The problem of epilepsy may be best approached by considering all convulsions which are accompanied by unconsciousness, whether periodic or otherwise, as symptoms of some underlying pathologic state or disease. By doing this the convulsion becomes a symptom. The question then arises, which I believe should be answered in the negative, whether any so-called epileptic state should, of itself, be considered a disease.
ETIOLOGIC FACTORS
Thus, among the underlying causes of convulsions are uremia, eclampsia and other toxicoses; several varieties of trauma, as birth trauma and that from blows on the head; certain intracranial irritations, as brain tumors and cerebral hemorrhages; certain infections, as syphilis and varieties of meningitis; certain conditions of cerebral maldevelopment accompanied by a degree of brain cell deterioration; and certain conditions of the pituitary gland causing a change in its secretion.I believe, therefore, that convulsions, whether periodical and termed epilepsy, or not, are due to