Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-04-18
Suicide.
How far is the popular vel

How far is the popular verdict. "Sui.
eide during temporary insanity cor
rect one? Nobody need fear any wish
on our part to recur to the old stake
and cross road method of burial but is
it not o fact that the prevalence Ito
tally incorrect ideas about the motives
of suicides has led, in the majority of
cases, to the adoption Of formula
which is altogether untrue, and physiO-
logically considered, absurd? Ancient
history-sacred and profane--certainly
lends no countenance to the idea that
suicide is per Sc an evidence of insanity.
Saul and Samson were certainly not
mad nor was Achitopel, who, in NOR.
LITIGATION at the neglect of his counsel
by Absalom, deliberately went home
and hanged himself nor Eleazar the
Maccabee, who, endeavoring to kill the
Syrian tyrant of his nation, fell crushed
beneath the elephant which bore him in
battle neither was Judas Iscariot.
Demosthenes, Thucydides, Mark An
tory, Cleopatra, Cata, Seneca and Bru-
tus we're not mad when they deliberate
ly chose to terminate their lives rather
than endure the ills which severally
threatened them. Zeno and Epicurus
each characteristic representative of
hostile schools of thought-laid it down
that suicide was infinitely preferable
to the endurance of great pain or dis
grace only Pythagoras opposed it and
censured its baseness and cowardice.
Pliny not only asserts the right of a
man to end his life when it pleases him,
hut ho Bet ha h>1 aa
given mortals the power Thus to end
their sufferings. Valerus, Maximus,
and Elian, writing in the first and third
centuries, gave instances of public pro-
vision being made by certain commuh
tiles whereby those tired of life might
decently obtain euthanasia. By some
Eastern races, at the present day, sui
eide is held in estimation as perfectly
legitimate method of departing from
this world. The "happy despatch ="
formerly in vogue in Japan is too we'll
known TO need more than mention. In
India, even under British rule, suicide
is more or less practiced. Surely all
the widows who have deliberately ended
their lives on their husbands funeral
! pyres were not mad ? Let anyone read
what Buckle, in his History of Civil
cation or consult the opinions-still
more to the point which Van Oetten-
gen, one of the greatest German author
tiles on vital statistics, gathers from the
vast array of facts and figures he has
collated. He maintains that sui Idle,
so far from being an evidence of insan-
ity, is one of the strongest proofs Of the
individual will that the possibility of
taking ones life is evidence that man
is his own master that notwithstand-
ing the love of life. the tendency to sui
eide remains, and the number of sui
cides in Europe has increased during
the past few years from three to five
per cent, while the increase of popula-
ton is less than two per cent; that the
bad deed itself is to be regarded as the
ripe fruit which is shaken from the
tree by the storms of social life and
that, while ,myriads have the germ or
tendency to suicide in their hearts, it is
only developed by circumstances, fire.
| quently altogether beyond the control
| of the victim. DIR. DeBoismont declares
that since the beginning of the present
century no fewer than 100, 900 French
men have committed suicide, and he
|
number can with any show of reason
be said to have died insane. At one
time the suicidal mania broke out so
strongly in the army Of the First Ma
poleon that it threatened to decimate
his forces, and was only checked by
the strong personal appeal of the en-
peror to the courage of his troops, A
body of men could hardly all go mad
together. Calm reflection on the cir
cumstances of suicides which have
come within our knowledge fails in any
one of them to suggest madness as the
cause or excuse and we are greatly
mistaken If the experience of others is
not similar. OF course the real reason
of the general adoption of the verdict
Temporary insanity" is the wish to
spare the deceased and his friends un.
necessary disgrace and pain. Gould
not this be effected in future by SIM
pie verdict of Suicide?" It is as we'll
to be truthful even when we are obliged
to confess ourselves ignorant. no matter
if superstition has to suffer for it.
London Echo.