Volume 19, 2007 - Brown University

The Hippocratic View of Epilepsy and Brain Function 33
cal knowledge, they are unable to effectively treat anyone suffering from epilepsy,
and for this reason they chose to call it “sacred” so that they could not be
blamed for their ineffectual treatment and would be “sheltered in superstition”
(Jones, 1923:141). Hippocrates describes their treatments as extreme, and at
best, harmless. These treatments include directives against baths, against the
consumption of many foods, and against wearing black or goats skins. The foods
banned are foods that the Greeks generally believed were unhealthy for sick
people, and wearing black was also considered to be a bad omen for all that are
sick, since it is the “sign of death” (Jones, 1923:143).
Hippocrates in fact believed that it was sacrilegious to blame the gods for
epilepsy. Since the gods were completely holy, he did not believe that they
would cause corruption in humans: “However, I hold that a man’s body is not
defiled by a god, the one being utterly corrupt the other perfectly holy” and even
if impurity exists in humans “a god is more likely to purify and sanctify it than
he is to cause defilement” (Jones, 1923:149). In his invective against a superstitious
view of epilepsy Hippocrates includes an interesting description of the
symptoms of epilepsy. He states that men assigned blame to a different god for
each of the signs of the “sacred disease”:
If the patient imitate[s] a goat, if he roar[s], or suffer[s] convulsion[s] in the
right side, they say that the Mother of the Gods is to blame. If he utter[s] a
piercing and loud cry, they liken him to a horse and blame Poseidon. Should
he pass some excrement, as often happens under the stress of the disease, the
surname Enodia is applied. If it be more frequent and thinner, like that of
birds, it is Apollo Nomius. If he foam[s] at the mouth and kick[s], Ares has
the blame. (Jones, 1923:149)
Though Hippocrates’ goal was not to describe the basic symptoms of epilepsy,
he did so in a way that is very consistent with the modern conception of the
disease—convulsions, cries, and foaming at the mouth.
Hippocrates gives a complete and systematic description of what he
believes to be the cause of epilepsy. According to him the defining feature of
epilepsy is that it affects people who are phlegmatic but not bilious. He believes
that it is a hereditary illness and that it begins in the embryo (Jones, 1923:151).
The embryonic brain according to his philosophy undergoes a natural cleansing
process while it is still in the womb, eliminating impurities before birth. If this
process is well regulated and not disturbed, a normal infant will be born. However,
if in the process of the brain driving out impurities, it eliminates too much,
the infant will have a “diseased head” (Jones, 1923:155). If the reverse happens
and there is too little purging, the brain becomes “congested” and the infant will
be phlegmatic (Jones, 1923:157). Purging can still take place during childhood
and happens when a child breaks out in sores or has excessive mucus. Children
that do not undergo this process run the risk of developing a number of disorders.
Excessive phlegm can make its way to the heart and veins, in the heart
causing difficulty breathing and palpitations and in the bowels causing diarrhea.