he patient recovers so quickly that he cannot
be convinced he has been ill, to that awful state which terrifies every
beholder, and seems to menace the hapless victim with instant death. Every
degree of frequency, too, is known, from one attack in a lifetime, down
through one in a year, a month, a week, or a day; several in the same
periods, to _hundreds_ in four-and-twenty hours.

PETIT MAL ("_Little Evil_")

This is incomplete _grand mal_, the starting stages only of a fit, recovery
occurring before convulsions.

_Petit mal_ often occurs in people who do not suffer from _grand mal_, the
symptoms consisting of a loss of consciousness for _a few seconds_, the
seizure being so brief that the victim never realizes he has been
unconscious. He suddenly stops what he is doing, turns pale, and his eyes
become fixed in a glassy stare. He may give a slight jerk, sway, and make
some slight sound, smack his lips, try to speak, or moan. He recovers with
a start, and is confused, the attack usually being over ere he has had time
to fall.

If talking when attacked, he hesitates, stares in an absent-minded manner,
and then completes his interrupted sentence, unaware that he has acted
strangely. Whatever act he is engaged in is interrupted for a second or
two, and then resumed.

A mild type of _petit mal_ consists of a temporary _blurring_ of
consciousness, with muscular weakness. The victim drops what he is holding,
and is conscious of a strange, extremely unpleasant sensation, a sensation
which he is usually quite unable to describe to anyone else. The view in
front is clear, he understands what it is--a house here, a tree there, and
so on--yet he does not _grasp_ the vista as usual. Other victims have short
spells of giddiness, while some are unable to realize "where they are" for
a few moments.

Frequent _petit mal_ impairs the intellect more than _grand mal_, for
convulsions calm the patient as a good cry calms hysterical people. After a
number of attacks of _petit mal, grand mal_ usually supervenes, and most
epileptics suffer from attacks of both types. Some precocious, perverse
children are victims of unrecognized _petit mal_, and when pushed at school
run grave risks of developing symptoms of true epilepsy. The "Little Evil"
is a serious complaint.

* * * * *

CHAPTER II

RARER TYPES OF EPILEPSY

If it be true that: "One half the world does not know how the other
half lives",