The site of origin of a convulsion may be defined as that area of the central nervous system from which a convulsion may be released following a suitable stimulus. It is improbable that this area constitutes a convulsive center. It is more likely that a group of mechanisms is brought into play which possess epileptogenous qualities and that they combine to produce the picture of a convulsion. It is further probable that the stimuli necessary to evoke a convulsion are entirely nonspecific.
Whether or not this seat of discharge resides in the cortex or the subcortex assumes great importance. If it can be shown that this area is to be found in the brain stem, an analogy may be made between an epileptic convulsion and one experimentally produced by such medullary convulsant drugs as absinth and picrotoxin. Under that condition, further research is encouraged in the investigation of metabolic and