San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-02-14
What Causes Suicide?

Nature revOlts at self-destruction,
ven when life has lost all charms 70
IS pOsSessor and when existence j.
TENDED with naught but misery
When loss of all that is dear has driv-
en- o soul to the madness of despair,
when life Of crime has brought re
morse uncomfortable, or when the body
is hacked with ceaseless COrments O.
pain, self-wroughG destruction seems
sometimes pardonable and often al
most logical; hut suicide, when attend
ed by no such circumstances, can be
.scribed to nothing else than tn,
breaking do vn of self contrOl-th,
1T OF mailman. Psychologists
have wrestled with this problem 70,
ag-s without coming to any very full
md satisfactory conclusions as to tn,
'-al causes that produce suicide. II
some instances physical causes SCI m
to predominant, in others a diseased
brain destroys the body as a cageC
iger breaks its prison bars. Every
ase is more or less isolated, for, be-
ING an unnatural act, there ar,
% general principals which govern
t. Often when confidently expected
it is never found, and il is usually dis
covered where least looked for
Psychologists tell us that life is con
.tant effort to preserve balance be
ween the forces of the individual
within the body and the eterna
forces and conditions of it's environ
ment When this equilibrium il
disturbed, disease is the result an"
it is necessary to restore IL by
unusal means, as medicines, dieI
change of habit or climate
md, if unsuccessful, death results
Much more Is this the case as regard
he brain and its functions. That or
gan is constantly at work whether
he body is at rest or not. In some
the action is sluggish the eqUi
ihrium is easily preserved. In 9th
ers it is active and more care is neces-
sary, while in a few highly develop
ed organisms the conflict is constant
though unperceived and often the
struggle ends suddenly. The over
wrought brain. instead of yield
ing slowly, gives way altogether
and the reaction is prOpOrtiOned
20 the effort that has been made a.
resistance, just as the ball Of a pendu
lum, if held at "a distance from the
posi-, Ion of rest, will swing an equal
distance beyond the center when re-
leased. No sane man ever killed
himself, because selt-preservatiOn is
the first law OF sanity. No man, how
ever, is at all times sane, or, which is
the same thing, mentally balanced.
Iu most persons the variations are
small and the balance easily restored
particularly if the giving away has
been gradual and prompt efforts are
taken for relief. Ii is only when the
strain has been long and continual,
without effort at relaxation, that The
consequences are serious. Sometimes
the result is complete prostration,
often resulting in dissolution; at 9th
ers the laws of nature are completely
reversed aud self-destructiOn follows.
Lite at high mental pressure in
any sphere is dangerous. The
man who violates those laws
which pertain to his material
body only is far safer than he who
gives his brain no rest. Sleep throws
the body into complete repOse, but the
brain is still more or less active. The
brain needs rest and recreation apart
from this, and those who neglect it,
have soon to repent of their indisCre'
ton. The tendency of this age is to
live at too high pressure, and we
have only ourselves to blame for the
results which follow.