esisting power,
rather than because no seeds of disease ever reach them. In case of
epidemic, then, besides daily sponging with acetic acid or vinegar, and
_scrupulous cleanliness_, everything should be done to increase health
and vitality in the household. Plenty of fresh air and sunlight, open
windows day and night, and good plain food, are most powerful aids to
resisting disease. The milk and water used in the household should all
be boiled and _allowed to cool_ before use, the boiling lasting
half-an-hour. The family where all this is done may expect to escape
infection, and therefore may maintain that calmness and freedom from
fear which is itself a very important help against it.

Epilepsy.--The first sign of such an illness is a brief and slight
attack of "absence." We notice once or twice that the person "loses
himself" for a few moments, but recovers so speedily that we scarcely
are sure whether anything of importance has occurred. He is perfectly
unaware that he has so "lost himself" or been "absent" at all. That
part of the brain on the activity of which consciousness depends has
been for the moment inactive.

There is another symptom--that is, the "falling" which gives one of its
titles to this malady. It is called "the falling sickness." There is a
peculiarity in the falling of one who is affected in this way. In some
cases consciousness partially remains, but the balancing power of the
brain is lost. A patient in this case sees the ground rise till it
strikes him violently on the forehead. We remember a friend telling us
that he was walking along a railway, when all at once the rail seemed
to rise and strike him in the face: he had fallen on the rail, and
seriously wounded himself. The same thing occurs to the person who has
taken enough alcohol to deprive him for the time of brain action for
the usual balancing of his body. Just as there is a certain part of the
brain which gives men consciousness, so is there a part which gives
muscular control, such as we use in balancing the body, and there is a
stream of vital action flowing from the nerve sources by which both are
supplied. If this stream is diverted from these organs, "absence" and
"falling" are the natural and necessary result.

There are many cases in which there are only "absence" and "falling,"
but in others, symptoms much more alarming appear. The next of these
which we notice introduces us to a totally distinct element in our
explanation.