This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/jUB.2ACI/673.1 Message Board Post: >>>>>>>>>Just received a death certificate on relative who died in 1907. It describes, briefly, that he died of "exhaustion from shock and toxemia in strangulation; secondary cause of death was left inguinal hernia and epilepsy."<<<<<<<<<< Sounds like he died from a Grand Mal seizure, and the secondary causes were the actual cause ofdeath in the long run, they list the IMMRDIATE causes as primary, and long term illnesses as contributory. Sounds as if he drowned or choked in the middle of a seizure. The hernia can and probably was caused by the seizures, which in those days they had NO treatment for.