Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1891-05-18
SUICIDE AND SCIENCE.
Nearly all Methods of self-Murder Have
Been Exhausted.
Philddeiphid Press.

Nearly all Methods OF Self-hurder ha'e
Been Exhausted.
Philadelphia Press.
A prominent physician, who has
made study of suicide, said the other
day:
Why should a man kill himself? The
popular answer is, Because he is
crazy Scientific men easily disprove
that, but are still somewhat at sea in
devisiDg better answer. Was the
philosopher Seneca crazy when he en-
tered the wIrm bath and opened his
veins? Were all the hundreds of mobiles
Romans who made happy dispatch OF
themselves, insane? Surely not.
The Greeks rarely committed suicide,
but at one time it was quite the fashion
in Rome. 1t is the rarest of rarities for
slave to commit suicide, though
slave owner often does. Extensive in
quiry fails to develop single case OF an
American negro'S committing suicide,
though there have been few cases
among mulattoes and octoroons. Shall
it be said, then, that the superior race
is the suicidal? Surely not, for the
Greeks were at least the equals of the
Romans. The solution must be sought
elsewhere.
Perhaps religious belief has some
has something to do with it, but it
would be hard to prove it. One fact,
however, gives us a clue: Among the
the lowest races of mankind, and in the
lowest intellectual grades of any socie-
ty, suicide is practically unknown. and
II n in in or q H.
ture it is extremely rare. while in the
middle or lower middle classes ii is most
common. 1t is those who are midway
on the course, whether as racers or in
dvidualS, those who are in the struggle,
whose lose heart and rush unbidden in
to eternity. This is only another way
of saying that where the battle is fierc-
est there are the most wounds and sud
den deaths: those who have won the
victory and those lying idle in camp
and designing no struggle are fairly
well satisfied with the situation. The
cultured and well-to-dO Philadelphia
is, on the whole, as willing to live as
the naked Senegambian.
He was druggists assistant, and was
threatened with loss Of position and
poverty. He succeeded in gaining his
wife'S consent, as his letter said that
the whole family should go together"
but she did not want to know when the
fated dose was given. So he gave her
and the young child prussc acid in
cooling drink as they lay down for the
night, and in few minutes they ex-
pired without pain. One by one he dis
Of hn nth oh Iron in ba
same way-'all in peace and without
pain, thank God" h, wrote. He then
drew up his will, went out and obtained
the signature of witnesses, returned and
wrote four letters, and then swallowed
the poison and was soon corpse. Such
a case is beyond analysis by a healthful
mind. Yet we cannot say it was in
sanity.
The causes assigned for suicide are to
the last degree curious. In many cases
well-to-do suicides simply allege that
they are tired of life-the monotony Of
it is too much for them. An English
gentleman left note to the effect that
he was tired of looming in and going
out, lying down and getting up, button
ing and unbuttoning." A London cab
man wrote that he had exhausted all the
pleasure of driving in this world and
wanted to see how they drove in the
other. Strange to say, love and power
ty furnish the smallest number of cases,
and mere bodily suffering the greatest
But the SaddeSt cases are those in
which d whole family dies together,
and Of these the Stafford case which oc-
Cured some years ago, was most mourn
full of all.
1t was scarcely possible to conceive
OF any methods Of suicide not already
employed by some one; but whenever
one strikes novel method he is sure to
have a host of imitatorS. Hanging,
drowning, poisoning, stabbing, or other
forms of cutting, shooting, and jump
ing from high places are most common.
Many women have swallowed hot Goals,
powdered glass and othor destructive
articles. Cleopatra applied an asp to
her bosom, and it is worth noting that
she has had no imitators. Women have
a horror OF serpents, and they are not
easily obtained at the time desired.
France leads all other nations in suicide,
as in the last year for which we have
the record PIG persons killed them
selves in each 1,OOO,OOO of the popuIa-
ton, and the increase is rapid. Or
1872 suicides in one year one-6fth were
in Paris, and smothering by charcoal
fumes is the favorite method. In Lon
don nearly all suicides are with the
knife and razor, and it is plain truth
that in this respect the British are the
worst "cut-throats" in Europe.