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OF ARETÆUS, THE CAPPADOCIAN. CAUSES AND SYMPTOMS OF ACUTE DISEASE
BOOK I.
CHAPTER V. ON THE PAROXYSM OF EPILEPTICS
* * * * sluggishness, vertigo, heaviness of the tendons, plethora
and distension of the veins in the neck; and much nausea
indeed after food, but also, not unfrequently, with abstinence,
there is a faint nausea; and phlegm is often vomited; want of
appetite and indigestion after little food: they have flatulence
and meteorism in the hypochondria. These symptoms, indeed,
are constant.
But, if it be near the accession of the paroxysm, there are
before the sight circular flashes of purple or black colours, or
of all mixed together, so as to exhibit the appearance of the
rainbow expanded in the heavens; noises in the ears; a heavy
smell; they are passionate, and unreasonably peevish. They
fall down then, some from any such cause as lowness of spirits,
but others from gazing intently on a running stream, a rolling
