming on when the development and growth of the nervous and reproductive systems is taking place. During this period, causes, insignificant for stable people, may light up the disease in those of unstable, nervous constitution, a fact which explains the importance of training the child.

Both sexes are attacked. If we consider only cases of true idiopathic epilepsy female patients are probably in excess, but in epilepsy in adults, from all causes, males predominate. In females, the menopause may arrest the disease.

In days gone by, epilepsy more rarely commenced after the age of twenty, but in these days of nerve stress it commences more frequently than formerly in people of mature age. A victim who has a fit for the first time after the age of twenty, however, should consult a nerve specialist immediately.

In its early stages there are no changes of the brain due to, or the cause of, epilepsy, but in long-standing, severe cases, well-marked, morbid changes may be found. These are the effects, not the cause, of the disease, and they vary in intensity according to the manner of death and the length and severity of the malady. They probably cause the mental decay and slouching gait mentioned before.

Fits may suddenly cease for a long time, but they usually recur, and most patients have them more or less regularly through life.

The fact that recovery is rare should not be hidden from patients and friends. Perhaps 8 per cent of all classes recover-and "recovery" may only be a long interval-but 4 per cent of these are Jacksonian, syphilitic or accident cases. Only one victim in every thirty recovers from true epilepsy; and these are very mild cases, in which the fits are infrequent, there is no mental impairment, and bromides are well borne. The earlier the onset, the more severe and frequent the attacks, the deeper the coma, and the worse the mental decay, the poorer the outlook.

Cure is exceptional, but by vigorous treatment the severity of the malady may be much abated. Petit mal is no more hopeful than grand mal; less so in cases with severe giddiness; in all cases, the better the physical condition and digestive powers of the patient, the brighter the outlook.

To sum up, epilepsy is a chronic abnormality of the higher nervous system, characterized by periodic attacks of alteration of consciousness, often accompanied by spasms of varying violence, affecting primarily the brain and secondarily the body, based on an abnormal readiness for action of the motor cells, occurring in persons with congenital nerve weakness, and leading to mental decay of various types and degrees of severity.

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