, 1888-11-08
THE ETHICS OF suIclce.
A Mysterious Inconsistency-The Animal
Kingdom-Moral Cowardice.

Kingdom-Moral Cowardice.
A very mysterious inconsistency in
human nature lies in the contrast be-
tween life which makes self preservation
its first love, and that utter contempt and
intolerance of it which induces self de-
struction. By all human laws, the man
who takes another's life in defending his
own is held guiltless of murder; his deed
is accounted justifiable in recognition of
the self saving instinct with which the
creator has accompanied the gift of life
to all his creatures. With the earliest
consciousness of young animals this in
stinct appears in timidity and shrinking
from danger, real or imaginary; and
down to the lowest order of beings, a
wounded thing will exert its last strength
to escape having its existence blotted out.
AS for the human species, we have it on
Scripture authority that "aIl that a man
hath will he give for his lihe."
In view of this, who hat is unaware
of the facts would expect to so con-
stantly hear of men and women, and
even children, finding life unbearable
and ending all? What a surprising VIC
lation of this innate principle it seems,
when for this or that cause, and often
for no cause that is evident, some choose
death rather than life!
Suicide is not entirely confined to the
human species. There are numerous
well authenticated instances of different
animals deliberately killing themselves
when circumstances rendered life no
longer desirable. A recent traveller in
the tropics tells Of coming at various
times upon the skeleton of a species of
poisonous serpent within a circle of
leaves of the prickly cactus, and later the
riddle was solved by his seeing some
monkeys engaged in surrounding a sleep
ing reptile with the spinous vegetation.
Upon awaking and finding itself i'm
prisoned and all its attempts to escape
futile, the serpent presently took refuge
in singing its own body and dying at
once. 1t is commonly reported that the
same thing happens when a poisonous
snake is hemmed in by fire, in a spasm
of desperation at finding no chance of es-
cape, it turns its means of self defense
into means of self destruction.
The animal kingdom is a law unto
itself. Not so with man. He is subject
to the higher law of duty and %accounta-
bility; and no environment can be called
hopeless to one who believes in a gra-
cious overruling power and the better
life to come. A portion of the alarming
number of current suicides, it must be
confessed, awaken only the sincerest
pity in every susceptible and benevolent
heart, and probably there are very many
more cases of this kind, were the secret
causes that have actuated the victims
brought to light. Yet wherever human
law is founded on the divine law, self
destruction must necessarily be regarded
as a crime. A mans buildings are not
his own in the sense that he can set them
on fire and burn them down with impu-
nifty; much less is his life-a possession
which cannot be restored-so exclusively
personal that he has the right to end it
by violence in an hour of discourage
ment or disgust.
The yearly list of suicides in some of
the countries of Europe is appalling to
contemplate. The waters of the Seine
give up their dead daily, and drowning
is but n among the common methods
for shufling off this mortal coil. Pas
sion, impetuosity and, above all, inidel-
ity, are prominent factors in recruiting
the army of suicides. Statistics of all
nations show that occasionally there &C.
ours what has been called an epidemic
Of suicide; though whether this is an
illustration of the force of example, or
the result of some general impelling
force, such as temperature during the
exhausting heat of summer, remains an
unsettled question. That the month of
July has long been noted for the large
number of its suicides favors the latter
conclusion. OF direct causes among
young people, affairs of the heart, love
matters that have taken an unfortunate
turn, must be reckoned the leading one.
Very often, too, the circumstances at,
tending these cases are unspeakably pa
thetic. Next come losses of money and
business, friends and health. OF GRIM
inals who nave recourse to dagger, bull
let or rope to evade just penalty, it is
unnecessary to speak.
There is a moral cowardice in fleeing
from the battle of life, which strikingly
contrasts with the patient, heroic endur.
ance of multitudes of men and women
in every land and in all sorts of hare
conditions. To the tempted it might
serve as a tonic to read history on thi;
point, or better, to recall events. Think,
for example, of the crew of the Jean.
nette in their frozen Businesses, and o.
Capt. belong and his men in the Lena
Delta, dying Of slow starvation, YET
brave to the last. But what need to &c
beyond the streets of a city, with its
views of pinched and haggard faces and
toiling decrepitude, for heroes and hero
ines that shall be forever nameless?-
Lavinia s. Goodwin in Boston Globe.