I

494 Periscope ; or, Circumspective Review. [Oct.

XXIV. About this time he escaped their
nizance by being sent to school i?
co^'
^

Case of Epilepsy cured by Iodine. country, where from subsequent ^

Dr. Franklin, of New York, has pub-
lished the
following case, which we
shall lay before our readers.
Feb. 28th, 1831. O. B. the subject
of this complaint, early displayed great
precocity of intellect, and was endowed
with a frame proportionate in vigour to
his intellectual capacity; in complexion
fair; temperament sanguine ; quickly
impelled to anger, but easily soothed ;
mation it appears the paroxysms in>
?
creased rapidly in severity and niunbe
He would then occasionally for the n,s
i"
time, when unexpectedly struck by
playmates, or upon the receipt of tn
injury, fall to the ground without
ability of resisting the impulse.
teacher having directed the boys to das
water in his face to
bring him to, .J
would frequently induce a fit by strik,r,p
or
pricking him for the sport afford^
in throwing water. His countenance; '

indignant at insult, but alive to kind-
ness ; disposed to friendship, and dis-
criminating in his selections ; ambiti-
ous beyond his years; with a memory
almost intuitive. No obstacle seemed
hitherto indicative of vivacity and U>te
v8*
ligence, now began to assume the
3?
cancy so peculiar to this complaint,
his mental faculties, hitherto vigorous;
began to be impaired. ,

equal prevent his advance to the

to After absence of a year he returns
an

ultima thule of any profession to which home, when his altered appearand'
inclination should direct him. The ex- and the frequency of his fits, immed1'
pectations of his friends were damped ately attracted attention and excjte
by an attack of epilepsy, the incipient great alarm. The most trivial injd't
symptoms and progress of which I will induced a fit, and he would now inva",
now proceed to relate. riably fall, bruising and lacerating hi0?'
His nervous system from early boy- self hlS
dreadfully, always falling upon
hood indicated an excessive irritability face or the back of his head, genera"/,
to external impressions; whether this the latter, and that so frequently as 10
was congenital, or induced, as his mo- establish a natural issue.
ther surmised, by excessive doses of ca- It was now for the first time disc?'
lomel prescribed by a medical gentle- vered that these fits occurred durin?>
man in the South, during a fit of sick- sleep ; at these times he would f0'^
ness,* I am unable to decide. at the mouth and roll his eyes ;
When about eight years of age the hands and arms would be spasmod''
attention of his parents was directed to cally contracted, and drawn toward
the position he would assume when in- his head. He would gasp for breath;
jured by any external agent. If Lis toes and in his worst fits would turn black
struck against a stone, or his fingers in the face. These paroxysms subside*
were irritated by any sharp instrument, in four or five minutes,
leaving him very
as a pin or a needle, his eyes protruded, languid and exhausted.
the muscles of his mouth were agitated, He said he was conscious of wh^
his arms contracted and elevated towards was passing about him, but could n0'
his head, and he would stand as though articulate. The pain he described as
transfixed with horror at the sight of that caused by two bones meeting a?.
some terrible object. As these parox- rubbing in his chest. The sense of h>s
ysms subsided in a few seconds, they situation operated so hir?
acutely upon
were rather attributed to a foolish habit that he preferred death to life. H's
he had acquired than to any disease, appetite was good ; the food was regu"
and under this impression he was fre- larly assimilated ; he complkined of n?
quently reproved by his parents, but pain in any part of the system durirtjf
without avail. the intervals of paroxysm.
Such was the state of the patient
when I commenced the treatment,
*
Bilious fever, at Florence. ordered the Ecioprotic mixture in quan*'
I

183 b] . British Madeira. 495

,les sufficient to keep the bowels solu-

e> and the
tinct. of iodine, 40 grs; to
?z.
gtt v tQ be taken three times
day. This was gradually increased
lth but
little until he took 300
success
or 100 three times a day*
At this
time symptoms of amendment
*splayed themselves in the mildness of
e
night fits, and their diminished
j^ber. Flattered by this improve-
ent? I continued the above-mentioned
v^ntity for about one month, the sys-
daily becoming less and less ob-
vious
8aF>
to the disease, until I
of the
am happy
j.
every vestige complaint
'Appeared. From that time to the
P'esent, period of three months, he
a

cas enjoyed uninterrupted

?nclusion
health. In
permit me to add, instead
Variation as I had a right to ex-
P,ect? by reduction of diet and the medi-
^es taken, he actually gained flesh.?

Remarks. We doubt very much the

P,0priety
?ase
calling the above disease
of
of The anomalous fea-
epilepsy.
"res of the
attacks, and the circum-
j..ancetheof consciousness remaining du-
paroxysms, have raised our
Be this as it may, the enor-
?us
^0 quantity of iodine taken, is enough
astonish
us, if not to create an ap-
P^hensipn
inert.
that the medicine was to-
e4''y The want of all apparent
j ?.ct from the prodigious doses of
excepting the fattening process
lch took
js place during its exhibition,
another stumbling-block which we
n?t
easily get
over.