The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-06-12
The Philosophy Of Suicide.

Suicide has been made the subject o.
scientific analysis and investigation, anc
certain points in its philosophy may
be considered to have been definitely
settled. These are summed up by DR.
Gray as follows:
l.. Suicide, both in health and dis
ease, is a violation of natures laws.
2. Suicide, though always an unna
tural act, is, in a large proportion, il
not the majority of cases, committed by
persons who are entirely sane.
3. Education and custom being pow
erful influences in overcoming the In
stincts of nature, and in inducing sui
eide, the widespread publication of the
m of suicides, the age, the sex, the
mode, and the reasons, promotes SUI
side by inducing imitation, and by les
sening the horror of the act through
familiarity with it.
4. The teachings of any so-called
philosophy and sensationalism which
tend to the disregard of the truths of
religion, lead to suicide, breaking down
the moral barrier, and compromising
the wrong of suicide, by rendering it a
mere question of choice and expediency
with each individual whether he will
live or die.
8. Suicide is in no true sense an i'm
pulse, but In the sane and insane it is
the result of deliberation gilmore or less
duration, and it is an act determined
upon in the mind of the individual,
from causes accepted by his judgment
as sufficient, whether real or imaginary.
6. Suicide by the sane and insane is
frequently the result of hasty or wrong
Interpretation of facts, both in their
magnitude and consequences, merely
defective reasoning from true premises.
7. The great and essential distinction
between suicide by the sane and the in
sane is not in the motive, method,
time, OF place, but in the mental state
IL which the act is committed. The
insane man commits suicide under de-
ilusions, or a delusiOnal state of the
mind.
The strongest safeguard against
suicide is the n of mans response
blity to the Creator for all human con-
duct, including the keeping of our lives.
lfthe of accountability to the fu-
ture be gone. no consideration of ones
duty to family, to society, or self, can
ever answer the arguments of the sui
eide. 1t is, indeed, conscience which
makes towards of us ALL" but it is
also the voice which points us to the
higher responsibility for all our acts,
and which, if We heed, make us strong
to bear the ills of life.
DIR. MOret has recently published
some interesting statistics concerning
suicide in France. They cover a period
OF As years, and show a steady increase
In the successive five years periods.
The annual number, which was 1917 In
1875, rose to 61O7 in 1S7l-75. The
numbers are more remarkable if the
ratio per loo, 600 inhabitants be taken.
This was about six for the first five
years period, seven for the second,
eight for the third, and SO on, till in
1918 it reached at a bound Is. so, or
nearly Il suicides per 1OO, 900 inhabi-
tants. This is explained by the terrible
events OF which France was the theatre
in that period. After political cOmpli-
cations, age is one of the causes which
to have most influence Tin
France) on the suicide. The suicides
regularly with the age, and the
maximum is found between 20 and 80.
This result is contrary to an opinion ex-
pressed by Esquirol, that the old man,
strongly attached to life, commits sui
eide rarely. 1t is more difficult to COM
prehend the increase of suicides among
children under 16. DR.. Moret further
shows that men kill themselves four
more frequently than ome
and that, eliminating the two extreme
seasons, winter and summer, which act
in nearly the same way On both sexes,
the suicides of men are more frequent
in spring, those of women in autumn.
men commit suicide half as of
ten as bachelors, and one-third as often
as widowers.
Whether these proportions are the
same in other countries we are unable
to say. The steady increase in the
number of suicides is true, we be-
lieve, of all civilized countries, though
the rate o increase is not everywhere so
as in France.-BostOn Journal Of
Chemistry.