CATALEPSY (from the Greek word κατάληψις, a seizing), is a very rare form of disease, characterized by a sudden extinction of sensation and voluntary motion, with a peculiar rigidity of the voluntary muscles, in consequence of which the limbs retain during the paroxysm precisely the position they held at the moment of seizure, yet readily admit of and retain any other position they are made to assume. During this state the action of the heart and breathing continue, but are much slower and more feeble than during health. These fits come on at irregular intervals, and continue, when unchecked, for many years. Catalepsy is of such rare occurrence that few physicians have
Catalogue seen a true case of the disease, and it has consequently been much confounded with different forms of hysteria and chorea; yet the distinction is quite marked.
The pathology of the disease is obscure; but from the cases which have been published, it appears probable that it depends either on functional disorder of the abdominal viscera reacting on the brain, or on these associated with disease of the brain itself. That the first supposition is most probably the correct one is evidenced from the fact, that the cure of the disease has been generally effected by attention to diet and regimen, the regulation of the bowels, to the restoration of suppressed secretions, and other means which improve the health and give tone to the system.