known also by the names of the morbus comitialis, morbus sacer, and falling sickness, is a convulsive disease which attacks suddenly at more or less regular intervals. Three almost distinct forms of the disease are met with. In the mildest form only stupor occurs, the person losing consciousness, but continuing to walk without knowing where he is going. In the next form the person is suddenly seized with a sick feeling or faint, and drops off his chair or falls down, groaning slightly, being insensible for the moment, and the whole body becomes bedewed with a cold clammy perspiration. These two forms, however, if the disease goes on, pass into the more severe form, when the person on being affected suddenly utters an unearthly scream or yell, and falls down quite insensible, the body and extremities becoming quite rigid. Quivering of the voluntary muscles instantly follows, which increases to regular convulsive motions, twitching the body and limbs into various positions. The eyes usually remain open, the face is much distorted, foam gathers in the mouth, and is often tinged with blood from the tongue being injured by the teeth. The breathing is more or less laborious, and very generally the lips are blown out at each expiration. The pulse, at first quick and feeble, becomes slow and languid. As the spasms abate slight consciousness returns, on which the person usually falls into a sleep which endures from half an hour to several hours, and from this he awakes weak and languid. These fits for the most part exhibit a tendency to periodic recurrence. In certain rare cases epilepsy, though recurring at intervals, does not appear to injure the intellect; but in the great majority of cases the mental faculties become more and more impaired as the disease progresses, and the person at last falls into a state of perfect idiocy, if not cut off previously during a fit or by its terminating in apoplexy or paralysis. Often, however, a violent fit of insanity follows an epileptic fit. The pathology of the disease is very obscure, for as yet no relation whatever has been traced between the existence of any known lesion of the brain and the epileptic fits. True it is that in most epileptics the brain is found in a more or less diseased state; but the same morbid changes occur in others who have had no epileptic fits; and in some who were subject to epileptic fits for years no organic changes have been discovered in the brain. Epilepsy is usually considered as being divisible into two species—one depending on some primary affection of the brain; the other as a sympathetic disease depending on some diseased state of the stomach, liver, kidney, or other organ, and affecting the brain by a kind of reflex action. In a disease the nature of which is so little understood, it is not to be expected that the medical treatment is in a satisfactory state. Accordingly this disease has chiefly been treated by empirical remedies which now and then succeed in removing the fits; or rather the malady disappears while the person is undergoing a course of treatment, which gets credit for the cure. Instead of enumerating these, a few directions for the management of a person in a fit seem more appropriate to this notice. A person liable to epileptic fits should never be left alone, or allowed to go out riding, driving, or boating. He should avoid all excitement of mind and body, keep away from crowded places or streets, live moderately, and avoid stimulants. When seized with a fit, he should be supported by his attendant, and be laid gently down on the ground or floor, his neckcloth removed, and his head supported. No attempt should be made to administer fluids of any kind; but if the tongue seems to be in danger from the convulsive motions of the mouth, a cork or piece of wood may be inserted between the jaws and held there. When the fit is over, it is very desirable to allow the person to enjoy uninterruptedly the short sleep which follows, if in a place where this can be done.

EPilogue, in Oratory, the conclusion of a discourse in which the principal matters are recapitulated.

Epilogue, in the Drama, a speech or short poem addressed to the audience by one of the actors after the conclusion of the play, and usually containing reflections on some incidents in the play.