The epileptology of Theodore Herpin (1799-1865)

The Frenchman, Theodore Herpin (1799-1865), in Des Acces Incomplets d'Epilepsie, published posthumously in 1867, provided a very detailed account of a wide range of the possible manifestations of nonconvulsive epileptic seizures. However, he did not note the presence of absence seizures in any of his 300 patients who had experienced, at least in some of their attacks, what he considered were incomplete manifestations of epilepsy, the word epilepsy being taken to refer to full generalized tonic-clonic seizures. In the one patient, Herpin recognized that all epileptic seizures, whether complete or incomplete, began in the same way, and deduced that they must originate in the same place in that patient's brain. He did not develop the latter idea further. His observations, and his interpretation of them, seem to have preceded John Hughlings Jackson's independent development of similar concepts, but Jackson's more extensive intellectual exploration of the implications of his observations made him a more important figure than Herpin in the history of epileptology.

For Your Freedom and Ours: The Polish Question in Wilson's Peace Initiatives, 1916 - 1917

The first eighteen months of the Great War witnessed an unprecedented awakening of interest in the Polish Question, when worldwide attention was drawn to the prolonged devastation of the Polish territories. Thereafter, a steady increase in media comment and criticism, highlighting Poland's plight, fostered public indignation at the continual stalling of humanitarian relief efforts for Polish refugees. Such burgeoning popular sentiment focused wider political attention upon a growing movement for recognition of Polish claims to independence. This particularly proved to be the case for Woodrow Wilson and his administration's budding interest in Poland. Subsequently, nowhere did the Polish Question assume a greater role in diplomatic efforts to mediate for peace than in America, and at no time more than during the year preceding the President's hesitant decision to intervene in hostilities.