The Coconino weekly sun., 1892-10-27
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ARE SUICIDES lNsANG'
Judges Have Decided So, but tho Dues
 ilon Is StilI an Open Ono.

ilon Is StilI an Open One.
 Ia suicide evidence of insanity? The question involves Q discussion not easily handled, Themost vital instinctin man i5 the preservation of life. 1t would seem therefore that an act which tra- verses the first law of nature must ema- nate from disordered brain.
 ago judge in one of our New Yc.6 .ourts held that suicide per sa was evidence of il sanity. On the other hand, we have the examples of eminent men who have taken their own lives under circumstance which appear to leave no room for doubt as to their sanity.
 A dispatch from Romnania informs us of suicide club, the members of which are pledged to commit suicide as soon as their names should be drawn. The surviving members of the club have all been placed in rigid confinement, and will be tried on the charge of hav- ing deliberately aided and abetted un- iustiiahle suicide.
 It is worthy of note that the greatest number of suicides are committed by Germans, Tine form of death they choose is usually poisoning,
 In every country three-quarters of all fine suicides are of the male sex.
 1t is almost impossible to realize the readiness with which the Chinese com init suicide. It requires the merest trifie to induce ChinamaB to hang himself In other countries, when . man wishes to aycngo himself on an enemy he kills him. In China he kills himself
 Suicides of widows are very common there. Many hang themselves publicly, having given notico cf their intention, SO that those who wisk may De present.
 On the morning of the appointed day inc willing victim, 1sssard in gaudy apparel and holding bouquet of fresh flowers in her hand, is carried in se- dan chair to the temple erected jp mem ory of ''virtuous and tilial widows 7 There she performs the accustomed re- 1igious rites, with haTning candles and incense. h the afternoon she returns home and hangs hersel. before the null titude. Suicides of this iiHd meet with general approval in China. They do hoGor 10 the families in which they oc- cur.
 The first instance of suicide recorded in Scripture is that of Samson (B. C.. HID. The second is that of Saul (B. C. l0j5). RatLer than fall into the hands If the Philistines when hard pressed in battle, he drew his sword and fell upon lt. anl 50 died. Judas lscariOt, through yemorse, went and hanged himself.
 Among the philosophers of antiquity Seneca stands pre-emiuently forwarl as the defender of suicide. He saysy "Does life please you? Live on. Does it not Go from whence you came. No vast wound is necessary; a mere puncture Yill secure your liberty"
 Two of the most distinguished men Of antiquity who sacrificed their own lives were Brutus and CGssius Marc An thony, reduced to desperate extrem ity. killed himself Cleopatra was taken prisoner by Augustus, who had intended 10 exhibit her in triumphal procession in Rome. To frustrate this design she killed herself by the poison of an asp. Cato, ratheg than live under the despotism of. C;gsar, stabbed him self. and when the wound had been stanchad tore of tho bandages and ao, complished bis purpose.
 Demosthenes, fearful of being sub iected to slavery and disgrace, resorted 10 self destruction. The proseGStion to which Hannibal was subjected by the Romans impelled him to have recourse to the poison which he always kept abont him in ring. Socrates, the re- nowned Athenian orator, starved him self to death sooner than submit to the dominion of Philip of Macedol.
 From instances like the foregoing one might gell query whether the act of taking one's life is alone sufficient to in. dicate insanity. Albany Argus.