ng in the progress of a
whole day. He died but little beyond middle age.

Since that time I have been intimately acquainted with several
individuals who were subject to these attacks of epilepsy, some of whom
were affected in one way, some in another. The cause, too, was as
various as the manner of attack, and in a few instances was peculiar and
remarkable. In general, their memory and intellectual faculties, as well
as their bodily strength, became, ultimately, a good deal impaired. In
my practice as a physician, I had very few of these cases, and none in
which I could afford relief at first. The patients were, however, for
the most part, of middle age, or at least beyond thirty years. Several
had taken nitrate of silver or other minerals, till their skins were of
a blue-black color.

In the beginning of the year 1854, a young man about seventeen years of
age, of scrofulous and nervous temperament and of great delicacy, came
under my care, to be treated for this disease, whose history, from
beginning to end, was remarkable. I will call him Samuel.

When about twelve years of age he had difficulty with another boy,--an
Irish or Scotch lad,--which ended in a personal affray, in which Samuel
was worsted, and his head severely injured. It was thought by some that
a portion of the skull, which, by the violence of the blow it had
received, had been forced in, ought to have been elevated by the
trephine; but I believe no surgeon of reputation ever saw him. Being
young, the depressed portion of skull gradually resumed its place, so
that the depression could scarcely be seen.

All, however, was not right within, for he was soon afterward attacked
by epilepsy. Whether, at first, any connection between the disease and
the bruised skull was suspected by the friends, I was not able to learn;
but probably not. The attacks having been once commenced, were frequent
and severe, and every year became more so. They were particularly
frequent and severe during the winter and spring.

The medical art was invoked in his behalf, especially in the region
round about New Haven, Conn. He was not only treated by the regular
physicians, of different kinds and schools, but by not a few empirics or
quacks. By some of them he was evidently injured, and by none was he
benefited. The tendency still continued to be downward, on the whole,
and his friends were, at length, almost discouraged.

All this while his diet appears to have been the usual