ADMINISTRATION OF THE BROMIDES IN EPILEPSY.[D] The present inquiry is the result of an experience of 300 cases of epilepsy treated by myself with the bromides of potassium and ammonium. In all of these the clinical facts, as well as the progress of the malady, were carefully studied and recorded. The effects of the administration of these remedies on epileptic seizures I have already investigated and demonstrated in a somewhat elaborate series of observations.[E] Further experience has confirmed the correctness of the general propositions then arrived at, so that they need not again be elaborated in detail. At present it is proposed to direct attention to the effects of the prolonged administration of large doses of the bromides, and to attempt to ascertain if, while arresting or diminishing the frequency and severity of the paroxysmal symptoms, they beneficially influence the disease itself, or in any way injuriously modify the constitution of the patient. On this subject much difference of opinion and misconception prevail. It is well known that the injudicious use of the drugs leads to certain physiological phenomena which are comprised under the term "bromism." It is also generally believed that the physical and mental depression resulting from their prolonged toxic effects constitutes a condition worse than the malady for which they are exhibited. One of the objects of this article is to question the accuracy of this assertion, a true apprehension of which is the more important when we reflect how universal is this method of treatment, and the deterrent effect it exercises upon epileptic attacks. The task, like other therapeutic inquiries--especially those connected with chronic disease--is a difficult one, there being innumerable pitfalls of error between us and a sound scientific conclusion. These, however, may, I believe, in great measure be surmounted by the accumulation of facts laboriously and accurately recorded, by the intelligent study of their details, and the impartial and logical deductions which may be drawn from the data supplied. The value of a therapeutic inquiry depends, not upon the opinions and undigested experience of individuals, or by the narration of isolated cases, but upon the indisputable proofs resulting from the unbiassed analysis of a large series of accurately observed and unselected examples. The solution of the problem, if complex in all clinical affections, is especially so in epilepsy. Although the symptoms of this disease have been recognised from the earliest ages, our knowledge of its essential nature is as yet shrouded in mystery. The etiology and pathology are practically undetermined. The phenomena are not only due to a varied series of morbid conditions, but may assume a multitude of forms and degrees of severity, which may be, on the one hand, of the briefest duration, or, on the other, of a life-long permanence. The symptoms may comprise not only a diversity of physical