(E. Gr.)
EPIDIORITE,in petrology, a typical member of a family of rocks consisting essentially of hornblende and felspar, often with epidote, garnet, sphene, biotite, or quartz, and having usually a foliated structure. The term is to some extent synonymous with “amphibolite” and “hornblende-schist.” These rocks are metamorphic, and though having a mineral constitution somewhat similar to that of diorite, they have been produced really from rocks of more basic character, such as diabase, dolerite and gabbro. They occur principally among the schists, slates and gneisses of such districts as the Scottish Highlands, the north-west of Ireland, Brittany, the Harz, the Alps, and the crystalline ranges of eastern N. America. Their hornblende in microscopic section is usually dark green, rarely brownish; their felspar may be clear and recrystallized, but more frequently is converted into a turbid aggregate of epidote, zoisite, quartz, sericite and albite. In the less complete stages of alteration, ophitic structure may persist, and the original augite of the rock may not have been entirely replaced byhornblende. Pink or brownish garnets are common and may be an inch or two in diameter. The iron oxides, originally ilmenite, are usually altered to sphene. Biotite, if present, is brown; epidote is yellow or colourless; rutile, apatite and quartz all occur with some frequency. The essential minerals, hornblende and felspar, rarely show crystalline outlines, and this is generally true also of the others. The rocks may be fine grained, so that their constituents are hardly visible to the unaided eye; or may show crystals of hornblende an inch in length. Their prevalent colour is dark green and they weather with brown surfaces. In many parts of the world epidiorites and the quartz veins which sometimes occur in them have proved to be auriferous. As they are tough, hard rocks, when fresh, they are well suited for use as road-mending stones.
(J. S. F.)
EPIDOSITE, in petrology, a typical member of a family of metamorphic rocks composed mainly of epidote and quartz. In colour they are pale yellow or greenish yellow, and they are hard and somewhat brittle. They may occur in more than one way and are derived from several kinds of rock. Some have been epidotic grits and sandstones; others are limestones which have undergone contact-alteration; probably the majority, however, are allied to epidiorite and amphibolite, and are local modifications of rocks which were primarily basic intrusions or lavas. The sedimentary epidosites occur with mica-schists, sheared grits and granulitic gneisses; they often show, on minute examination, the remains of clastic structures. The epidosites derived from limestones may contain a great variety of minerals such as calcite, augite, garnet, scapolite, &c., but their source may usually be inferred from their close association with calc-silicate rocks in the field. The third group of epidosites may form bands, veins, or irregular streaks and nodules in masses of epidiorite and hornblende-schist. In microscopic section they are often merely a granular mosaic of quartz and epidote with some iron oxides and chlorite, but in other cases they retain much of the structure of the original rock though there has been a complete replacement of the former minerals by new ones. Epidosites when streaked and variegated have been cut and polished as ornamental stones. They are translucent and hard, and hence serve for brooch stones, and the simpler kinds of jewelry. These rocks occasionally carry gold in visible yellow specks.
(J. S. F.)
EPIDOTE, a mineral species consisting of basic calcium, aluminium and iron orthosilicate, Ca2(AlOH)(Al, Fe)2(SiO4)3, crystallizing in the monoclinic system. Well-developed crystals are of frequent occurrence: they are commonly prismatic in habit, the direction of elongation being perpendicular to the single plane of symmetry. The faces letteredM,Tandrin the figure are often deeply striated in the same direction:Mis a direction of perfect cleavage, andTof imperfect cleavage: crystals are often twinned on the faceT. Many of the characters of the mineral vary with the amount of iron present (Fe2O3, 5-17%), for instance, the colour, the optical constants, and the specific gravity (3.3-3.5). The hardness is 6½. The colour is green, grey, brown or nearly black, but usually a characteristic shade of yellowish-green or pistachio-green. The pleochroism is strong, the pleochroic colours being usually green, yellow and brown. The names thallite (fromθαλλός, “a young shoot”) and pistacite (fromπιστάκια, “pistachio nut”) have reference to the colour. The name epidote is one of R.J. Haüy’s crystallographic names, and is derived fromἐπίδοσις, “increase,” because the base of the primitive prism has one side longer than the other. Several other names (achmatite, bucklandite, escherite, puschkinite, &c.) have been applied to this species. Withamite is a carmine-red to straw-yellow, strongly pleochroic variety from Glencoe in Scotland. Fouqueite and clinozoisite are white or pale rose-red varieties containing very little iron, thus having the same chemical composition as the orthorhombic mineral zoisite (q.v.).
Epidote is an abundant rock-forming mineral, but one of secondary origin. It occurs in crystalline limestones and schistose rocks of metamorphic origin; and is also a product of weathering of various minerals (felspars, micas, pyroxenes, amphiboles, garnets, &c.) composing igneous rocks. A rock composed of quartz and epidote is known as epidosite. Well-developed crystals are found at many localities, of which the following may be specially mentioned: Knappenwand, near the Gross-Venediger in the Untersulzbachthal in Salzburg, as magnificent, dark green crystals of long prismatic habit in cavities in epidote-schist, with asbestos, adularia, calcite, and apatite; the Ala valley and Traversella in Piedmont; Arendal in Norway (arendalite); Le Bourg d’Oisans in Dauphiné (oisanite and delphinite); Haddam in Connecticut; Prince of Wales Island in Alaska, here as large, dark green, tabular crystals with copper ores in metamorphosed limestone.
The perfectly transparent, dark green crystals from the Knappenwand and from Brazil have occasionally been cut as gem-stones.
Belonging to the same isomorphous group with epidote are the species piedmontite and allanite, which may be described as manganese and cerium epidotes respectively.
Piedmontite has the composition Ca2(AlOH)(Fe, Mn)2(SiO4)3; it occurs as small, reddish-black, monoclinic crystals in the manganese mines at San Marcel, near Ivrea in Piedmont, and in crystalline schists at several places in Japan. The purple colour of the Egyptianporfido rosso anticois due to the presence of this mineral.
Allanite has the same general formula R2″(R″′OH)R2″′(SiO4)3, where R″ represents calcium and ferrous iron, and R″′ aluminium, ferric iron and metals of the cerium group. In external appearance it differs widely from epidote, being black or dark brown in colour, pitchy in lustre, and opaque in the mass; further, there is little or no cleavage, and well-developed crystals are rarely met with. The crystallographic and optical characters are similar to those of epidote; the pleochroism is strong with reddish-, yellowish-, and greenish-brown colours. Although not a common mineral, allanite is of fairly wide distribution as a primary accessory constituent of many crystalline rocks,e.g.gneiss, granite, syenite, rhyolite, andesite, &c. It was first found in the granite of east Greenland and described by Thomas Allan in 1808, after whom the species was named. Allanite is a mineral readily altered by hydration, becoming optically isotropic and amorphous: for this reason several varieties have been distinguished, and many different names applied. Orthite, fromὀρθός, “straight,” was the name given by J.J. Berzelius in 1818 to a hydrated form found as slender prismatic crystals, sometimes a foot in length, at Finbo, near Falun in Sweden.
(L. J. S.)
EPIGONI(“descendants”), in Greek legend, the sons of the seven heroes who fought against Thebes (seeAdrastus). Ten years later, to avenge their fathers, the Epigoni undertook a second expedition, which was completely successful. Thebes was forced to surrender and razed to the ground. In early times the war of the Epigoni was a favourite subject of epic poetry. The term is also applied to the descendants of the Diadochi, the successors of Alexander the Great.
EPIGONION(Gr.ἐπιγόνειον), an ancient stringed instrument mentioned in Athenaeus 183 C, probably a psaltery. The epigonion was invented, or at least introduced into Greece, by Epigonus, a Greek musician of Ambracia in Epirus, who was admitted to citizenship at Sicyon as a recognition of his great musical ability and of his having been the first to pluck the strings with his fingers, instead of using the plectrum.1The instrument, which Epigonus named after himself, had forty strings.2It was undoubtedly a kind of harp or psaltery, since in an instrument of so many strings some must have been of different lengths, for tension and thickness only could hardly have produced forty different sounds, or even twenty, supposing that they were arranged in pairs of unisons. Strings of varying lengths requirea frame like that of the harp, or of the Egyptian cithara which had one of the arms supporting the cross bar or zugon shorter than the other,3or else strings stretched over harp-shaped bridges on a sound-board in the case of a psaltery. Juba II., king of Mauretania, who reigned from 30B.C., said (ap. Athen. l.c.) that Epigonus brought the instrument from Alexandria and played upon it with the fingers of both hands, not only using it as an accompaniment to the voice, but introducing chromatic passages, and a chorus of other stringed instruments, probably citharas, to accompany the voice. Epigonus was also a skilled citharist and played with his bare hands without plectrum.4Unfortunately we have no record of when Epigonus lived. Vincenzo Galilei5has given us a description of the epigonion accompanied by an illustration, representing his conception of the ancient instrument, an upright psaltery with the outline of the clavicytherium (but no keyboard).
(K. S.)
1Michael Praetorius,Syntagma musicum, tom. 1, c. 13, p. 380: Salomon van Til,Sing-Dicht und Spiel-Kunst, p. 95.2Pollux,Onomasticon, lib. iv. cap. 9, 59.3For an illustration, see Kathleen Schlesinger,Orchestral Instruments, part ii. “Precursors of the Violin Family,” fig. 165, p. 219.4Athenaeus, iv. p. 183 d. and xiv. p. 638 a.5Dialogo della musica antica e moderna, ed. 1602, p. 40.
1Michael Praetorius,Syntagma musicum, tom. 1, c. 13, p. 380: Salomon van Til,Sing-Dicht und Spiel-Kunst, p. 95.
2Pollux,Onomasticon, lib. iv. cap. 9, 59.
3For an illustration, see Kathleen Schlesinger,Orchestral Instruments, part ii. “Precursors of the Violin Family,” fig. 165, p. 219.
4Athenaeus, iv. p. 183 d. and xiv. p. 638 a.
5Dialogo della musica antica e moderna, ed. 1602, p. 40.
EPIGRAM, properly speaking, anything that is inscribed. Nothing could be more hopeless, however, than an attempt to discover or devise a definition wide enough to include the vast multitude of little poems which at one time or other have been honoured with the title of epigram, and precise enough to exclude all others. Without taking account of its evident misapplications, we find that the name has been given—first, in strict accordance with its Greek etymology, to any actual inscription on monument, statue or building; secondly, to verses never intended for such a purpose, but assuming for artistic reasons the epigraphical form; thirdly, to verses expressing with something of the terseness of an inscription a striking or beautiful thought; and fourthly, by unwarrantable restriction, to a little poem ending in a “point,” especially of the satirical kind. The last of these has obtained considerable popularity from the well-known lines—
“The qualities rare in a bee that we meetIn an epigram never should fail;The body should always be little and sweet,And a sting should be left in its tail”—
“The qualities rare in a bee that we meet
In an epigram never should fail;
The body should always be little and sweet,
And a sting should be left in its tail”—
which represent the older Latin of some unknown writer—
“Omne epigramma sit instar apis: sit aculeus illi;Sint sua mella; sit et corporis exigui.”
“Omne epigramma sit instar apis: sit aculeus illi;
Sint sua mella; sit et corporis exigui.”
Attempts not a few of a more elaborate kind have been made to state the essential element of the epigram, and to classify existing specimens; but, as every lover of epigrams must feel, most of them have been attended with very partial success. Scaliger, in the third book of hisPoetics, gives a fivefold division, which displays a certain ingenuity in the nomenclature but is very superficial: the first class takes its name frommel, or honey, and consists of adulatory specimens; the second fromfel, or gall; the third fromacetum, or vinegar; and the fourth fromsal, or salt; while the fifth is styled the condensed, or multiplex. This classification is adopted by Nicolaus Mercerius in hisDe conscribendo epigrammate(Paris, 1653); but he supplemented it by another of much more scientific value, based on the figures of the ancient rhetoricians. Lessing, in the preface to his own epigrams, gives an interesting treatment of the theory, his principal doctrine being practically the same as that of several of his less eminent predecessors, that there ought to be two parts more or less clearly distinguished,—the first awakening the reader’s attention in the same way as an actual monument might do, and the other satisfying his curiosity in some unexpected manner. An attempt was made by Herder to increase the comprehensiveness and precision of the theory; but as he himself confesses, his classification is rather vague—the expository, the paradigmatic, the pictorial, the impassioned, the artfully turned, the illusory, and the swift. After all, if the arrangement according to authorship be rejected, the simplest and most satisfactory is according to subjects. The epigram is one of the most catholic of literary forms, and lends itself to the expression of almost any feeling or thought. It may be an elegy, a satire, or a love-poem in miniature, an embodiment of the wisdom of the ages, a bon-mot set off with a couple of rhymes.
“I cannot tell thee who lies buried here;No man that knew him followed by his bier;The winds and waves conveyed him to this shore,Then ask the winds and waves to tell thee more.”Anonymous.“Wherefore should I vainly tryTo teach thee what my love will beIn after years, when thou and IHave both grown old in company,If words are vain to tell thee how,Mary, I do love thee now?”Anonymous.“O Bruscus, cease our aching ears to vex,With thy loud railing at the softer sex;No accusation worse than this could be,That once a woman did give birth to thee.”Acilius.“Treason doth never prosper. What’s the reason?For if it prospers none dare call it treason.”Harrington.“Ward has no heart they say, but I deny it;He has a heart, and gets his speeches by it.”Rogers.
“I cannot tell thee who lies buried here;
No man that knew him followed by his bier;
The winds and waves conveyed him to this shore,
Then ask the winds and waves to tell thee more.”
Anonymous.
“Wherefore should I vainly try
To teach thee what my love will be
In after years, when thou and I
Have both grown old in company,
If words are vain to tell thee how,
Mary, I do love thee now?”
Anonymous.
“O Bruscus, cease our aching ears to vex,
With thy loud railing at the softer sex;
No accusation worse than this could be,
That once a woman did give birth to thee.”
Acilius.
“Treason doth never prosper. What’s the reason?
For if it prospers none dare call it treason.”
Harrington.
“Ward has no heart they say, but I deny it;
He has a heart, and gets his speeches by it.”
Rogers.
From its very brevity there is no small danger of the epigram passing into childish triviality: the paltriest pun, a senseless anagram, is considered stuff enough and to spare. For proof of this there is unfortunately no need to look far; but perhaps the reader could not find a better collection ready to his hand than the second twenty-five of theEpigrammatum centuriaeof Samuel Erichius; by the time he reaches No. 11 of the 47th century, he will be quite ready to grant the appropriateness of the identity maintained between the GermanSeele, or soul, and the GermanEsel, or ass.
Of the epigram as cultivated by the Greeks an account is given in the articleAnthology, discussing those wonderful collections which bid fair to remain the richest of their kind. The delicacy and simplicity of so much of what has been preserved is perhaps their most striking feature; and one cannot but be surprised at the number of poets proved capable of such work. In Latin literature, on the other hand, the epigrammatists whose work has been preserved are comparatively few, and though several of them, as Catullus and Martial, are men of high literary genius, too much of what they have left behind is vitiated by brutality and obscenity. On the subsequent history of the epigram, indeed, Martial has exercised an influence as baneful as it is extensive, and he may fairly be counted the far-off progenitor of a host of scurrilous verses. Nearly all the learned Latinists of the 16th and 17th centuries may claim admittance into the list of epigrammatists,—Bembo and Scaliger, Buchanan and More, Stroza and Sannazaro. Melanchthon, who succeeded in combining so much of Pagan culture with his Reformation Christianity, has left us some graceful specimens, but his editor, Joannes Major Joachimus, has so little idea of what an epigram is, that he includes in his collection some translations from the Psalms. The Latin epigrams of Étienne Pasquier were among the most admirable which the Renaissance produced in France. John Owen, or, as he Latinized his name, Johannes Audoenus, a Cambro-Briton, attained quite an unusual celebrity in this department, and is regularly distinguished as Owen the Epigrammatist. The tradition of the Latin epigram has been kept alive in England by such men as Porson, Vincent Bourne and Walter Savage Landor. Happily there is now little danger of any too personal epigrammatist suffering the fate of Niccolo Franco, who paid the forfeit of his life for having launched his venomous Latin against Pius V., though he may still incur the milder penalty of having his name inserted in theIndex Expurgatorius, and find, like John Owen, that he consequently has lost an inheritance.
In English literature proper there is no writer like Martial in Latin or Logau in German, whose fame is entirely due to his epigrams; but several even of those whose names can perish never have not disdained this diminutive form. The designation epigram, however, is used by earlier English writers with excessive laxity, and given or withheld without apparent reason.The epigrams of Robert Crowley (1550) and of Henry Parrot (1613) are worthless so far as form goes. John Weever’s collection (1599) is of interest mainly because of its allusion to Shakespeare. Ben Jonson furnishes a number of noble examples in hisUnderwoods; and one or two of Spenser’s little poems and a great many of Herrick’s are properly classed as epigrams. Cowley, Waller, Dryden, Prior, Parnell, Swift, Addison, Johnson, Goldsmith and Young have all been at times successful in their epigrammatical attempts; but perhaps none of them has proved himself so much “to the manner born” as Pope, whose name indeed is almost identified with the epigrammatical spirit in English literature. Few English modern poets have followed in his footsteps, and though nearly all might plead guilty to an epigram or two, there is no one who has a distinct reputation as an epigrammatist. Such a reputation might certainly have been Landor’s, had he not chosen to write the best of his minor poems in Latin, and thus made his readers nearly as select as his language.
The French are undoubtedly the most successful cultivators of the “salt” and the “vinegar” epigram; and from the 16th century downwards many of their principal authors have earned no small celebrity in this department. The epigram was introduced into French literature by Mellin de St Gelais and Clément Marot. It is enough to mention the names of Boileau, J.B. Rousseau, Lebrun, Voltaire, Marmontel, Piron, Rulhière, and M.J. Chénier. In spite of Rapin’s dictum that a man ought to be content if he succeeded in writing one really good epigram, those of Lebrun alone number upwards of 600, and a very fair proportion of them would doubtless pass muster even with Rapin himself. If Piron was never anything better, “pas même académicien,” he appears at any rate in Grimm’s phrase to have been “une machine à saillies, à épigrammes, et à bons mots.” Perhaps more than anywhere else the epigram has been recognized in France as a regular weapon in literary and political contests, and it might not be altogether a hopeless task to compile an epigrammatical history from the Revolution to the present time.
While any fair collection of German epigrams will furnish examples that for keenness of wit would be quite in place in a French anthology, the Teutonic tendency to the moral and didactic has given rise to a class but sparingly represented in French. The very name ofSinngedichtebears witness to this peculiarity, which is exemplified equally by the rudepriamelnorproeameln, of the 13th and 14th centuries and the polished lines of Goethe and Schiller. Logau published hisDeutsche Sinngetichte Drey Tausendin 1654, and Wernicke no fewer than six volumes ofUeberschriften oder Epigrammatain 1697; Kästner’sSinngedichteappeared in 1782, and Haug and Weissen’sEpigrammatische Anthologiein 1804. Kleist, Opitz, Gleim, Hagedorn, Klopstock and A.W. Schlegel all possess some reputation as epigrammatists; Lessing isfacile princepsin the satirical style; and Herder has the honour of having enriched his language with much of what is best from Oriental and classical sources.
It is often by no means easy to trace the history of even a single epigram, and the investigator soon learns to be cautious of congratulating himself on the attainment of a genuine original. The same point, refurbished and fitted anew to its tiny shaft, has been shot again and again by laughing cupids or fierce-eyed furies in many a frolic and many a fray. During the period when the epigram was the favourite form in Germany, Gervinus tells us how the works, not only of the Greek and Roman writers, but of Neo-Latinists, Spaniards, Dutchmen, Frenchmen, Englishmen and Poles were ransacked and plundered; and the same process of pillage has gone on in a more or less modified degree in other times and countries. Very noticeable often are the modifications of tone and expression occasioned by national and individual characteristics; the simplicity of the prototype may become common-place in the imitation, the sublime be distorted into the grotesque, the pathetic degenerate into the absurdly sentimental; or on the other hand, an unpromisingmotifmay be happily developed into unexpected beauty. A good illustration of the variety with which the same epigram may be translated and travestied is afforded by a little volume published in Edinburgh in 1808, under the title ofLucubrations on the Epigram—
Εἰ μὲν ᾖν μαθεῖν ἆ δεῖ παθεῖν,καὶ μὴ παθεῖν, καλὸν ἦν τὸ μαθεῖνεἰ δὲ δεῖ παθεῖν ἆ δ᾽ ᾖν μαθεῖν,τί δεῖ μαθεῖν; χρὴ γὰρ παθεῖν.
Εἰ μὲν ᾖν μαθεῖν ἆ δεῖ παθεῖν,
καὶ μὴ παθεῖν, καλὸν ἦν τὸ μαθεῖν
εἰ δὲ δεῖ παθεῖν ἆ δ᾽ ᾖν μαθεῖν,
τί δεῖ μαθεῖν; χρὴ γὰρ παθεῖν.
The two collections of epigrams most accessible to the English reader are Booth’sEpigrams, Ancient and Modern(1863) and Dodd’sThe Epigrammatists(1870). In the appendix to the latter is a pretty full bibliography, to which the following list may serve as a supplement:—Thomas Corraeus,De toto eo poëmatis genere quod epigramma dicitur(Venice, 1569; Bologna, 1590); Cottunius,De conficiendo epigrammate(Bologna, 1632); Vincentius Gallus,Opusculum de epigrammate(Milan, 1641); Vavassor,De epigrammate liber(Paris, 1669);Gedanke von deutschen Epigrammatibus(Leipzig, 1698);Doctissimorum nostra aetate Italorum epigrammata; Flaminii Moleae Naugerii, Cottae, Lampridii, Sadoleti, et aliorum, cura Jo. Gagnaei(Paris,c.1550); Brugière de Barante,Recueil des plus belles épigrammes des poètes français(2 vols., Paris, 1698); Chr. Aug. Heumann,Anthologia Latina: hoc est, epigrammata partim a priscis partim junioribus a poëtis(Hanover, 1721); Fayolle,Acontologie ou dictionnaire d’épigrammes(Paris, 1817); Geijsbeck,Epigrammatische Anthologie, Sauvage,Les Guêpes gauloises: petit encyclopédie des meilleurs épigrammes, &c., depuis Clément Marot jusqu’aux poètes de nos jours(1859);La Récréation et passe-temps des tristes: recueil d’épigrammes et de petits contes en vers réimprimé sur l’édition de Rouen1595, &c. (Paris, 1863). A large number of epigrams and much miscellaneous information in regard to their origin, application and translation is scattered throughNotes and Queries.See also an article inThe Quarterly Review, No. 233.
The two collections of epigrams most accessible to the English reader are Booth’sEpigrams, Ancient and Modern(1863) and Dodd’sThe Epigrammatists(1870). In the appendix to the latter is a pretty full bibliography, to which the following list may serve as a supplement:—Thomas Corraeus,De toto eo poëmatis genere quod epigramma dicitur(Venice, 1569; Bologna, 1590); Cottunius,De conficiendo epigrammate(Bologna, 1632); Vincentius Gallus,Opusculum de epigrammate(Milan, 1641); Vavassor,De epigrammate liber(Paris, 1669);Gedanke von deutschen Epigrammatibus(Leipzig, 1698);Doctissimorum nostra aetate Italorum epigrammata; Flaminii Moleae Naugerii, Cottae, Lampridii, Sadoleti, et aliorum, cura Jo. Gagnaei(Paris,c.1550); Brugière de Barante,Recueil des plus belles épigrammes des poètes français(2 vols., Paris, 1698); Chr. Aug. Heumann,Anthologia Latina: hoc est, epigrammata partim a priscis partim junioribus a poëtis(Hanover, 1721); Fayolle,Acontologie ou dictionnaire d’épigrammes(Paris, 1817); Geijsbeck,Epigrammatische Anthologie, Sauvage,Les Guêpes gauloises: petit encyclopédie des meilleurs épigrammes, &c., depuis Clément Marot jusqu’aux poètes de nos jours(1859);La Récréation et passe-temps des tristes: recueil d’épigrammes et de petits contes en vers réimprimé sur l’édition de Rouen1595, &c. (Paris, 1863). A large number of epigrams and much miscellaneous information in regard to their origin, application and translation is scattered throughNotes and Queries.
See also an article inThe Quarterly Review, No. 233.
EPIGRAPHY(Gr.ἐπί, on, andγράφειν, to write), a term used to denote (1) the study of inscriptions collectively, and (2) the science connected with the classification and explanation of inscriptions. It is sometimes employed, too, in a more contracted sense, to denote the palaeography, in inscriptions. Generally, it is that part of archaeology which has to do with inscriptions engraved on stone, metal or other permanent material (not, however, coins, which come under the headingNumismatics).
SeeInscriptions;Palaeography.
SeeInscriptions;Palaeography.
EPILEPSY(Gr.ἐπί, upon, andλαμβάνειν, to seize), orFalling Sickness, a term applied generally to a nervous disorder, characterized by a fit of sudden loss of consciousness, attended with convulsions. There may, however, exist manifestations of epilepsy much less marked than this, yet equally characteristic of the disease; while, on the other hand, it is to be borne in mind that many other attacks of a convulsive nature have the term “epileptic” or “epileptiform” applied to them.
Epilepsy was well known in ancient times, and was regarded as a special infliction of the gods, hence the namesmorbus sacer,morbus divus. It was also termedmorbus Herculeus, from Hercules having been supposed to have been epileptic, andmorbus comitialis, from the circumstance that when any member of the forum was seized with an epileptic fit the assembly was broken up.Morbus caducus,morbus lunaticus astralis,morbus demoniacus,morbus major, were all terms employed to designate epilepsy.
There are three well-marked varieties of the epileptic seizure; to these the termsle grand mal,le petit malandJacksonian epilepsyare usually applied. Any of these may exist alone, but the two former may be found to exist in the same individual. The first of these, if not the more common, is at least that which attracts the most attention, being what is generally known as anepileptic fit.
Although in most instances such an attack comes on suddenly, it is in many cases preceded by certain premonitory indications or warnings, which may be present for a greater or less time previously. These are of very varied character, and may be in the form of some temporary change in the disposition, such as unusual depression or elevation of spirits, or of some alteration in the look. Besides these general symptoms, there are frequently peculiar sensations which immediately precede the onset of the fit, and to such the name ofaura epilepticais applied. In its strict sense this term refers to a feeling of a breath of air blowing upon some part of the body, and passing upwards towards the head. This sensation, however, is not a common one, and the term has now come to be applied to any peculiar feeling which thepatient experiences as a precursor of the attack. The so-calledauramay be of mental character, in the form of an agonizing feeling of momentary duration; of sensorial character, in the form of pain in a limb or in some internal organ, such as the stomach, or morbid feeling connected with the special senses; or, further, of motorial character, in the form of contractions or trembling in some of the muscles. When such sensations affect a limb, the employment of firm compression by the hand or by a ligature occasionally succeeds in warding off an attack. The aura may be so distinct and of such duration as to enable the patient to lie down, or seek a place of safety before the fit comes on.
The seizure is usually preceded by a loud scream or cry, which is not to be ascribed, as was at one time supposed, to terror or pain, but is due to the convulsive action of the muscles of the larynx, and the expulsion of a column of air through the narrowed glottis. If the patient is standing he immediately falls, and often sustains serious injury. Unconsciousness is complete, and the muscles generally are in a state of stiffness or tonic contraction, which will usually be found to affect those of one side of the body in particular. The head is turned by a series of jerks towards one or other shoulder, the breathing is for the moment arrested, the countenance first pale then livid, the pupils dilated and the pulse rapid. This, the first stage of the fit, generally lasts for about half a minute, and is followed by the state of clonic (i.e.tumultuous) spasm of the muscles, in which the whole body is thrown into violent agitation, occasionally so great that bones may be fractured or dislocated. The eyes roll wildly, the teeth are gnashed together, and the tongue and cheeks are often severely bitten. The breathing is noisy and laborious, and foam (often tinged with blood) issues from the mouth, while the contents of the bowels and bladder are ejected. The aspect of the patient in this condition is shocking to witness, and the sight has been known to induce a similar attack in an onlooker. This stage lasts for a period varying from a few seconds to several minutes, when the convulsive movements gradually subside, and relaxation of the muscles takes place, together with partial return of consciousness, the patient looking confusedly about him and attempting to speak. This, however, is soon followed by drowsiness and stupor, which may continue for several hours, when he awakes either apparently quite recovered or fatigued and depressed, and occasionally in a state of excitement which sometimes assumes the form of mania.
Epileptic fits of this sort succeed each other with varying degrees of frequency, and occasionally, though not frequently, with regular periodicity. In some persons they only occur once in a lifetime, or once in the course of many years, while in others they return every week or two, or even are of daily occurrence, and occasionally there are numerous attacks each day. According to Sir J.R. Reynolds, there are four times as many epileptics who have their attacks more frequently than once a month as there are of those whose attacks recur at longer intervals. When the fit returns it is not uncommon for one seizure to be followed by another within a few hours or days. Occasionally there occurs a constant succession of attacks extending over many hours, and with such rapidity that the patient appears as if he had never come out of the one fit. The termstatus epilepticusis applied to this condition, which is sometimes followed with fatal results. In many epileptics the fits occur during the night as well as during the day, but in some instances they are entirely nocturnal, and it is well known that in such cases the disease may long exist and yet remain unrecognized either by the patient or the physician.
The second manifestation of epilepsy, to which the namesepilepsia mitiororle petit malare given, differs from that above described in the absence of the convulsive spasms. It is also termed by some authorsepileptic vertigo(giddiness), and consists essentially in the sudden arrest of volition and consciousness, which is of but short duration, and may be accompanied with staggering or some alteration in position or motion, or may simply exhibit itself in a look of absence or confusion, and should the patient happen to be engaged in conversation, by an abrupt termination of the act. In general it lasts but a few seconds, and the individual resumes his occupation without perhaps being aware of anything having been the matter. In some instances there is a degree of spasmodic action in certain muscles which may cause the patient to make some unexpected movement, such as turning half round, or walking abruptly aside, or may show itself by some unusual expression of countenance, such as squinting or grinning. There may be some amount ofaurapreceding such attacks, and also of faintness following them. Thepetit malmost commonly co-exists with thegrand mal, but has no necessary connexion with it, as each may exist alone. According to Armand Trousseau, thepetit malin general precedes the manifestation of thegrand mal, but sometimes the reverse is the case.
The third manifestation—Jacksonian epilepsyorpartial epilepsy—is distinguished by the fact that consciousness is retained or lost late. The patient is conscious throughout, and is able to watch the march of the spasm. The attacks are usually the result of lesions in the motor area of the brain, such being caused, in many instances, by depression of the vault of the skull, due to trauma.
Epilepsy appears to exert no necessarily injurious effect upon the general health, and even where it exists in an aggravated form is quite consistent with a high degree of bodily vigour. It is very different, however, with regard to its influence upon the mind; and the question of the relation of epilepsy to insanity is one of great and increasing importance. Allusion has already been made to the occasional occurrence of maniacal excitement as one of the results of the epileptic seizure. Such attacks, to which the name offuror epilepticusis applied, are generally accompanied with violent acts on the part of the patient, rendering him dangerous, and demanding prompt measures of restraint. These attacks are by no means limited to the more severe form of epilepsy, but appear to be even more frequently associated with the milder form—the epileptic vertigo—where they either replace altogether or immediately follow the short period of absence characteristic of this form of the disease. Numerous cases are on record of persons known to be epileptic being suddenly seized, either after or without apparent spasmodic attack, with some sudden impulse, in which they have used dangerous violence to those beside them, irrespective altogether of malevolent intention, as appears from their retaining no recollection whatever, after the short period of excitement, of anything that had occurred; and there is reason to believe that crimes of heinous character, for which the perpetrators have suffered punishment, have been committed in a state of mind such as that now described. The subject is obviously one of the greatest medico-legal interest and importance in regard to the question of criminal responsibility.
Apart, however, from such marked and comparatively rare instances of what is termed epileptic insanity, the general mental condition of the epileptic is in a large proportion of cases unfavourably affected by the disease. There are doubtless examples (and their number according to statistics is estimated at less than one-third) where, even among those suffering from frequent and severe attacks, no departure from the normal condition of mental integrity can be recognized. But in general there exists some peculiarity, exhibiting itself either in the form of defective memory, or diminishing intelligence, or what is perhaps as frequent, in irregularities of temper, the patient being irritable or perverse and eccentric. In not a few cases there is a steady mental decline, which ends in dementia or idiocy. It is stated by some high authorities that epileptic women suffer in regard to their mental condition more than men. It also appears to be the case that the later in life the disease shows itself the more likely is the mind to suffer. Neither the frequency nor the severity of the seizures seem to have any necessary influence in the matter; and the general opinion appears to be that the milder form of the disease is that with which mental failure is more apt to be associated. (For a consideration of the conditions of the nervous system which result in epilepsy, see the articleNeuropathology.)
The influence of hereditary predisposition in epilepsy is verymarked. It is necessary, however, to bear in mind the point so forcibly insisted on by Trousseau in relation to epilepsy, that hereditary transmission may be either direct or indirect, that is to say, that what is epilepsy in one generation may be some other form of neurosis in the next, and conversely, nervous diseases being remarkable for their tendency to transformation in their descent in families. Where epilepsy is hereditary, it generally manifests itself at an unusually early period of life. A singular fact, which also bears to some extent upon the pathology of this disease, was brought to light by Dr Brown Séquard in his experiments, namely, that the young of animals which had been artifically rendered epileptic were liable to similar seizures. In connexion with the hereditary transmission of epilepsy it must be observed that all authorities concur in the opinion that this disease is one among the baneful effects that often follow marriages of consanguinity. Further, there is reason to believe that intemperance, apart altogether from its direct effect in favouring the occurrence of epilepsy, has an evil influence in the hereditary transmission of this as of other nervous diseases. A want of symmetry in the formation of the skull and defective cerebral development are not infrequently observed where epilepsy is hereditarily transmitted.
Age is of importance in reference to the production of epilepsy. The disease may come on at any period of life, but it appears from the statistics of Reynolds and others, that it most frequently first manifests itself between the ages of ten and twenty years, the period of second dentition and puberty, and again at or about the age of forty.
Among other causes which are influential in the development of epilepsy may be mentioned sudden fright, prolonged mental anxiety, over-work and debauchery. Epileptic fits also occur in connexion with a depraved stage of the general health, and with irritations in distant organs, as seen in the fits occurring in dentition, in kidney disease, and as a result of worms in the intestines. The symptoms traceable to these causes are sometimes termedsympatheticoreccentric epilepsy; these are but rarelyepilepticin the strictest sense of the word, but rather epileptiform.
Epilepsy is occasionally feigned for the purpose of extortion, but an experienced medical practitioner will rarely be deceived; and when it is stated that although many of the phenomena of an attack, particularly the convulsive movements, can be readily simulated, yet that the condition of the pupils, which are dilated during the fit, cannot be feigned, and that the impostor seldom bites his tongue or injures himself, deception is not likely to succeed even with non-medical persons of intelligence.
Themedical treatmentof epilepsy can only be briefly alluded to here. During the fit little can be done beyond preventing as far as possible the patient from injuring himself while unconsciousness continues. Tight clothing should be loosened, and a cork or pad inserted between the teeth. When the fit is of long continuance, the dashing of cold water on the face and chest, or the inhalation of chloroform, or of nitrite of amyl, may be useful; in general, however, the fit terminates independently of any such measures. When the fit is over the patient should be allowed to sleep, and have the head and shoulders well raised.
In the intervals of the attack, the general health of the patient is one of the most important points to be attended to. The strictest hygienic and dietetic rules should be observed, and all such causes as have been referred to as favouring the development of the disease should, as far as possible, be avoided. In the case of children, parents must be made to realize that epilepsy is a chronic disease, and that therefore the seizures must not be allowed to interfere unnecessarily with the child’s training. The patient must be treated as such only during the attack; between times, though being carefully watched, must be made to follow a child’s normal pursuits, and no distinction must be made from other children. The same applies to adults: it is far better for them to have some definite occupation, preferably one that keeps them in the open air. If such patients become irritable, then they should be placed under supervision. As regards those who cannot be looked after at home, colonies on a self-supporting basis have been tried, and where the supervision has been intelligent the success has been proved, a fairly high level of health and happiness being attained.
The various bromides are the only medical drugs that have produced any beneficial results. They require to be given in large doses which are carefully regulated for every individual patient, as the quantities required vary enormously. Children take far larger doses in proportion than adults. They are best given in a very diluted form, and after meals, to diminish the chances of gastric disturbance. Belladonna seems also to have some influence on the disease, and forms a useful addition; arsenic should also be prescribed at times, both as a tonic, and for the sake of the improvement it effects in those patients who develop a tendency toacne, which is one of the troublesome results of bromism. The administration of the bromides should be maintained until three years after the cessation of the fits. The occurrence of gastric pain, palpitations and loss of the palate reflex are indications to stop, or to decrease the quantity of the drug. In very severe cases opium may be required.
Surgical treatment for epilepsy is yet in its infancy, and it is too early to judge of its results. This does not apply, however, to cases ofJacksonian epilepsy, where a very large number have been operated on with marked benefit. Here the lesion of the brain is, in a very large percentage of the patients, caused by pressure from outside, from the presence of a tumour or a depressed fracture; the removal of the one, or the elevation of the other is the obvious procedure, and it is usually followed by the complete disappearance of the seizures.
EPILOGUE.The appendix or supplement to a literary work, and in particular to a drama in verse, is called anepilogue, fromἐπίλογος, the name given by the Greeks to the peroration of a speech. As we read in Shakespeare’sMidsummer Night’s Dream, the epilogue was generally treated as the apology for a play; it was a final appeal made to encourage the good-nature of the audiences, and to deprecate attack. The epilogue should form no part of the work to which it is attached, but should be independent of it; it should be treated as a sort of commentary. Sometimes it adds further information with regard to what has been left imperfectly concluded in the work itself. For instance, in the case of a play, the epilogue will occasionally tell us what became of the characters after the action closed; but this is irregular and unusual, and the epilogue is usually no more than a graceful way of dismissing the audience. Among the ancients the form was not cultivated, further than that the leader of the chorus or the last speaker advanced and said “Vos valete, et plaudite, cives”—“Good-bye, citizens, and we hope you are pleased.” Sometimes this formula was reduced to the one word, “Plaudite!” The epilogue as a literary species is almost entirely confined to England, and it does not occur in the earliest English plays. It is rare in Shakespeare, but Ben Jonson made it a particular feature of his drama, and may almost be said to have invented the tradition of its regular use. He employed the epilogue for two purposes, either to assert the merit of the play or to deprecate censure of its defects. In the former case, as inCynthia’s Revels(1600), the actor went off, and immediately came on again saying:—
“Gentles, be’t known to you, since I went inI am turned rhymer, and do thus begin:—The author (jealous how your sense doth takeHis travails) hath enjoined me to makeSome short and ceremonious epilogue,”—
“Gentles, be’t known to you, since I went in
I am turned rhymer, and do thus begin:—
The author (jealous how your sense doth take
His travails) hath enjoined me to make
Some short and ceremonious epilogue,”—
and then explained to the audience what anextremelyinteresting play it had been. In the second case, when the author was less confident, his epilogue took a humbler form, as in the comedy ofVolpone(1605), where the actor said:—
“The seasoning of a play is the applause.Now, as the Fox be punished by the laws,He yet doth hope, there is no suffering dueFor any fact which he hath done ’gainstyou.If there be, censure him; here he doubtful stands:If not, fare jovially and clap your hands.”
“The seasoning of a play is the applause.
Now, as the Fox be punished by the laws,
He yet doth hope, there is no suffering due
For any fact which he hath done ’gainstyou.
If there be, censure him; here he doubtful stands:
If not, fare jovially and clap your hands.”
Beaumont and Fletcher used the epilogue sparingly, but aftertheir day it came more and more into vogue, and the form was almost invariably that which Ben Jonson had brought into fashion, namely, the short complete piece in heroic couplets. The hey-day of the epilogue, however, was the Restoration, and from 1660 to the decline of the drama in the reign of Queen Anne scarcely a play, serious or comic, was produced on the London stage without a prologue and an epilogue. These were almost always in verse, even if the play itself was in the roughest prose, and they were intended to impart a certain literary finish to the piece. These Restoration epilogues were often very elaborate essays or satires, and were by no means confined to the subject of the preceding play. They dealt with fashions, or politics, or criticism. The prologues and epilogues of Dryden are often brilliantly finished exercises in literary polemic. It became the custom for playwrights to ask their friends to write these poems for them, and the publishers would even come to a prominent poet and ask him to supply one for a fee. It gives us an idea of the seriousness with which the epilogue was treated that Dryden originally published his valuable “Defence of the Epilogue; or An Essay on the Dramatic Poetry of the Last Age” (1672) as a defence of the epilogue which he had written forThe Conquest of Granada. In France the custom of reciting dramatic epilogues has never prevailed. French criticism gives the name to such adieux to the public, at the close of a non-dramatic work, as are reserved by La Fontaine for certain critical points in the “Fables.”