New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-06-13
The Causes Of Suicide.

| III were married. ll8 were unmarried. ani
| fOrty-nine we're widows and widOwers.
] More persons commit suicide during the
| summer months than in cold weather. IT,
August, 1870, fifteen persons killed them
selves, and in December of the same yeal
only seven: in July, 1872, there were TWEEN
| ty cases, and in December of the same wear
| only four. Clerks commit suicide moro
! frequently than persons following other oc.
in 1872, thirty four clerks killed themselves.
! and ten laborers. Poisoning is the most
usual method 2l2 persons out of nearly GOO
took poison, the preference being for arsenic
in the common form of paris green. One
hundred and forty-seven persons shot
themselves, and 1875 killed themselves bv
hanging. Two extraordinary methods are
cited-One that of q man who shot himself
and then jumped from q window: the
other that OF a man who threw himself in
front OF moving To- connective engine.
This method Of suicide certainly has been
employed a number of times in other places.
and, it is our impression, more than once in
New York. Another method often EN-.
ployed, not only in this country, but
throughout the world, is jumping from a
building or some high place. DIR. Hamilton
cOnfesses that ''under the circumstances he
himself has experienced a morbid desire of
is very common, although we do not recol
lect to have heard of au instance in which
the sensation was so constant as in q case
which he mentions, where the person sub.
ject to 1t refused to sleep in the third or
fourth story of house for fear of iumpinp
from the windows.
The canses of this tendency to suicide are
various. DIR. Hamilton accounts for the fact
that poison is the favOrfte method of COM
uniting suicide in this city by the compare.
tive ease with which poison can be obtained.
A person in Broadway, for example, can
step into drug store and buy almost any
kind of poison he asks for, and take it
before he could walk half the distance
either to the North River or to the East
river. But while he was walking that
distance the impulse to self destruction
might have passed away. There is no
doubt that the sale of poisonous drugs
ought to be more strictly regulated than it
Is. Poison, however, is simply the means
to an end, and were it distributed daily in
every household, in assorted packages, it
would fail to account for the number of
suicides. except as it afforded opportunities
TOR self-murder. Suicide is really the direct
result of mental disease. So long as the
mind remains unatfr cted by surrounding
circumstances, there is no danger of suicide.
Even the impulse to throw ones self from
a tower or high building is purely mental.
Nevertheless the menlal affection is usually
due to bodily condition. DR.. Hamilton
speaks OF opium-eating, chloroform taking,
whisky drinking, living in crowded and un-
wholesome tenement houses, unsuccessful
oVerWOrk. strikes, immortality of all kinds,
and consequent loss of self respect followed
by despair, and, in short, we NAV say every
thing which makes life seem not worth q
further effort. "To be or not to be" Hamlet
said, that is the question:" and when, in
asking the question. the mind is conscious
OF the utility OF longer existence, the an
swer Is very certain to be in favor of death
For the conditions which produce such a
state OF mind, society is partly responsible.
AN abandoned woman who commits sui.
eide ordinarily does SO because, having a
desire to lead an honest life, is without
nope OF success. So she gives up. The
shop girl who finds herself mother before
she Is wife, prefers death to life, because
she una glnes the disgrace is indelibe. The
clerk who had rather face death than bis
employer, finds reason for his preference
IN IN inc oelie1 that there is no adequate rem
edy tor detected guilt. The mechanic,
forced into an absurd conspiracy against
the order ct society, first under the specious
plea OF selt-lnterest, and secondly under the
supposed necessity of loyalty adhering to-
MIS- brother members of the trades union to-
winch he belongs, seeks permanent rest
rom labor because he is too cowardlv, first.
TO break away from the arbitrary restraits
"hlch hls trade organization puts upon his
Work. and secondly. to look again upon the
wan faces OF his wife and hungry children.
In behalf of society it is to be said that in
many classes OF cases the Individual is the
sole responsible cause for his own t,lisfor.
tunes; on the other hand, in behalf of tha
Individual it is to be said that society makes
no allowance tor the inexperience and mis-.
taxes OF youth. Society. in most of it,
various relations to the individual! reiter.
ates The old decree: 1.-THE soul that sin.
leth, it shalt die.''
is almost idle, however. to a.temp, to
ADJUST the specific responsibility for the
causes OF seli-murder. The fac. is that
many OF the causes are very remote and
'oscu'e' so'rem0te and obscure, perhaps, al
never to he susceptible of satisfac,ory state.
heht. All that science and beneyolencs
can 90 Is to labor to remove or weaken the
conspicuous physical and mora! causes.
Or. Hamilton himself recognizes the limits
"ltnih when all preventive efforts must ba
'ohhned: ITO reduce the statistics of sui.
'ide." he says, '.wouId require an attack
upon our whole social svstein'
~ would riquire more than that: i. would
'e!ulre an amount of mental training to.
me Individual such as all the school, ana
'yseehs vi philosophy and self discipline "
me race have, as yet, been unabl. &. .tf-e..
ID: Christian religion. in crea.in. =
which serves instead o: :,r.,:lu.
combating The ills of life. come, nea-e..
>" .'"S tia1 :eso!ute and iHG"m.tabi.'
courage I" the human hear. wh;c., j. i..j..
,easah'e. But the vitality 8: ,h. .,,ra.s
NUS produced depends, in part, u,o:! -.
'l: ~, o: she belle. tina. .elt dp-truct!..
!" ~ c'es"heliH one in create: evils.
"'0a'i '"e limits !nent!"GsC. above. beHo
yer. honeth'n. may be done. N.can
4 a'e. ."r example. the sp.cia: temptation.
." suicide which. daring the last f. " years.
1"'" peset clerks and other persons hol.:in.
'os!tions o: financial trust. 10 an irg.de.rn-
.o!" paper currency. TO the insane spirit -:
financial speculation thereby induced. an;
!" The consequent unlimited chance. at
,"ln!ng sudden wealth which wen, :.
''ecss IL 'hc Irea. collapse OF credit las.
ear. :" 'ar as that elias. o: suicide. 10
'oHcefhed. tnc restoration of Il sound cu..
e ne, As "a necessary preventive measure
Ahe police power OF the State, S.pu'.o
AeAtsI by parental authority, NAV also 40
'rop.fi. exercised to the repression .: all
'n.no'ai ana en;lcing shows, and in ne
'Alihcuon o! !agrantlv .ndec.u, uut.l.ea.
'ons' such as are now Illegal.
Better rooms for the poor: less ybi-k:
lifihklng; individual benevolence. and al!
ne Various influences which tend to tho
mankind will also tend 20
euuce the number Of suicides, by making
Ell obstruction seem to be the cowa idly
. 1ct II ls. But after all is said and dons
mere VIII still lemain untouched that in.
crutable field, the human mind, whose
overs, working preversely. will now and :
ne lead the Judgment to conclude that
lie ia vain and that death can not we'll ba
worse. -CIncinnaH Times.