T HE mysterious disease known as epilepsy, with its cardinal symptoms of convulsions and loss of consciousness, is followed by a variety of mental disturbances, some permanent and others of only a transient character. It seems to make little or no difference whether the individual suffers from the mild or the severer type of convulsions, sooner or later he will show deterioration of the intellect, or the periodic occurrence of graver forms of insanity. Nevertheless, it may be stated as a general rule that the earlier the disease comes on, the greater the liability to mental deterioration and the more rapid the failure, while in those persons in whom the attacks begin in later years of life, the deteriorating process is much slower, owing to the stability of the nerve tracks acquired in infancy and youth. Epileptics who have had fits for years show a dimming of the reasoning faculties, defects of memory, alternations of character, a sinking to a lower plane of intelligence, and above all a tendency to impulsiveness and irritability. To this rule there are but infrequent exceptions. In many instances of the disease the epileptic is irritable even to violence, unmanageable, careless of the feelings of his family and friends, and is among the most difficult of mental cases to handle. As a general rule it may be stated that the more frequent the seizures, the more rapid the mental deterioration. There are, however, cases who have a great many attacks and who hold up mentally in a surprising manner in spite of the frequent assaults on the nervous system; again, there are cases with very infrequent seizures who deteriorate with great rapidity.