Classification of the Epilepsies

THE PRIMARY task of every physician who would treat epileptic patients intelligently should be classification, classification according to cause and according to the site of origin of epileptic discharge within the brain. The use of the electroencephalograph and the appearance of new anticonvulsant drugs constitute a considerable advance in this field, but this has in no way relieved the clinician of his responsibility for initial classification and differential diagnosis of the epilepsies. THE EPILEPSIES At the dawn of history, the falling sickness was thought to be due to the temporary entrance into the epileptic person of an evil spirit, the curse of a god. But Hippocrates began the attack on this conception. Epilepsia, he said, was not a sacred disease but a condition that should be studied, for it had a cause like other diseases, a cause that acted on the brain (Temkin1). Yet, even today, physicians are apt