, 1875-03-07

| 0eAAaAA09 ~ LILO AA3A~A EAAtAtAUA u WOMEN
here. I've trust that the prominent ladies Of
Chicago who lost the opportunity Of last
year will not neglect it now.
| -
TIE NATURAL HISTORY OF SUICIDE
| Whatever future generations may think Of
HENRY THOMAS BUCKLE OF Of his conception Of
history, few will deny that he is IN emineut1v
suggestive writer; or that, however ha may haya
erred in exagserating the influence Of exte.ul
circumstances On mau. he gave utterance to
! many interesting and profound truths,-tsuths
not perhaps original with him, but OF which he
became the exponent to the Engliah-readinr
world Ha may, Or may not, have been rioht
when he wrote that, siuce the actions OF men ara
| determined solely by their auGecedents. thev
! must have character Of uniformity, and.
| always, under precisely the same circumstances,
issue in precisely the same results. The truth
| or falsity Of this bold enunciaton can never be
determined; for tho actions OF men, 30 far "a
they are determined By circumstances at all, are
determined BY thousands, and is may b.
doubted whether any two men hava for
one moment Of their lives been under
precisely tho same Influences. It ia not
only the present circumstances TINT must ba
taken into account but past IS well; aud, how
ever similar the present may be. antecadena
ones,-ante-natal, hereditary. and others.-i.mar
be ea{ely said are never entirely the sama. Bnt
II Buckles dicru1n be not whole truth. # il
half truth, OF borders On q truth. This much
there is IN abundance OF facts to demonstrate.
Some Of them be adduced himself. The crimes
OF man he showed, as others had showed before
him, are marked by uniformity Of sequence.
The number Of letters misdirected in the Pa1ia
and London Post-OHices is 80 nearly the same
ffom year to year tnat it may be predicted in I'D.
yance without any danger of falling below or
going beyond the real figure. Nor is this, aftex
4ll, 10 very strange. The failure to direct let
ter ia only an evidence Of the writer's iuaiyar-
tsnce OF carelessness; and what reason il there
careful this year than last, or that their care~
lessness ahouid not manifest itself this yaar in
precisely the same way us last year? The aver
age morality OF people during number Of
consecutive Sea1s We would naturally expect to
oe aoouI tne same. Ina strange thing would b
II II we're different. Ihe science Of statistics
SHOWS tnat II 'a not
Among the moral and social phenomena to
WHICH buckle appned h1a theory 1s that OF SUI
cade' aud here II nowhere else, he Was justified
~-~~AA@N" ~7~@eA*~AAt{
Sfo1. ALEXANDER Won oettngen. IN his Aordtst1~
4ss.us' aeAno"1eagea tals aud against hun tha
objection of hatlonaham cannot be advanced a.
1t WAS against Buckle for Won Oettingen is
Professor Of Theology in the University OF
Dorpat, and "rltes' rs he expressly says, from
an Evangelical standpoint, and has issued hiz
aook to illustrate tho significance OF moral sta-
t'stlcs IN general Tor Christian social ethics ThA
vork 1s such : one as rarely proceeds exespt
from aGer1nan 7aVans' exhaustive, thorough, full
OF information. with scarcely superauous lima
from beginning to end. re" parts OF it, how
ayeE, are 30 interesting az that which treats OF
what We may venture 70 call the Social Law, or
rather Ia"s' OF suicide.
4ho 1act OF Suicide nas o1ten been ADVANCED
as the most cogens PROOF Of the existence OF free
VII. "ho' IL has oeon frequently ASKED eusA