To the Editor:—In the September, 1929, issue of the American Journal of Diseases of Children, volume 38, page 462, Irvine McQuarrie advances the explanation of the effect of dehydration on seizures of epilepsy. He states "It may be that the beneficial effect of partial dehydration depends merely on the mechanical relief from excessive pressure within the fluid channels of the brain.
... For the other type of case, however, in which no such structural changes are found, explanation for the facts observed must be sought in a possible disturbance in the physiologic regulation of water balance within the brain."
In a footnote there is mentioned hearsay evidence of Dr. Fay's results on the restriction of fluid in such cases, with the comment that Fay's report could not be found in the literature.
Elsberg and Pike (Am. J. Physiol. 76:593 [May] 1926) stated that "It may be that benefit from starvation