The Falling Sickness: A History of Epilepsy from the Greeks to the Beginnings of Modern Neurology

First published in 1945 and thoroughly revised in 1971, this classic work by one of the history of medicine's most eminent scholars now returns to print in a new softcover edition. In The Falling Sickness, Owsei Temkin presents the history of epilepsy in Western civilization from ancient times to the beginnings of modern neurology. His extensive use of quotations from original sources and his restraint in the use of modern medical terminology enables the author to afford unusual insight into what past generations saw, thought, and expressed. Yet this is also a developmental history of the disease and as such is guided by modern interests even where older opinions are contrary to those of the present day.