Samuel Auguste Tissot - Traité de l'épilepsie - 1771

Samuel Auguste Tissot (1728-1797). Treatise on Epilepsy. Paris, Lausanne, Didot, François Grasset, 1771, (4) ff. 419 pp.

An octavo volume (165 x 100 mm), full calf, spine with raised bands ornate, marbled edges (binding of the period). Binding very worn, losses on the boards and on the spine, stains on the title page, a marginal restoration on the page of the notice to the reader. Light damp staining on the first pages.

Edition published one year after the original edition.

The Epilepsy Treatise by Swiss physician Samuel-Auguste Tissot is one of the first major scientific works devoted entirely to this disease. In it, Tissot defines epilepsy as a disorder of the nervous system, rejecting the superstitious explanations that were still widespread.
He proposes a classification of crises, based on clinical observation and the experience of physicians.
The author analyzes possible causes (heredity, trauma, excess, emotions) and describes the symptoms with precision. Finally, he recommends rational treatments (diet, lifestyle, moderate medication), marking a decisive advance toward a modern medical approach to epilepsy.