The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-06-18
Statistics Of Suicide.

a very important paper was read
on Tuesday last on 'Suicide" by DIR,
John G.. Lee, Of Philadelphia, be-
fore the convention Of the Ameri-
can Medical Association, in session
at st. Paul, Minnesota. Although
his fgnres are confined to Philadel-
phia they may be taken as an index
of the extent of self-destructiOn in
other cities, as it is not to be sup
posed that more people want to
shuttle off this mortal coil in Phila-
delphia than in New York or Balti-
more. From December 81, 1871, to
January l, 1882, $50 individuals were
found to have ended their existence
by their own hands. This form of
mortality does not follow what one
might suppose to be the golden rule,
that the greater the population the
greater the number Of suicides;
while of the $50 recorded
cases of .felO-de-Se only eight
were people of color. The
acknowledged mental inferiority of
the cOlored race, or at least of a
majority, would thus go to
strengthen the theory that suicide
is disease of the intellect and
mind, while the proYerbial cheerful
ness OF these people and their will
lingneSS to look at the bright side of
things would also add to the correct
ness of the theory. The number of
male deaths annually occurring
usually exceeds the number of |
female deaths, and so in Philadel- |
phia during the past decade the |
male have exceeded the female |
suicides in proportion Of nearly |
FIVE to one. Among the $50 suicides |
only twenty-fOur were by minors,
the mania, if such it can he called,
seeming to attain its maximum
when the struggle for existence is
keeneSt, and to lessen with the ex-
haustiOn of bodily vitality. Contrary
to the experience of European OBJ
self-destruction in Philadel-
phia has for the last decade occurred
more frequently among the married
than the unmarried OF both sexes,
and while in the ordinary form of
mortality June presents the highest
and November the lowest death
rate, in the mortality from suicide
May heads the list with January at
,he bottom.
DR.. Lee does not admit that every
at self-destructiOn is an
evidence of mental arrangement,
md thinks that it is not, even in all
Eases, the result of Unbalanced
minds, but rather the outcome of a
sudden and impetuouS resolve, due
10 physiological or meteorological
An excess of magma
ion often leads a person to an
;icipate evils from which he be-
ieVes he cannot escape but by
leath, and although men who
rive way to this feeling may be
towards and deserterS, nay, even
the writer of the paper
lOes not think it can be said that
hey are deranged. All the figures
,iven and the deductio ms drawnin
his paper are Of interest, especially
Vt this time, " hen so many hold
hat suicide is increasing. The I'M
est Of the age, the turning back on
I'D forms of belief, the materialism
which laughs at the doctrine Of a
higher life because it cannot find a
oul at the point of a scalpel. the
lisintegration of parties and the
constant struggle for existence-all
hese are undoubtedly factors in
his question, and are responsible
or what, even if it is not q crime
lgainst statute law, receives either
he contempt or pity of public opin-
on.