"Shakespeare" believed that Epilepsy was caused by foul breath entering the cells of the brain, as witness the scene in "Julius Caesar," Caesar falls down in the market place, foams at the mouth and is speechless; a result attributed by "Shakespeare" to the foul breath of the multitude of people surrounding him. This belief is, of course, quite erroneous.
Is it a coincidence that Francis Bacon in his Natural History states that epilepsy is caused by "gross vapours rising and entering the cells of the brain," and that "Shakespeare" and Bacon both hold the same erroneous opinion with regard to the cause of this disease?

SirBacon.org - Sir Francis Bacon's New Advancement of Learning