At the session of the American Medical Association in 1920, I had the privilege of making a summary report on personal experiences with phenobarbital (luminal) in the treatment of epilepsy1 which was based on the observation of about 100 cases. The majority of them had been under treatment for periods varying from several months to two years, while only a small number had been under uninterrupted treatment since 1914.
This paper is based on a total of 200 cases of epilepsy under my care, exclusive of the patients sent only for consultation and of those who did not return after one or two visits.
My first patients were principally the mild type of ambulatory epileptic, who naturally brought to the office similar material. Following the publication of my paper, however, I was visited by persons with some of the most intractable cases—patients who had received various remedies with little