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M. G. PETERMAN, M.D.

Am J Dis Child. 1926;32(3):416-424.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Idiopathic or essential epilepsy is a chronic disease of the nervous system characterized by periodically recurring convulsions, lapses or abnormal mental states occurring in persons with a personality defect or constitutional inferiority but with no demonstrated pathologic lesion.¹ It is estimated that 0.4 per cent of the population is epileptic. The personality defect or the "psychobiologic feature" has been demonstrated by Clarke in his excellent monograph, Clinical Studies in Epilepsy.² This constitutional inferiority is probably an inherited defect (rather than congenital).

The hereditary predisposition has long been considered a factor in the etiology of epilepsy.³ The accompanying table gives the variations in statistics on the influence of heredity.

It must be remembered that a reliable history is extremely difficult to obtain from an epileptic or from his parents. Also, the statistics will vary greatly in different countries and in different centers of population. In a consideration of . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
MILWAUKEE

From the Milwaukee Children's Hospital.

Footnotes
Received for publication, June 19, 1926.

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