Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1882-03-09
SUICIDE IN I HISTORY. ].
The Caases ofyclnntary Life Taking Sslf
IfIs,nolafion oil Widows. # sl

The Causes Of Tclnntary Life Taking -Sslt
0 It1stne1afton oil Widows. t55,
III 10 e rsFiew OF DR.. Jarnss2J. Old aa,s book
Il on sSaicsde, !. printed in the New York
Star, tho following is given:
Forty per cent. Of the suicides in Dem
mark result from the use Of alcoholic drink.
But in Italy, where there is little intemper-
ance, only six suicides in a thousand can
Be assigned 10 that cause, and q majority
occurred in the least thrifty provinces. The
author thinks that about Ia per cent. &c the
suicides result from financial embarrass-
ments and loss of property. Speculators
are particularly liable to die in that way,
as sudden yeverses paraIyze the
mind and destroy its equi-
libriuru, IhaodoEe Hook tells the
story Of an unto sunaie man in whose hands
everything turned out badly. He bought a
lottery ticket, but Immediately repentsd Of
his folly and disposed Of ii to q friend to
save himself from 6isappointm But it
drew d prize Of $40, GOO Hcok exclaimed
that it was Incredible; he should have cut
his throat had it happened to him. Yes, 2
said The stranger, of course you would,
and SO did r." and barring his neck he ex.
posed to Hooks horror stricken gaze q
fseshtg healed wound that reached from
sar TO ear.
II Most suicides occur between the age Of 25
and 55. with slight increase of the rate at
SIS. The sexual instinct has something to
do with the tendency. Most suicides
among women occur between % and 40.
and So Hereditary influence plays an I'M
portant part, and insanity is q prolific cause
of suicide. The cause which tend to pro
duce the one also produce the other.
The author deyotes a very interesting
portion Of his work to the special causes
which affect individuals, growing out OF
conditions Of body or mind or belief, and
shows how certain tenperaulants ere pecu-
Iiarly pradisposed to suicide He LAYS
great stress on the prevention OF suicide BY
a sound physical ant, moral and religious
training, by immaculate cheerful views of
life By drawing ont the heroic qualities OF
the rpind; but still he thinks that attaIcp pts
ST suicide should be severely punished by
law, and also that when fhere ls physical
predisposition TO such q steep medical adr
vice should be sought.
But Quite the most interesting half Of
the volume Gelatss TO the history Of the
painful subject. He goes over the ground
Yery thoroughly for q work Of this kind
and shows to what comparatively narrow
dimensions the practice CT voluntary life
taking has been reduced In early ages
throughout southern and eastern Asia. the
custom had full swing. The great religions
Of Brahminism and Buddhism served as
f9el to feed the fame. The self -imnoIa-
ton Of widows after the death Of their hus-
bands became an established custom in
India, among the Tartar tribes, the Scythi
ans, tha Scandinavians, aud even the
North American Indians Suicide to
avoid trouble and dishonor, and even pain,
was considered justihable in Greece
and Rome, as we'll as in China and
Japan, II Was the honorable thing FOR men
to do, and both stoicism and epicurianism
encouraged the practice of voluntary life
taking. Many famous Romans died by
their own hands, and Horace tells how peo-
pie Of all ages and classes destroyed them
selves by Looping from the Fabrician bridge
into the Fiber. In the earlier ages the
Jews were quite free from suicide, and ID
aever gained much root among them The
tendency of Christianity was directly
Against IT. twas forbidden by ths church,
and held to entail disgrace not only on the
person but On the family. During the
reign Of ST. Louis in France. in 1910, the
first secular laws were enacted to prevent
IL by subjecting the bodies of suicides
to the most revolving treatment. It seems
very strange indeed that one Of the first
modern apologists for suicide was DIR. John
Dome, who was made Dean Of st, psul's
in 1921.