The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-03-18
CnriOus Facts About Suicide.

savage and uneducated races-in fact might
be used TO measure the intellectual capacity
of people. Among the aborigines of this
country, Australia, and Africa, suicide is
almost unknown. 1t is also very rare among
Mohammedans. DIR. Oppenheim, distin-
guished German traveller, and author of
work on Turkey, met with only three cases of
suicide during his extensive travels through
the Ottoman Empire; aud two of these were
Christians, the third a renegade Christian.
European countries do, indeed, afford some
color TO the intellectual theory of suicide
Spain, far behind all other European coun-
tries in modern progress shows very few
cases of suicide; while among the Italians
suicide, which, previous to the late revou-
ton, was thing almost unknown, has now
become, comparatively speaking, quite fire.
quent. This does not surprise us, as it is
well known that suicide becomes common
after revolutions.
During the great Revolution in France
O789-1800), the number who committed
suicide was enormous, especially among the
nobility and better classes. When we recol-
lect the torture of the reign of terror, the
intense mental suffering caused by the loss of
relatives and friends as we'll as fortune, it
becomes easy to account for the frghtful
increase of suicide. This is equally true, but
not to the same extent, of all revolutions.
Statistics show the Germans to be the most
suicidal people in Europe; France comes next
on the list; England third, while the Irish are
the least suicidal people in Europe. The late
Professor Graves, of Dublin, many years ago
drew attention to the influence of seasons on
crime, the periodical recurrence of certain
crimes with certain seasons, as well as the
greater prevalence of the greatest of crimes
suicide-during the summer months, while
crimes against property prevailed during tn
winter and spring. The Investigations of
Esquirol at the Saltpetriere, and those of
other European lnquirers, show this statement
to be in the main correct. To account for
this, many theories have been advanced,
few of which we will mention and discuss in
the order in which they are now generally &C
cepted. The physical condition of the air,
including the quantity of moisture and
drought, terrestrial magnetism, and the elec-
trical condition, tend to react on the mind,
render us less capable of resisting immoral
inhuences-which, perhaps, in our own
day derive additional support from the
theory now generally received that
nervous force is an allotropic condition
of electricity-as ozone is of oxygen-and a
cause, a very frequent cause, of epidemics
Should this theory prove to be correct it will
explain great deal in times past, and afford
doctors an excellent opportunity to rid them
selves of the bette nOir of their profession.
Few, if any, now doubt the important part
terrestrial magnetism and the electrical con-
dition of the air play in the cause of disease
in plants as well as animals. The influence
of imitation has also had at all times a won-
derful influence in increasing or diminishing
the number of suicides, and very many curl
Gus facts are adduced to prove the correct
ness of this statement. 1t was noticed in
England, after the death of the Conservative
statesman, Lord Castlereagh, by suicide, that
very many persons destroyed themselves in
the same way. And in Paris, at the Hotel
des Invalides, one of the pensioners commit
ted suicide, and was followed by seven
others. The dark corridor was lighted, the
post from which the hanging took place re-
moved. when no more suicide took place.
In this case, no doubt, imitation was the
principal cause.
Among cities, London has by far the
largest number of suicides in proportion to
its population; in the Westminster district
and we now copy from English statistics
the proportion was one in every six thousand
three hundred and seventy-nine of the popu-
lation. A cSreful study of European statis-
tics shows the curious fact that married men
are less liable to commit suicide than single,
while the reverse holds good of females,
fact that might be used with some force
against those who advocate celibacy. In pro-
portion to the population, suicide is shown to
be more common in large cities than in
counted for when we recollect that cities are
the hiding places of those who commit crime;
and we know the massing together of large
numbers of people tends to demoral-
ize also, that, of those who commit
suicide, many, coming from the country
with bright hopes, meet with disappoint-
ment, and end their lives in despair. The
statements of French and English writers go
to prove that the greatest number of suicides
take place in June, July, and August, while
November. December, and January have the
lowest numbers A careful study of the
statistics published by the city of Boston
proves the correctness of this statement. The
statistics were first published in 1949, and
have been issued annually since, with the
exception of the years 1860 -'61-in all, nine
teen years-but, as there was no distinct
registration of males and females till 1854,
we have in reality only fourteen years to draw
our conclusions from. The register does not
furnish us information as to married or single,
an omission which prevents us from proving
the relative frequency of suicide in the two
conditions of life. The number of males
was little less than two-thirds of the whole
number females, q little over one-third.
The largest number of suicides occurred in
June. one-third more than November; next
in order, May and July; the lowest number
in February. and next in order December and
January. This proves the correctness OF
Graves statement, and shows it to be some
hing more than coincidence. From March
the number increased, till it reached the
maximum in June, when the ratio began tC
diminish.
The whole number of suicides for fourteen
years is: of males, one hundred and twenty
nine; females forty-seven and for nineteeI