ALCOHOL AND EPILEPSY.

White Ribbon, Volume 23, Issue 266, 18 August 1917, Page 2

ALCOHOL AND EPILEPSY.

Matthew Woods, M l)., member of the American Medical Association, and the National Association for the Treatment and Care of Epileptics, stated that: “According to the observation of all epileptologists there can be no doubt as to the effects of alcohol in general, as a frequent factor in the production of epilepsy. The difference among observers is one of degree, rather than kind. Maudsley, for example, is responsible for the startling expression that epileptics, because of drink on the part of parents, are as much manufactured articles as are steam engines and calico printing machines.” Dr. Molli, of France, assures us that of all persons inheriting impaired nervous systems from drunken parents, from 30 to 40 per cent, of them were epileptics. Dejerine, of France, asserts that 51 per cent, of all epilepsies in children are due to parental alcoholism. For Germany, l)r. Binswanger declares of epileptics in Germany, 22 per cent, of them have had their origin in parental inebriation, while but n per cent, were due to parental epilepsy. From the investigations of numerous cases, conducted by various physicians of high repute, evidence is adduced to justify the conclusion that even a single lapse from total abstinence is sufficient to curse the unborn child with an epileptic or insane tendency.