Effect on the Electro-Encephalogram of Drugs and Conditions Which Influence Seizures

Of what clinical value is the study of cortical potentials to the physician who must treat patients with epilepsy? Is there hope of clarifying and unifying the confusing and often diametrically opposed advice given by different physicians to these patients? A prime difficulty has been the impossibility of submitting the therapeutic problems to laboratory tests. Convulsive seizures are irregularly spaced; surrounding conditions and bodily states vary from day to day, so that therapeutic trial consumes months or years and conclusions are perilous. Finally, the seizure is only the portion of the tree above the ground, the visible expression of the disturbance in the brain. The electro-encephalogram lays bare the roots. By the use of this technic, utilizing patients with frequent minor disturbances, one can in the laboratory make a running record both of clinical seizures and of the lesser disturbances which give no clinical evidence of their presence. One can