Epilepsy

(ep’-il-ep-se) [kiviTi^iq, a laying hold of ]. A chronic nervous affection characterized by sudden lo of consciousne with general tonic and clonic convulsions, the paroxysms lasting but a short time. An epileptic seizure is often preceded by a peculiar sensation, or aura, and as the patient falls he sometimes makes an outcry, the epileptic cry. E., Cortical, E., Focal, or E., Jackson i an, spasmodic contractions in certain groups of muscles, with retention of consciousne , due to local disease of the cortex. E., Masked. E. larvata. In this, involuntary actions, often violent, replace the convulsion. E., Nocturnal, epilepsy in which the attack occurs during sleep. E., Pro cursive, a form in which the patient runs rapidly forward before falling. E., Spinal, paroxysms of clonic spasm in the lower extremities sometimes observed in the course of spastic paraplegia. 262