ABSTRACT
The first description of narcolepsy with cataplexy was made by Westphal in 1877 (1). Ge´lineau coined the term “narcolepsie” from the Greek words for seize and sleep, a name which in his words “will recall the double analogy of narcolepsy with sleepiness and catalepsy” (2). Previous reports of narcolepsy were attributed to Thomas Willis, Schindler, and Caffe´, but none of these authors mentioned cataplexy (3-5).
