Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1889-07-10

IeSG the vital functions ana cause Qeatn
without a moments suffering. In cases of
the eonsoling thought that the victim of the
accident or suicide was probably dead be-
fore striking the earth, and consequently
spared both physical and mental suffering.
There never seems to have been any solid
foundation for the prejudice, since 1t is diff
cult to suppose that a person could be
in falling for three or four seo-
onds at the rate Of from fifty to seyenty-ave
feet second the time it approximately takes
to reach the earth from an elevation Of from
$50 to $50 feet.
The most that We can suppose Is that res
piratiQn is suspended, and that there results
sort of syncope or condition of partial un-
consciousness, not of sufficient duration to
cause asphyxia. Almost any one can hold
his breath for minute. Persons who give
public exhibitions remain easily under wa
ter for two minutes, and coral and pearl di-
vers for more than twice that length of
time. There are facts on record to prove
this view of the case. Intending suicides
who have thro wn themselves from the sus-
pension bridge at Cincinnati, height of
eighty feet, have been saved. To fall this
distance would require about two seconds,
and the striking of the water would be the
principal thing to be considered. A more
remarkable case is that of the young woman
who threw herself from the Clifton bridge
in England, which is at the height of $50
feet above the river. The time of the fall
was about four seconds, ,as there was strong
wind blowing, and her skirts being inflated
slightly retarded the downward movement.
She was at once fshed out of the water and
taken to the hospital, where she soon re-
covered. Her only injuries were some con-
tusions on the thigs and back and slight
displacement Of the breastbone. OF sixteen
others who had attempted suicide from the
same bridge only one man had been taken
from the water alive, and he survived bat
short time. The young woman in question
remembered nothing from the moment she
left the bridge until she recovered consci-
BUSINESS.
The doctor who reported the previous case
said that he had never known before of the
survival of any one that had fallen 150 feet.
Such an instance, however, occurred in Paris
at time when throwing ones self from one
of the lofty columns or other public monu-
ments was favorite mode of suicide. A
man threw himself fror the column of the
Bastile, which is 156 feet in height, but fall
ing on tent erected for some work at the
base, rebounded and struck the sidewalk.
The fall had been deadened in such fash
ion that, Though painfully bruised, he WAS
able to get up and walk away shortly after
ward, if not cured of the suicidal mania, re-
solved, probably in future to seek death
by less painful and more certain method.
The most notable case of survival after
falling long distances is that related by
French writer, a. de Parvills. 1t is that of
an East Indian living in the island of Oghin,
who fell from a cliff 800 metres high, which
is just the altitude of the Tower Eiffel. His
fall was broken by masses of dense vegeta-
tion at the foot of the precipice, and he es-
capped without serious injuries. It Is hardly
probable that the Eiffel Tower will ever be
favorite place for suicides, the outer slope
of the walls rendering perpendicular fall
for any considerable distance impossible.
The favorite method at present in Paris is to
| leap from the upper window of the tall
houses to the street or into the court. and
| death is certain. If person has no domi-
cile he would perhaps, find the tower or
| other lofty monuments convenient; but, as
| in Italy, all persons who have in their man
| ner anything suggestive of suicide are
| watched, and in most cases It is the rule
| never to leave person alone at the top of a
/ high monument. The last effort to commit
| suicide in this manner failed ignominiously
in Paris. A man who had not been suf6-
| ciently watched threw himself few months
ago from the top of the Arch of Triumph,
which is about as high as the columns of the
Bastile. He was caught by the projecting
| cornice few feet below, whence he was re-
moved with great difficulty, but not serious
ly hurt 1t is almost the only case of the
kind that has occurred for the last ten years
| though the Paris suicides average nearly
two week, taking the year in its entirety
The Price of life and Health.
EFrom Good Housekeeping.l
Danger is made to surround everywher
nowadays. The germ theory has peoples
space, air, water and food with micro-organ
isms that threaten death or disease on ever
hand. If person were weighed down will
a sense of these dangers, as he might well b
if he gave full heed to the warnings of ply
sicians, he might we'll e1claim, "Oh! m,
miserablel whittier shall I fys' And b
could hardly fly to place where the micro
scopic germs of death would not be presen
with some warning physician.
We 90 to bed and behold! there is, deatl
in the pillow. A medical journal bids u
take note of the fact that disease and dealt
lurk in the very pillows and holsters O.
which we lay our heads. Whether this is 8
or not the moral that is drawn from it
good, and that is that bedding ought to
opened periodically, SO that its contents ma
be beaten with sticks" In France be
| clears Is followed as regular trade.
Then again the hiring of clothes is dar
gerous. In cities 1t has become an every-da
matter to hire wearing apparel, PARTICULAR
dress suits, and these suits are worn by me
of all sorts, of all associations, and possibl
by men who have some infectious disease
| If the wearer has not such disease, tn
clothing may be worn in place or anon
people where disease germs will be take
J away in the meshes of the cloth. Costume
for masauerades and theatricals are wors
yet, for they are more especially worn by th
lowest as we'll as by the highest, by the VI
cious and depraved as we'll as by the decor
and respectable; and these costumes are rar
~ or never washed and are used until the
are worn out.
Books too are dangerous. Rub the fngt
over clean sheet, says the American Ans
lyst, and a thin streak of dirt, perspiratio
and skin cells is the result Once reading
volume through leaves a minute deposit Q
: every page touched from title page to finisl
| Sick people leave germs of their diseas
> By degrees the hollows fill up, the oil of Il
. | skin ringes the pages and the book becom'
: dirty. Under the microscope this detritus
! heterogeneous, loose, moist and deeaying Ol
germ introduced into IL will breed and pr
duce millions of bacteria, and these will IL
for unlimited time in the rich soil that b
!, been gathered from hundred hands. It
l | soil for the germs of scarlet fever, sma
Q pox and various blood diseases. Cleanline
. is not only next to godliness, but it Is ne
: to life and health, and though the germ sea
= may be overdone. yet it will produce go
| results in the hands of intelligent people.