The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1876-07-14
VOL. XII. NO "a.
sUICIDE ~ LONDON.
me British Population RaPidIg KHTing
AtseLf or The Penalty OF CiriIisation.
British Medical Journal

- ~ IL III 1-N ILON llNIAe
The british Population RapidIy KaIing
Itseif or The Penalty OF CiriIirati0n.
British Medical Journal
Considering the abnormal mental con-
dition that produces suicidal MANIA there
is room for much speculation in the con-
stantly steady proportion of suicides that
occur year by year in the English popu-
lation. In the reports of the registrar
general, the attempt to distinguish sui
cides from other violent deaths was first
made in the year 1858, when one thou
sand two hundred and seventy-hve cases
of suicide were returned. 1t is true that
the annual number of suicides in Eng
lanG and Wales has since 1858 slowly but
steadily increased to one thousand five
hundred and ninety-two in 1874. IT.
however, the increase of population in
seventeen years be taken into &C
~ iss,,,
= :, - -. ss'rsssaiit- a nc an
ailai nnn1ber Of suicides to one million
feSons living Was equal to sixfy-seyen
in eSeb of the three quinquenniads end
ing 1884, 1869 and 1874. During the
five years 1S70-74, the annual suicide
rate was egSal to seventy per one million
persons living in 1870, and the lowest
rate was sixty-ive in 1873. The one
thousand five htSldred and ninety-two
deaths by suicide il 1874 included one
thousand two hundred and four of males
and three hundred and eighty eight of
females six hundred ana ninetv-seven
resulted from hanging; three hundred
and forty from incised wouIds, princi-
pally in the throat; two hundred and
eighty from drowning; one hundred and
forty-nine from poison and ninetY-three
from gunshot wounds; besides one hun
dred and thirty-three from other or i'll
defined injuries. Suicides are generally
more numerous in urban than in rural
populations, but the variation in their
proportion in different parts of the coun-
try is not due to this cause alone. TAX
ing the year 1873 as an example, this be-
ing the most recent year Tor which the
registrar-general has yet published his
detailed annual report, the proportion 0!
suicides to one million persons living in
England and Wales averaged sixty-fve,
whereas in London it was eighty-three.
We may here remark that some statistics
of suicide in London, recently published
by the metropolitan police, have conveyed
the erroneous impression that the num-
Der of suicides i'll the metropolis tluc.
tuates in a remarkable manner from year
to year. This is by no means the case
as the proportion to population is almost
as constant in London as in the whole Of
England and Wales The number pub
lished in the police report only show the
suicides that come within the knowledge
of the police; and it is very evident thai
as regards the numbers IN some recen
years, either the police only heard of ;
small proportion of the suicides that oc
/ Cured or their returns show very care
less conapilati@n.-Bu But 10 return to th,
proportion of suicides in 1873 in different
parts OF England and Wales, the highest
suicide rate occurred in the southeastern
counties-Surrey, Kent, Sussex, Hamp-
shire and Berkshire; here, although the
population is principally rural, suicides
in 1873 were in the proportion efeighty-
eight per one million persons living, and
somewhat higher than in London. In
the southwestern counties of Wiltshire,
Dorsetshire, Devonshire. Cornwall and
Somorsetshire, having also population
principally rural, the suicide rate did not
exceed ffty-One per one million; and in
Wales it was so low as thirty-nine. 1t
would be interesting to observe the rela-
ton between the statistics OF suicide and
lunacy in the different counties, although
we doubt whether any well defined con-
nection between the two could be estab-
lished. Suicide, as a crime in England,
is far moro prevalent among the edu-
Gated than the ignorant classes, and the
proportion of suicides appears to be in
inverse ratio to the education of the peo-
ple. The frequency of suicide appears
to be one of the penalties resulting from
the progress of so-called civilization,
leading OF intense competition.