The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-01-08
The Age Of Suicide.
from the London Medical Record.

The influence Of age upon suicide is a study
of more than speculative interest, on account
of its practical bearings and OF the ease and
precision with which it can be demonstrated.
by age is meant the critical periods of life,
these periods having many components be
sides the mere fact Of years. 1t is apparent
that what we have to examine is many
sided phenomenon, including together with
the advance in life, the workings Of physio-
logical, mental and sociological causes. 1t
has been lately examined by DR.. O'Dea, and
ii appears that the maximum Of suicides OF
both sexes occurs between the ages OF twenty
FIVE and titty-tive. Previous to the twenty
fifth year there is su iden increase from two
suicides between the ages OF five and ten to
one hundred and thirty-six between twenty
and fifty-five. After tifty-fve the tendency to
suicide declines, but more gradually than it
rose, except at sixty-tive, where the number
increases from eighty-one to eighty-three
rise so slight, however, as to be little worth
considering.
There are, therefore, three suicidal periods
OF Hfe-those Of organic and mental growth,
OF organic and mental completion and Of or
;ganic and mental decline In the first the
rchart shows eighty, in the second three hun
.ared and forty-two and in the third three
hundred and eleven. Comparing the periods
in round numbers, it may be said that they
are as one for childhood and adolescence to
9twelve for adult life, and to four for the years
of bodily and mental decay. The influence
of sex and its attendant circumstances upon
suicides at the different periods of life is
shown upon the charts. With females, as
among males, there is sudden and abrupt
else until the twenty-tfth year is reached
This rise is continued to the thirty-ffth year.
at which the maximum Of suicides occurs
among women.
The period from the twenty-fifth to the
thirty-ffth year corresponds with that Of the
greatest pressure from domestic troubles aud
responsibilities and also with the greatest ac
tivity of the maternal functions. The line
thence descends abruptly to the forty-ffth
year, whence it rises to the iftieth, the criti-
cal period ornatural female life, and then
goes down, until it reaches the level from
which it started. There are, therefore, two
sculminationg points, and while the line on
che male chart is undulatng and sustained,
that on the female chart is vertical and alb
lrupt.
The lower Of the male eliminating points is
the higher of the female; and, contrariwise,
the lower Of the female is the higher Of the
male. These charts do not show the relative
frequency of suicides among the two sexes.
The ratio of suicides to population in the
United States is for the period covered by
the last decennial census) twenty-five to
100000 among males, and three to 1OO 900
among females. The only periods at which
suicides are nearly equal for both sexes are
from fifteen to twenty years, during which
the number Of boy suicides was thirty-four,
and of girl suicides thirty-two. After this
the number of suicides among males is much
greater than among females.