Treatment of Epilepsy

Abstract

When there is a violent attack of this disease, keep the head upright: rub the jerking lower limbs with a rough towel, separate the teeth by hand or with an instrument, open the mouth by force: remember to mix juice of theriac and rue and apply it to the tongue and soft palate with a feather: or take castoreum dissolved in oxymel, squill, benzoin and pitch and introduce this oil with a feather into the throat to induce vomiting: and instil black hellebore and pyrethrum into the nose. Also, use hyeris and such to purge out the phlegm. Open the popliteal vein, or the great or small saphenous, though the haemorrhoids may be more available. Apply the cautery to the nape of the neck and cup the back, so that the flame may draw forth abundant blood. Release the secret forces of the human brain with seed and root of peony, the mistletoe of oak, the rennet of a hare, the heart of wolf, vulture or mole, the liver of a kite of fox’s brain, the stone found in the stomach of swallows or chickens.