Morning journal and courier., 1880-07-13
CURTOsITTEs OF sTTCIDE


 the gathering and study of statistics of sui eide in European countries, and the results of such work are exceedingly interesting to all those who think ''the proper study of man. kind is man." It is now seen that suicide is
 an inevitable product of society in civilized
 countries, and one student of the subject
 does not hesitate to declare that Git is society
 which prepares the crime; the guilty man is
 only an instrument of execution" Be this
 as it may, the crime, like other social phe-
 nomena, is governed by fixed general laws,
 and though much is yet to be learned con-
 corning these laws, they are now so well
 known that it can be foretold with consider
 able accuracy how many people and of what
 class, sex age, etc., will kill themselves in year in any European country.
 A writer in Blackwood's Magazine for June
 deals with the statistics of suicide in Europe
 in very interesting and instructive way
 The most startling statement made is that
 while century ago the number of suicides yearly in Europe did not probably exceed 1000 or 6,O00 or about 1 in every 3O,O0O
 population, not fewer than 60, GOO year, or about 1 in 5000 people, are now known to put an end to their existence. Nor does this
 great total include unreported cases or un-
 successful attempts, which together are esti-
 mated to number about 30, GOO a year. Ac-
 cording to these figures, the average rate or
 percentage of suicide as compared with the
 whole population is more than five times greater now than it was a hundred years ago.
 If this were beyond question true it would
 be very gloomy, but the thoroughness with
 which the record has been kept in recent years will explain away much of the appar-
 ent increase. Still, there is good reason to
 believe that suicide is becoming more and more attractive as means of escape from
 toll and trouGle.
 Suicide in Europe presents many curiosi- ties. Climate, for instance, does not seem to
 have much influence upon it. The climate of Norway and that of Russia are very much alike. But in the former high and in the latter low rate of suicide Is found. In
 neither England or Denmark is the climate delightful but the highest rate of suicide is found among the melancholy Danes thirty five of whom kill themselves to one Portu- guese while in England the rate is compara- lively low. But singular relation exists be- tween the seasons and suicide Most people who die by their own choice prefer to do so in daylight and in warm weather. Suicides at night are comparatively rare, and the num- Der in winter is small compared with that in summer. Spring and summer are everywhere the great suicidal periods. The average goes down from November to May, and up from May to November. This strange result is at tributed to heat.
 Suicides not only most frequently choose daylight and warm weather for their exit, but they also generally select the most sudden and easiest modes of death. The old cutting and piercing operations are largely replaced by firearms, aimed at the head more frequent ly than at the heart, thus killing at once and with little or no pain. Poisons are less used than formerly. Now, as always asphyxia is popular, and hanging and drowning are the ':chief keys to voluntary death" They are chosen, and about equally, by not less than 70 per cent. of those who kill themselves. Those who live in the country seem to be ] in much less danger of contributing to the statistics of suicide than those who live in large towns and cities. Thus the rate is said to be never less than five times higher in large towns than in small villages, and it is thirty times higher in great capitals than in rural districts. Labor shows it's power to curse in the fact that about five-sixths of those who kill themselves are working people. Education is no barrier to suicide, for the rate is the highest in those countries and classes where there is the least illiteracy. Conviets and prostitutes do not often kill themselves. Three men take themselves out of the world to one woman, and the reason given for this
 haved and quieter they have more religion, 1 more resignation and 8 stronger sentiment of ! duty" Life seems to grow less dear with age, for between 9 and 90 people go on kill l ing themselves in @ steadily increasing ratio. 1 It is extremely unpleasant to be told that the disposition to suicide among children is in- creasing, and the number of boys and girls
 under 16 who now yield to it in Europe is 1 nearly 2,Oo0 year.
 Of course the motives for suicide vary 1 much and cannot be very accurately known. But great many young fools of both sexes kill themselves for love middle-aged per
 sons for loss of property, dedication, disap l pointment and various causes and old peo- pie frequently from the sheer weariness which makes their lives burden We may add in closing, that the idea somewhat | commonly held that no person of sound mind can commit saicide is not borne out by | the facts.
 | MATHS