As medicine and surgery cannot add or delete plasmic factors, the only way to stamp out neuropathy in severe forms would be to sterilize victims by X-rays. This would be painless, would protect the race and not interfere with personal or even with sexual liberty. In fifty years such diseases would be almost extinct, and those arising from accident or the chance union of dormant factors in apparently normal people could easily be dealt with.

There are 100,000 epileptics in Great Britain, and as all their children carry a taint which tends to reappear as epilepsy in a later generation the number of epileptics doubles every forty years. We protect these unfortunates against others; why not posterity against them?

Neuropaths must pass on some defect; therefore, though victims may marry, no neuropath has a right to have children.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXV

CHARACTER

"All men are not equal, either at birth or by training. Nature gives each of us the neural clay, with its properties of pliability and of receiving impressions; nurture moulds and fashions it, until a character is formed, a mingling of innate disposition and acquired powers. But clay will be clay to the end; you cannot expect it to be marble."—Thomson & Geddes.

"Heaven lay not my transgression to my charge."—King John.

It is essential that attendants, relatives, and friends carefully study the character of neuropaths, and recognize clearly how abnormal it is, for untold misery is caused by judging neuropaths by normal standards.

Patients are often harshly treated because others regard the victim of defective inhibition as having gone deliberately to work, through wicked perversity and pure wilfulness, to make himself a nuisance, to persist in being a nuisance, and to refuse to be other than a nuisance, rather than exercise what more fortunate men are pleased to term self-control.

Character is usually appraised as "good" or "evil" by the nature of a man's actions, the assumption being made that he can control his impulses if he be so minded.

This is not so. "Good" and "evil" are only relative terms. What one man thinks "evil", a second holds "good", while a third is not influenced.

Now the performance of the act judged is directed by the performer's brain, the constitution of which was pre-determined by the germ-plasm from which he arose, so that the basis of character is inherited.

The moral sense is the last evolved and least stable attribute of the last evolved and least stable of our organs, the brain; and brains are born, not made to order. To blame a man for having weak control—a sick will—is as unreasonable as to blame him for a cleft palate or a squint. The "good" people who jog so quietly through life little reck how much they owe their ancestors, from whom they received stability.

These tendencies represent the total material for building character. Training and environment can only nourish good tendencies and give bad ones no encouragement to grow gigantic.

If training and environment alone formed character, then children reared together would be of similar disposition; by no means the case. Similarly, if external influences altered inborn tendencies, then, not only would the evil man be totally reformed by strong inducements to virtue, but strong inducements to vice would lead totally astray the good man, for "good" is no stronger than "evil", both being attributes of mind.

In mind as in body, from the moment he is conceived to the moment his dust rests in the tomb, man is directed by immutable laws, though he is not simply a machine directed by impulses over which he has no control. There is real meaning in "strong will" and "weak will" will being a tendency to deliberate before and be steadfast in action, a tendency which varies immensely in different people. The fallacy of "free will" lies in assuming that every one has this tendency equally developed, making character a mere matter of saying "Yes!" and "No!" without reference to the individual's mental make-up.

Deliberate, persistent wickedness implies a strong will, just what neuropaths lack. A man of weak will can never be a very good nor yet a very bad man. He will be very good at times, very bad at times, and neutral at times, but neither for long; before sudden impulses, whether good or bad, neuropaths are largely powerless.

The many perversities of a neuropath are not deliberately put forth of his "free will" to annoy both himself and others, for the neuropath inherits his weak-control no less than his large hands.

Friends must remember they are dealing with a person whose nature it is to "go off half-cock", and who cannot be normal "if he likes". The neuropath, young or old, says what he "thinks" without thinking, that is he says what he feels, and acts hastily without weighing consequences.

Cassius: Have you not love enough to bear with me, When that rash humour which my mother gave me Makes me forgetful?

Brutus: Yes, Cassius; and, from henceforth When you are over-earnest with your Brutus, He'll think your mother chides, and leave you so.

* * * * *

One cannot detail the effects of neuropathy on character, when its victims include madmen, sexual perverts, idiots, criminals, imbeciles, prostitutes, humble but honest citizens, common nuisances, invalids of many kinds, misanthropists, designers, enthusiasts, composers, communists, reformers, authors, artists, agitators, statesmen, poets, prophets, priests and kings.

Very mild epilepsy—from one fit a year to one in several years—instead of hindering, seems rather to help mentality, and many geniuses have been epileptic. These talented victims, are less rare than the public suppose, owing to the jealous care with which symptoms of this disease are guarded. Socrates, Julius Caesar, Mahomet, Joan of Arc, Peter the Great, Napoleon, Byron, Swinburne, and Dostoieffsky are but a few among many great names in the world of art, religion and statecraft. Epileptic princes, kings and kinglets who have achieved unenviable notoriety might be named by scores, Wilhelm II being the most notable of modern times.

This brilliant mentality is always accompanied by instability, and usually by marked disability in other ways. The success of these men often depends on an ability to view things from a new, quaint or queer standpoint, which appeals to their more normal fellows.

In matters that require great fertility, a quick grasp, ready wit, and brilliant but not sustained mental effort, numerous neuropaths excel. In things calling for calm, well-balanced judgment, or stern effort to conquer unforseen difficulties, they fail utterly.

Subtle in debate, they are but stumbling-blocks in council; brilliant in conception, they fail in execution; fanciful designers, they are not "builders of bridges". They are boastful, sparkling, inventive, witty, garrulous, vain and supersensitive, outraging their friends by the extravagance of their schemes; embarrassing their enemies by the subtlety of their intrigues.

They wing on exuberant imagination from height to height, but the small boulders of difficulty trip them up, for they are hopelessly unpractical; they have neither strength of purpose nor fortitude, and their best-laid schemes are always frustrated at the critical moment, by either the incurable blight of vacillation, or by the determination to amplify their scheme ere it has proved successful, sacrificing probable results for visionary improvements.

Great and cunning strategists while fortune smiles, they are impotent to direct a retreat, but flee before the fury they ought to face. They rarely have personal courage, but are timid, conciliatory and vacillating just when bravery, sternness, and determination are needed; furious, obstinate and reckless, when gentleness, diplomacy and wisdom would carry their point.

They are ready to forgive when there is magnanimity, vainglory and probably folly in forgiveness, but will not overlook the most trivial affront when there is every reason for so doing. They have brain, but not ballast, and their whole life is usually a lopsided effort to "play to the gallery".

In poetry and literature, fancy has free play, and they often succeed, sometimes rising to sublime heights; usually in the depiction of the whimsical, the wonderful, the sardonic, the bizarre, the monstrous, or the frankly impossible. They are not architects as much as jugglers of words, and descriptive writing from an acute angle of vision is their forte. They sometimes succeed as artists or composers, for in these spheres they need not elaborate their ideas in such clean-cut detail, but many who might succeed in these branches have not sufficient strength of purpose to do the preliminary "spadework".

They have too many talents, too many differing inclinations, too much impetuosity, too much vanity, too little concentration and will-power, and they fail in ordinary walks of life from the lack of resolution to lay the foundations necessary to successful mediocrity.

No greater obstacle to progress exists than the reputation for talent which this class acquire on a flimsy basis of superficial brilliance in conversation or a penchant for witty repartee. They are self-opinionated and egoistical, with a conceit and assurance out of all proportion to their abilities. Their mental perspective is distorted and they are conspicuous for their obstinacy. In conversation they are prolix and pretentious, and they often contract religious mania, in which their actions by no means accord with their protestations, for they have very elementary notions of right and wrong, or no notions at all.

Often they are precocious, but untruthful, cruel, and vicious; the despair of relatives, friends, and teachers. They combine unusual frankness with an audacity and impulsiveness that is very misleading, for below this show of fire and power there is no stability.

Their character is a tangle of mercurial moods, the neuropath being passionate but loving, sullen one moment, overflowing with sentimental affection the next, vicious a little while later, quick to unreasoning anger, and as quick to repent or forgive, obstinate but easily led, versatile but inconstant, noble and mean by turns, full of contradictions and contrasts, at best a brilliant failure, vain, deaf to advice or reproof, having in his ailing frame the virtues and vices of a dozen normal men.

Mercier aptly describes him:

"There is a large class of persons who are often of acute and nimble intelligence, in general ability equal to or above the average, of an active, bustling disposition, but who are utterly devoid of industry. For by industry we mean steady persistence in a continuous employment in spite of monotony and distastefulness; an employment that is followed at the cost of present gratification for the sake of future benefit. Of such self-sacrifice these persons are incapable. They are always busy, but their activity is recreative, in the sense that it is congenial to them, and from it they derive immediate gratification. As soon as they tire of what they are doing, as soon as their occupation ceases to be in itself attractive it is relinquished for something else, which in its turn is abandoned as soon as it becomes tedious.

"Such people form a well-characterized class: they are clever; they readily acquire accomplishments which do not need great application; and agreeably to the recreative character of their occupations, their natures are well developed on the artistic side. They draw, paint, sing, play, write verses and make various pretty things with easy dexterity. Their lack of industry prevents them ever mastering the technique of any art; they have artistic tastes, but are always amateurs.

"With the vice of busy idleness they display other vices. The same inability to forgo immediate enjoyment, at whatever cost, shows itself in other acts. They are nearly always spendthrifts, usually drunkards, often sexually dissolute. Next to their lack of industry, their most conspicuous quality is their incurable mendacity. Their readiness, their resources, their promptitude, the elaborate circumstantiality of their lies are astonishing. The copiousness and efficiency of their excuses for failing to do what they have undertaken would convince anyone who had no experience of their capabilities in this way.

"Withal, they are excellent company, pleasant companions, good-natured, easy-going, and urbane. Their self-conceit is inordinate, and remains undiminished in spite of repeated failures in the most important affairs of life. They see themselves fall immeasurably behind those who are admittedly their inferiors in cleverness, yet they are not only cheery and content, but their confidence in their own powers and general superiority to other people remains undiminished.

"The lack of self-restraint is plainly an inborn character, for it may show itself in but one member of the family brought up in exactly the same circumstances as other members who do not show any such peculiarity. The victim is born with one important mental faculty defective, precisely as another may be born with hare-lip."

In neuropaths the mental mechanism of projection, which we all show, is often marked.

Any personal shortcoming, being repugnant to us causes self-reproach, which we avoid by "projecting" the fault (unconsciously) on some one else.

Readers should get "The Idiot" by Fedor Dostoieffsky, an epileptic genius who saw that for those like him, happiness could be got through peace of mind alone, and not in the cut-throat struggle for worldly success. He projected his stabler self into Prince Muishkin, the idiot, and every one of the six hundred odd pages of this amazing description of a neuropathic nation is stamped with the hall-mark of genius.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXVI

MARRIAGE

"Between two beings so complex and so diverse as man and woman, the whole of life is not too long for them to know one another well, and to learn to love one another worthily."—Comte.

No neuropath should have children, but marriage is good in mild cases, for neuropaths are benefited by sympathetic companionship, and their sexual passions are so strong that they must be gratified, by marriage, prostitution, or unnaturally.

Bernard Shaw's sneer—

"Marriage is popular because it combines the maximum of temptation with the maximum of opportunity"—

is justifiable, though the "maximum of opportunity" is better than a maximum of unnatural devices to satisfy and intensify normal and abnormal cravings.

There is a popular belief that an epileptic girl is cured by pregnancy, a state that ought never to occur.

The lack of sex-education causes millions of miserable marriages. Sexual desire is cultivated out of all proportion to other desires, the will cannot control the desire to relieve an intolerable sense of discomfort, and men eagerly seize the first chance of being able to satisfy these fierce cravings at pleasure.

If sex were treated sensibly it would develop into a powerful instead of an overpowering appetite, and reason would have some say in the choice of a life-partner.

A neuropath needs a calm, even-tempered, "motherly" wife. For him, gentleness, self-control, sound common sense and domestic virtues are superior to wit or beauty. Unfortunately, contrary to public belief, people are attracted by their like, not by their opposites. The sensitive, refined neuropath finds the normal person insipid and dull; the normal person is rendered uncomfortable by the morbid caprices of the neuropath.

There must be no disparity of age, for at the menopause the woman no longer seeks the sexual embrace, and if her husband be young unfaithfulness ensues. Not only that, but she, knowing, probably to her sorrow, how rarely the hopes of youth mature, cannot take a keen interest in his ambitions like a younger woman, or fire his dying enthusiasm at difficult parts of the way. If he be his wife's senior he will be as little able to appreciate her ideas and habits.

An excitable, volatile, garrulous, "neighbourly" woman, or one who can do little save strum on the piano or make embroidery as intricate as it is useless, means divorce or murder. For him, sweetness, gentleness, self-control, sound common sense, shrewdness, and domestic virtues are incomparably superior to any mental brilliance or physical comeliness. He needs a "homely" woman, and should remember that no banking account can match a sweet, womanly personality, and no charms compare to a sunny heart, and an ability steadfastly to "see the silver lining".

He must on no account marry a woman in indifferent health, for under the strain of her husband's infirmity the woman, who if she were well would be a help, is a source of expense, worry and friction.

On the other hand the woman who receives a proposal from a neuropath, be he ever so gifted, has grave grounds for pausing, though it is hard to counter the specious arguments of one who may be "a man o' pairts", a witty companion and an ardent lover. It is doubtful if a neuropath is ever permeated by a steadfast emotion, for all his emotions are fierce but unstable, the love of an inconsistent man being ten times more ardent than that of a faithful one, while it lasts.

"You can't marry a man without taking his faults with his virtues,"

and love must be strong enough to stand, not storms alone, but the minor miseries of life, the incessant pinpricks, the dreary days when the smile abroad has become the scowl at home. At best, her husband will be capricious, hard to please, and though rabidly jealous without cause, at the same time very partial to the attractions of other women. He usually needs the attention of the whole household, which his varying health and moods keep in a mingled state of anxious solicitude and smouldering resentment.

His infirmity may mean a very secluded and humdrum life. She will have to make home an ever-cheery place, an ideal that means hard work and self-sacrifice through lonesome years in which her nobility will be unrecognized and unrewarded.

A woman fond of amusements and sport, and having many acquaintances would find this unbearable. Any happiness in marriage to a neuropath is largely dependent on the self-sacrifice of the wife.

Should marriage occur, the wife must judiciously curb her husband's passions without driving him to other women by coldness, a problem which is often solved by separation. The suggestion should never come from her, and the more she can curb his ardour by tactful suggestion, the healthier will he and the happier will she be, for nothing causes such an irritable, nervous state as excessive coitus.

She will often have to give way in this matter, but must be firm on the necessity for preventing conception, for she can only bear a tainted child; her responsibility is great, and she must insist that her husband use those simple methods which prevent conception, thereby ending in himself one branch of a worthless tree. This must be done at any cost, for her happiness is nought compared to the welfare of future generations. Bitter though it be that no fruit of her womb may call her blessed, it is less bitter than hearing her children call themselves accursed.

"So many severall wayes are we plagued and punished for our father's defaultes, that it is the greatest part of our felicity to be well born, and it were happy for humankind if only such parentes as are sounde of body and mind should be suffered to marry. An Husbandman will sow none but the choicest seed upon his lande; he will not reare a bull nor an horse, except he be right shapen in all his parts, or permit him to cover a mare, except he be well assured of his breed; we make choice of the neatest kine, and keep the best dogs, and how careful then should we be in begetting our children? In former tyme, some countreys have been so chary in this behalf, so stern, that if a child were crooked or deformed in body or mind, they made it away; so did the Indians of old, and many other well gouverned Commonwealths, according to the discipline of those times. Heretofore in Scotland, if any were visited with the falling sickness, madness, goute, leprosie, or any such dangerous disease, which was like to be propagated from the father to the son, he was instantly gelded; a woman kept from all company of men; and if by chance, having some such disease, she was found to be with child she with her brood were buried alive; and this was done for the common good, lest the whole nation should be injured or corrupted. A severe doom, you will say, and not to be used among Christians. Yet to be more looked into than it is. For now, by our too much facility in this kind, in giving way to all to marry that will, too much liberty and indulgence in tolerating all sorts, there is a vast confusion of hereditary diseases; no family secure, no man almost free from some grievous infirmity or other. Our generation is corrupt, we have so many weak persons, both in body and mind, many feral diseases raging among us, crazed families: our fathers bad, and we like to be worse."

Her husband will want much petting and caressing, and she must foster his love by lavishing on him much fondness, and ignoring amours as but the mischievous results of his restless, intriguing mind.

She must let him see in an affectionate way that she can let others enjoy his company betimes, secure in the knowledge that she is supreme in his affections—cajolery that flatters his overweening vanity, and rarely fails.

In anger, as in every other emotion, the neuropath is as transient as he is truculent. A trivial "tiff" will make him blaze up in ungovernable rage and say most abominable and untruthful things; even utter violent threats. He will not admit he is wrong, but like a spoilt child must be kissed and coaxed into a good temper, first with himself and with others next.

At one moment he is in a perfect paroxysm of fury; five minutes later he is passionately embracing the luckless object of it and vowing eternal devotion. In a further five he has forgotten all his remarks and would hotly deny he used the vexing statements imputed to him.

Epileptics are morbidly sensitive, and reference to their malady must be avoided. Victims are intensely suspicious, and a pitying look will reveal to them the fact that some outsider knows all about the jealously-guarded skeleton. Resentment, distrust and misery follow such an exposure, for every innocent look is then translated into a contemptuous glance, and the victim detects slights undreamt of in any brain save his own.

Unless seizures are severe, no one should be called in; if they cause alarm, ask a discreet male neighbour to assist when necessary, leaving when the convulsions abate so that the victim is not aware of his presence. Avoid the word "fit" and "epilepsy", and if reference to the attack be necessary, refer to it as a "faint" or "turn".

Living with a man liable to have a fit at inopportune times is a tremendous strain, and the soundest advice one can offer a woman thinking of marrying such a one is Punch's—"DON'T!"

We have painted the black side, but, tactfully managed, a neuropath will merge in the kindest of husbands, the most constant of lovers. The wife need not be unhappy. Tactless, masterful women will fail, but no one is more easily led, particularly in the way he should not go, than a neuropath.

A man with definite views of his own value will not be successful foil for "mother-in-lawing", nor remain quiet under the interference of relatives, who should remember that well-meaning intentions do not justify meddling actions.

Many a neuropath led a useful life and gained success in a profession, solely because his wife tactfully kept him in the path, watched his health, prevented him frittering away his gifts in many pursuits or useless repining, and made home a real haven.

When the yolk seems unbearably heavy, the wife should remember her husband has to bear the primary, she only the reflected misery, for the limitations neuropathy puts on every activity and ambition, social and professional, are frightfully depressing.

In spite of his peevishness her husband may be trying hard to minimize his defects and be a reasonable, helpful companion.

"Judge not the working of his brain, And of his heart thou can'st not see; What looks to thy dim eyes a stain In God's pure light may only be A scar brought from some well-fought field, Where thou would'st only faint and yield."

Magnify his virtues and be tenderly charitable to his many frailties, for he is "not as other men" and too well he knows it. Love at its best is so complex that it easily goes awry, but death will one day dissolve all its complexity, and when, maybe after "many a weary mile"

"The voice of him I loved is still, The restless brain is quiet, The troubled heart has ceased to beat And the tainted blood to riot"—

it will comfort you to reflect that you did your duty and, to best the of your ability, fulfilled your solemn pledge to love and honour him.

To quote George Eliot:

"What greater reward can thou desire than the proud consciousness that you have strengthened him in all labour, comforted him in all sorrow, ministered to him in all pain, and been with him in silent but unspeakably holy memories at the moment of eternal parting?"

Surely, none!

We have considered the mournful case of a wife with a neuropathic husband, and must now say a few words about the truly distressing fate of a husband afflicted with a neuropathic wife, for neuropathy in its unpleasant consequences to others is far worse in woman than in man.

A man is at work all day, and his mind is perforce distracted from his woes, and, though he retails them at night to the home circle, they get so used to them as to disregard them, proffering a few words of agreement, sympathy or scorn quite automatically.

With women the distraction of work is not so complete, for housework can be neglected, there are always neighbours and friends to listen to tales of woe and thus generate a very harmful self-pity, and women are not content to enumerate their woes, but demand the attention and sympathy of all listeners.

Many of the facts in the foregoing parts of this chapter apply with equal force to both sexes, but women being usually more patient, tactful, resigned and self-sacrificing than men, can—and often do—alleviate the lot of the male neuropath; whereas the absence of these qualities in the average man means that he aggravates, instead of alleviating, the lot of any female neuropath to whom he may be wedded.

Having taken her "for better, for worse" he will find her irritating, unreasonable, and unfitted to shoulder domestic responsibilities. Her likes and dislikes, fickle fancies, unreasonable prejudices, selfish ways will cause trouble; he must be prepared for misunderstandings and feuds with relatives and friends, and on reaching home tired and worried, he is like to find his house in disorder, be assailed by a tale of woe, and perhaps find that his wife's vagaries have involved him in a tiff with neighbours.

She will be fretful, exacting, impatient, and given to ready tears. Sensitive to the last degree, she will see slights where none are intended, and a chiding word, a reproachful look, or a weary sigh will mean a fit of temper or depression.

Not only are men less gifted for "managing" women than vice versa, but women are far less susceptible to tactful management than men; a man, like a dog, can be led almost anywhere with a little dragging at the chain and growling now and then; a woman, like a cat, is more likely to spit, swear, and scratch than come along.

Consequently, it is almost impossible to suggest means of obtaining relief to one who has been luckless enough to marry, or be married by, a neuropathic woman.

If the husband sympathize, the condition will but be aggravated; medicinal measures will only increase, instead of diminishing, the number of symptoms; indifference will procure such an exhibition as will both prove its uselessness and ensure the attention craved.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXVII

SUMMARY

To sum up: we have learnt that Epilepsy is a very ancient disease due to some instability of the brain, in which convulsions are a common but not invariable symptom.

Its actual cause is unknown. Heredity plays a big part, but there are secondary causes beside factors which excite attacks.

Various methods and drugs to prevent seizures have a limited use.

First-aid treatment consists solely in preventing the victim sustaining any injury.

Neurasthenia is a disease due to nerve-exhaustion and poisoning from overwork and worry. Its symptoms are many, but fatigue and irritability are the chief.

Hysteria is an obstinate, functional, nervous disease in which the patient acts in an abnormal manner, which is highly provoking to other individuals.

The cure for hysteria and neurasthenia is solely hygienic, and depends mainly on the patient.

The first step towards health consists in getting any slight organic defects remedied.

Digestion is often poorly performed.

This must be remedied by thorough mastication and rational dieting.

Constipation is very inimical to neuropaths, and must be remedied.

Patients must pay careful attention to general hygiene.

Insomnia is exhausting and must be conquered.

The effects of imagination are profound.

Suggestion treatment overcomes imaginary ills.

Drug treatment is either of very limited utility, or frankly useless.

Patent medicines are never of the slightest use.

The rational training of neuropathic children is a very difficult but essential task.

Puberty and adolescence are very critical times.

Occupations and recreations must be wisely chosen.

Heredity is the primary cause of these diseases. As it cannot be treated, sufferers must not have children.

Character is abnormal in nervous disease.

Marriage is very undesirable.

As a parting injunction, whether you are an epileptic or a neurasthenic, or a friend, relative, or attendant of such a one:

"GO THOU SOFTLY ALL THY DAYS!"

* * * * *

BIBLIOGRAPHY

"Oh! for a booke and a shadie nooke, Eyther indoore or oute; Where I maie reade, all atte my ease Both of the newe and olde: For a jollie goode booke, whereonne to looke Is better to me than golde!"

The following books are suitable for laymen, and are most of them very readable.

EPILEPSY

We know of no book suitable for laymen,

NEURASTHENIA AND HYSTERIA

"Nervous Disorders of Men" (Kegan Paul) Hollander.

"Nervous Disorders of Women" (Kegan Paul) Hollander.

"National Degeneration" (Cornish, Birmingham) D.F. Harris.

"Hysteria and Neurasthenia" J.M. Clarke.

"The Management of a Nerve Patient" Schofield.

"Confessions of a Neurasthenic" (F.A. Davis Co., Philadelphia) Marrs.

"Conquest of Nerves" (Macmillan) Courtney.

GENERAL:

INDIGESTION

"Indigestion" Herschell.

DIETING

"Dietetics" (Jack's People's Books) A. Bryce.

"Diet in Dyspepsia" Tibbles.

"Cookery for Common Ailments" Brown.

CONSTIPATION

"Constipation" Bigg.

HYGIENE

"Laws of Life and Health" A. Bryce.

"Health" M.M. Burgess.

INSOMNIA

"Sleep and Sleeplessness" H.A. Bruce.

"The Meaning of Dreams" I.H. Coriat.

IMAGINATION

"Psychology in Daily Life" Seashore.

"Hygiene of the Mind" T.S. Clouston.

SUGGESTION

"Hypnotism and Suggestion" Hollander.

"How to Treat by Suggestion" Ash.

"Hypnotism and Self-Education" (Jack's People's Books) Hutchinson.

PATENT MEDICINES

"Patent Foods and Patent Medicines" (Bale & Davidson) Hutchinson.

See Chapter XX for B.M.A. Books.

THE CHILD

"Our Baby" R.D. Clark.

"Abnormal Children" (Kegan Paul) Hollander.

"The Baby" (Jack's People's Books) Anonymous.

"Training the Child" (Jack's People's Books) Spiller.

PUBERTY

"Youth and Sex" (Jack's People's Books) Scharlieb and Sibley.

"Woman in Childhood, Wifehood, and Motherhood" M.S. Cohen.

"The Adolescent Period" Starr.

"Physiology" (Home Univ. Library) McKendrick.

"Human Physiology" Leonard Hill.

HEREDITY AND CHARACTER

"Evolution" (Home Univ. Library) Thomson and Geddes.

"Heredity in the Light of Recent Research" (Cam. Univ. Press) Doncaster.

"The Psychology of Insanity" (Cam. Univ. Press) Bernard Hart.

MARRIAGE

"On Conjugal Happiness" R.G.S. Krohn

"Race Culture and Race Suicide" R.R. Rentoul.

* * * * *

INDEX

ABORTIVES, Use of, as cause of epilepsy, 22 Age-incidence in epilepsy, 17, 18 Air, Fresh, Importance of, 73 Alcohol, The question of, 64 Alcoholic excess in relation to epilepsy, 16, 21-23 —— —— neurasthenia, 31 Amyl Nitrite, to check the aura in epilepsy, 26 Analyses of proprietary preparations for children, 13 —— —— purgative medicines, 62 —— of secret remedies, British Medical Association, 13, 62, 92 Arson as manifestation of mental epilepsy, 10 Aspirin for post-epileptic headache, 29 Aura, The, 2, 3, 25 ——, ——, in Jacksonian epilepsy, 8 ——, Treatment of the, 25, 26 Auto-intoxication, 68 Auto-suggestion, Value of, 80, 83

BACKACHE in neurasthenia, 32 Baths, Advice as to, for neuropaths, 48, 73, 74 Blaud's pills, 95 Brain, Morbid changes in, associated with epilepsy, 18, 19 ——, Structure of the, 20 Bromides, Action of, hindered by salt, 65 —— in the prevention of epilepsy, 26 —— —— treatment of epilepsy, 86-88, 92 —— the basis of every epilepsy cure, 92 Bromism, 87 Brooding, harmful to neuropaths, 49, 50

CALM necessary in dealing with nervous children, 106 Carlyle, 90 Character, 123-30 ——, The basis of, 124 Chyle, The, 57 Chyme, The, 56 Circulation, The, in neuropaths, 73 Circulatory Disturbances in neurasthenia, 33 Clark on frequency of fits during repose, 23 Clark's statistics of epilepsy, 15 Cleanliness, 73 Climacteric, in relation to hysteria, 41 Clothing for neuropaths, 74 Coddling, Danger of, for nervous children, 103 "Complex", The, in consciousness, 10, 11 Concentration, Lack of, in neurasthenia, 34 ——, Mental, Exercises in, 51 Confession, The value of, 40 Conscious Mind, The, 10, 39 Consciousness, Alteration of, in epileptic attack, 3, 4, 6 ——, Dissociation of, 11 Constipation, 67-70 ——, Causes of, 67, 68 ——, Symptoms of, 68 ——, Treatment of, 68-70 Convulsions, Epileptic. See "Fit" —— in alcoholism, 23 —— in children, 13 —— in diabetes, 23 —— in pregnancy, 14 Cooking in relation to digestibility, 58 Country resorts suitable for neuropaths, 47 Criminal acts in psychic or mental epilepsy, 9, 10 Culpepper's Herbal, 86

DARK, Nervous children's fear of the, 105 Day-dreaming, 11, 108 Death, 58 Degeneration, Signs of, in epileptics, 17 Dementia, Epileptic, 16 Demonic Influence in relation to epilepsy, 1, 2 Dieting, 63-66 Digestion of foods, 58, 59 —— ——, Time occupied by the, 58 ——, The process of, 56-59 Digestive troubles in relation to epilepsy, 22, 26 —— ——, neurasthenia, 32, 33 Discipline of the nervous child, 103-106 Dissociation of consciousness, 11 Dostoieffsky's "The Idiot", a study of epilepsy, 130 Douche, The cold, for neuropaths, 74 Dreams, 12 ——, Sex-basis in, 12 Drug habit, The, in neuropaths, 93 Duties and trials of a neuropath's wife, 132-137

EARS, Care of the, 53 Egoism in relation to neurasthenia, 38 Electrical treatment for neuropaths, 50 Emotional repression as a factor in hysteria, 40 Enema, The use of the, 69 Energy from food, 58 Epilepsy a functional disease, 2 ——, Ancient remedies for, 86 —— as a mental complex, 23 —— ascribed to demonic influence, 1, 2 ——, Biblical reference to, 2 ——, Causes of, 20-24 ——, Clinical course of, 15-19 ——, Cure in, 19 ——, Definition of, 1, 19 ——, Effect of, on general health, 16 ——, Feigned, 14 ——, ——, Diagnosis of, 14 ——, Historical account of, 1, 2 —— in mediaeval times, 2 —— in neurasthenics, 35 —— in relation to genius, 125-127 —— —— marriage, 131 ——, Jacksonian, 7-9 ——, ——, its relative frequency, 15 ——, Major and minor, 1-6 ——, Medicines for, 86-89 ——, Mental, 9, 10 ——, ——, Rarity of, 15 ——, Nocturnal, 4, 5 ——, ——, its relative frequency, 15 ——, Preventive treatment of, 25-27 ——, Prognosis in, 19 ——, Psychic, 9, 10 ——, Rarer types of, 7-16 ——, Serial, 7 ——, Superstitions attached to, 1, 2 Epileptic children, Care of, 16 —— dementia, 16 —— fit See "Fit" —— fits, Times of occurrence of, 15, 23 Epileptiform seizures, 13 Exercise for neuropaths, 48, 74, 75 Eyes, Care of the, 53

FACIAL expression in epilepsy, 17 Fats, Digestion of, 57 Fears, Baseless, in neurasthenia, 35, 36 Feeding, Generous, needed for neuropaths, 47 Fit, Epileptic, Description of an, 3, 4 ——, ——, Mechanism of an, 20, 21 ——, ——, First-aid to victims of, 28, 29 Flatulence, Treatment of, 70 Foods, Proprietary, 94, 95 "Free will", The fallacy of, 124, 125 Freud on perverted sex-ideas as a cause of hysteria, 40 —— —— subconscious sexual desires in infants, 113 —— —— the sex-basis in dreams, 12 Fright as cause of epilepsy, 21

GASTRIC Juice, The, 56 Genius, Epilepsy in relation to, 125-127 "Germ-plasm", The, 118 —— in relation to neuropathic tendencies, 120, 121, 124 Globus hystericus, 42 Glycerin suppositories, 69 Glycerophosphates, 96 "Good" and "Evil", 123, 124 Gowers on epilepsy, 7 Gowers' statistics as to age-incidence of epilepsy, 17 Grand mal, 2-5 —— ——, its relative frequency, 15 Greene on hysteria, 44

HABIT, Importance of, in relation to constipation, 68 Haig on relation of uric acid to epilepsy, 23 Headache in neurasthenia, 32 Heredity, 118-122 Hobbies for neuropaths, 48 Hormone, The Function of a, 57 Hughlings Jackson, Dr, on the epileptic convulsion, 8 Husband of a neuropath, Advice to the, 138, 139 Huxley on the rules of the game of life, 46 Hygiene, General, 71-75 Hypochondriasis in neurasthenics, 36 Hypophosphites, 96 Hysteria, 39-45 ——, Age incidence of, 41 ——, Ancient views as to, 39 —— and neurasthenia contrasted, 41 —— Causes of, 40, 41 ——, Modern theories as to, 39 ——, Race incidence of, 42 ——, Sex-incidence of, 39, 41 ——, Symptoms of, 42-44 ——, Treatment of, 44 Hysterical attack, The, 42, 43

IMAGINATION, Effects of, 79-81 Indigestion, 60-62 Infantile convulsions, 13 —— ——, relation of to epilepsy, 13 —— ——, Treatment of, 13 Inhibitory cells of brain, 20, 21 Injuries to brain as cause of epilepsy, 21 Insanity in relation to dissociation of consciousness, 11 —— —— epilepsy, 16 Insomnia See "Sleeplessness" Intestinal worms, 102 Iron preparations, 95

JACKSONIAN epilepsy, 7, 8, 9 Janet on consciousness in hysteria, 40 Jones on the religious sentiment in neuropaths, 106, 107

KING'S evil, The, 86

LA ROCHEFOUCAULD on health and regimen, 65 Lecithin, 96 Lieberkuhn's glands, 57, 58 Life, in relation to tissue change, 58 Locock's introduction of bromides for epilepsy, 86

MACHINE, The human, 71, 72 Malt extracts, 93 Marriage, 131-139 —— and neuropathy, 122, 131, 132 —— of neuropaths should be childless, 134, 135 Mastication, Importance of thorough, 61 Masturbation, 110-112 ——, Effects of, 111, 112 —— in relation to epilepsy, 16, 22, 114 —— —— neurasthenia, 38 Meals, Number and time of, 64 Meat extracts, 93 —— juices, Value of, 64 ——, Moderation in its use necessary, 65 Memory in epilepsy, 17 ——, its subconscious basis, 10 Mendel's law of inheritance, 120, 121 Menopause in relation to neurasthenia, 31 Menstruation, Disordered, in neurasthenia, 33 —— in relation to epilepsy, 17, 22 Mental attitude of neurasthenics, 33-38 —— fatigue in neurasthenia, 33, 34 Mercier on the characteristics of the neuropath, 128-130 Mind in relation to consciousness, 10 Moral cowardice in relation to neurasthenia, 38 Morbus comitialis, 2 Motor cells of brain, 20, 21 Murder as manifestation of mental epilepsy, 10

NARCOTICS, Use and abuse of, 78 Nervous child, Training of the, 98-108 —— dyspepsia, 60 —— ——, Diet in, 65 Neurasthenia, 30-38 —— and hysteria contrasted, 41 ——, Causes of, 31, 32, 41 ——, Course and outlook in, 38, 41 —— in relation to epilepsy, 35 —— —— self abuse, 16, 38 ——, Sexual, 38 ——, Symptoms of, 32-38, 41 Neuropath, The, his need of a wife, 132 Neuropathic children, Characteristics of, 98, 99 —— ——, Diet of, 100-102 —— ——, Education of 99, 100 —— ——, Moral training of, 102-106 Neuropaths, Advice to, 46-52 ——, Mental characteristics of, 126-130 Neuropathy in relation to marriage, 122, 131-139 ——, The only way to eradicate, 121 Night terrors, 105 Nitroglycerine to check the epileptic aura, 25, 26 Nose, Care of the, 54

OPISTHOTONOS, 43 Optimism, Value of, 80 Osler on age-incidence of epilepsy, 18 —— —— the use of medicines, 93

PALPITATION during use of bromides, 87 —— in neurasthenia, 33 Parentage in relation to inherited qualities, 119, 120 Patent medicines, 90-97 —— —— and the dyspeptic, 60, 62 —— —— —— —— neurasthenic, 36 —— ——, explanation of their benefit, 80 Pepsin, 94 Petit mal, 5, 6 —— —— in childhood, 16 —— ——, its relative frequency 15 Phenalgin for post-epileptic headache, 29 Phosphorus preparations, 96 Piles, 70 Port wine in proprietary preparations, 93 Predigested foods, 94, 95 Pregnancy, Convulsions during, 14 —— in relation to epilepsy, 17, 22 Psycho-analysis in the treatment of hysteria, 40 Puberty, Bodily changes at, 109 ——, Dangers at and after, 109-114 —— in relation to epilepsy, 16, 18, 114 Punishment, Corporal, unsuited for nervous children, 105, 106 Pupils in epilepsy, The, 17 Purgatives, The abuse of, 69 ——, Suitable, 70

QUACK Advertisements, 91, 111

READING for neuropaths, 48 Recovery in epilepsy, 19 Recreations for neuropaths, 117 Reid on the effect of emotions on bodily functions, 81 Religion, Question of, in nervous children, 106-108 Rest for neuropaths, 49, 50 Responsibility in relation to mental epilepsy, 9, 10

SANATOGEN, 96 Savill on differences between neurasthenia and hysteria, 41 Self-abuse See "Masturbation" Self control, how far possible to neuropaths, 123-125 Self-restraint, The neuropath's lack of, 129, 130 Sentimentality to be discouraged in nervous children, 104 Sex education, The need for, 131 Sex-incidence in epilepsy, 18 Sex instruction for children, 110, 112 Sexual development early in neuropaths, 113, 114 —— excesses in relation to epilepsy, 16, 23 —— —— in relation to neurasthenia, 31, 38 —— instinct, Awakening of, 109, 110 —— neurasthenia, 38 —— offences as manifestations of mental epilepsy, 9, 10 —— rules for neuropaths, 48 Shaw, Bernard, his sneer at marriage, 131 Sleep, Relation of, to epileptic fit, 4 Sleeplessness, 76-78 ——, Causes of, 76, 77 ——, Treatment of, 77, 78, 85 —— in neurasthenia, 33 Sollmann on proprietary foods, 94, 96 Soothing syrups, 13 "Sound nerves", 52 Spirit writing, 11, 12 Spiritualism, Danger of, for neuropaths, 107 Spratling on epilepsy in consumptives, 17 Starr's statistics as to age-incidence in epilepsy, 17 —— —— heredity in epileptics, 121 —— —— types of epilepsy, 15 Status epilepticus, 7 —— ——, as final termination of epilepsy, 16 Subconscious mind, The, 10 Suggestion treatment, 82-85 Suicide in neurasthenics and hysterical subjects, 35, 41, 42 Sunstroke as cause of fits, 21 Sweetmeats, The use of, 64 Sympathy, Harm done by, in hysteria, 44, 45

TAPE worms, 102 Tea and coffee, 64 Teeth, Care of the, 54, 55 Tobacco undesirable for neuropaths, 74 Trades for epileptics, 116 —— —— neuropaths, 115-117 Turner on age-incidence of epilepsy, 18

UNCONSCIOUS activities, 39, 40 Unconsciousness in epilepsy, 3-5 Urine, Incontinence of, in epilepsy, 3-5

VEGETABLE Foods, 64 Villi, The intestinal, 57 Vittoz's exercises in mental concentration, 51 Vomiting, Risk of, in epilepsy, 26

WATER, When to drink, 61, 64, 68 Weir Mitchell Treatment, 50 Wife for the neuropath, The, 132-135 —— of a neuropath, Advice to the, 132-137 Will, Neuropath's lacking in, 125 Work and play, 115-117 Worms, Intestinal, 102 Worry as cause of neurasthenia, 31 —— to be avoided by neuropaths, 47, 49

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THE END