Losserand reviews Freud's concept of epilepsy as elaborated in his Dostoevsky article. He sees the origin of the Freudian concept in Charcot's ideas on hysteria major. Charcot felt that hysteria and epilepsy were coeval, developing

at the same time. Losserand reviews the historical development of neurological and psychological conceptualizations of hysteria, epilepsy, and hystero-epilepsy. These scientific concepts of epilepsy are traced through Charcot's work, the early papers of Freud on the etiology of hysteria, and the work of French medical writers such as Trousseau and Babinski. Losserand attempts to delineate the complex relationship between hysterical attack, epileptic seizure, and coitus, as suggested in Freud's article on Dostoevsky. In the final section the author discusses The Brothers Karamazov, speculating on the psychological significance of various personages in the novel. He is especially concerned with the relationship of Smerdiakov and Alyosha.