Treating epilepsy: a review of Polish historical sources

The first surviving Polish publications on epilepsy were written in the 16th and 17th centuries. Many causes of epileptic seizures are quoted and they are divided into two categories: internal and external. Internal causes (causa interna) include imbalance in the basic bodily humors, that is, yellow bile, black bile, phlegm, and blood. According to medieval writers, the principal cause of epilepsy was vapor, a damp, cold volatile substance originating in the excessive production of one of the basic organismic liquids. Vapor allegedly stuck to the openings leading to the cerebral ventricles or blocked them entirely, resulting in convulsions. External causes (causa externa) include overeating and excessive drinking, teething, spoiled milk, poisons, badly treated spots and fever, cold air, moonlight, and wearing donkey hide. Medical treatments for epilepsy included surgical interventions (bloodletting) and pharmacological interventions. The latter included laxatives, sea onion (scilla maritima, urginea maritima), and ground human skull, all of which were supposed to protect the body from vapors. Medical practitioners of that time also advised that the factors and circumstances conducive to epileptic seizures be observed and identified so that patients could be isolated from these alleged causal factors and their seizures reduced or ended.