case as he
stepped into the stand and bowed to the judge with bland professional
equality. His evidence-in-chief was short, but to the point, and
amounted to a recapitulation of the statement he had made to Colwyn in
Penreath's bedroom on the morning of the episode in the breakfast-room
of the Grand Hotel, Durrington. Sir Henry related the events of that
morning for the benefit of the jury, and in sonorous tones expressed his
professional opinion that the accused's strange behaviour on that
occasion was the result of an attack of epilepsy--petit mal, combined
with _furor epilepticus_.

The witness defined epilepsy as a disease of the nervous system, marked
by attacks of unconsciousness, with or without convulsions. The loss of
consciousness with severe convulsive seizures was known as grand mal,
the transient loss of consciousness without convulsive seizures was
called petit mal. Attacks of petit mal might come on at any time, and
were usually accompanied by a feeling of faintness and vertigo. The
general symptoms were sudden jerkings of the limbs, sudden tremors,
giddiness and unconsciousness. The eyes became fixed, the face slightly
pale, sometimes very red, and there was frequently some almost automatic
action. In grand mal there was always warning of an attack, in petit mal
there was no warning as a rule, but sometimes there was premonitory
giddiness and restlessness. _Furor epilepticus_ was a medical term
applied to the violence displayed during attacks of petit mal, a
violence which was much greater than extreme anger, and under its
influence the subject was capable of committing the most violent
outrages, even murder, without being conscious of the act.

"There is no doubt in your mind that the accused man had an attack of
petit mal in the breakfast-room of the Durrington hotel the morning
before the murder?" asked Mr. Middleheath.

"None whatever. All the symptoms pointed to it. He was sitting at the
breakfast table when he suddenly ceased eating, and his eyes grew
fixed. The knife which he held in his hand was dropped, but as the
attack increased he picked it up again and thrust it into the table in
front of him--a purely automatic action, in my opinion. When he sprang
up from the table a little while afterwards he was under the influence
of the epileptic fury, and would have made a violent attack on the
people sitting at the next table if I had not seized him.
Unconsciousness then supervened, and, with the