The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-10-29
Queer but Interesting Theory Propounded
by French Paper.
SOME IDEAS THAT ARE CATCHING
Newspapers Blamed for Chroniciing
SO Conspicuousiy the Deeds Of Sui
cides--Notnblc Cycles of suicide
Which Tend to support the Fore
going Theory.


cities. This is a malady of civilization,
we might almost say contagious mall
ady. In addition to physical epidemics,
there are also mental epidemics. Both
commence in the same way. at first by
isolated cases and afterward by inn
mediate contagion. The epidemic sub
sides and then suddenly bursts out
again with extraordinary energy
under some influence, often that of
temperature; for it has been noticed
that in certain months of the summer
suicides are most numerous. They are
climatic.
The existence of epidemics of ideas
is undeniable. That has been proved,
for example, during the bomb-t throw
ing craze. 1t was a European epi-
demc which burst out at the same
time and appeared in several places.
In anarchy there are also centres of
infection. In France the Contagion
was evident. The cases succeeded each
other rapidly. Ravachol was the first
victim of the disease. and he contami-
mated all the others, valiant, Henri,
etc. Vitriol throwing was one of the
symptoms of mental epidemic. The
beautiful and forsaken Marie Biere
notoriety. After her for long time
many women who believed that they
had reason to complain of the conduct
of their lovers had resource to vitriOl.
The craze became contagious. like the
cholera or the plague. Now it has al
most entirely passed away.
NOW EPIDEMIC.
Suicide is the epidemic at the pres
ent time 1t is increasing and making
numerous victims, and the press unin-
tentiOnally helps to increase the evil.
The journals are the centres of its
propagation. They aCcustom people to
the idea of voluntary death, almost
justify it and eXtol it. In the country
districts it is customary to be silent
in regard to suicide 1t is considered
a culpable desertiOn of life, something
that is almost shameful In the ceme-
teries there is a special corner for the
suicides. But our newspapers give
publicity to the suicides throw a GER
tain amount of sentimentality around
them, and cover their cOfiinS with flow
ers. Imagine an unfortunate man,
broken down by poverty and mourn
ing, reading Il detailed account of
suicide. 1t puts temptation i'm his way,
points to a refuge. Why did he not
think Of that simple remedy? And
another figure is added to the statis-
ties of suicides. Today death has no
terror for the broken-hearted They
receive him gladly, speak to him calm
ly, make their arrangements with him,
and sign, to say, together the decara-
tion of voluntary departure upon the
white paper which the ink puts in
mourning.
Tut the gravest symptom of the mall
ady is shown in what we call suicide in
common. We have all read the horri-
bic account of the recent suicide of the
four young women in the Faubourg
POissonniera. They worked together in
the same place, and the same box of
charcoal asphyNiated each one. In this
case, also, the journals were pernicious
vehicles. You could see in the illustra-
tions colored prints of the four dead
| bodies lying side by side, and even the
| little dog also included in the dark ad-
| venture. No doubt the case was singu-
| !arly pathetic. Each one had a real
! grief. One bad seen her husband,
whom she loved, taken to a madhouse; /;
| another was abandoned by her hus-
| band and the third abandoned by her
| lover and enceintc. Tears ara cOntag-
| iOus. They are attracted to each other
| like drops of water, but in minglinG
| they Of course become larger. Each
| one of these unfortunate young women
might have been able to bear her bur-
| den of grief alone but the weight was
| Increased by the SOrrONs of the 9TH
| ers. That is why the idea Of suicide.
| having first come to one, was bound
| inevitably TO reach the others. What a
scene for a playwright was that last
| evening, the evening when they told
the stories Of their lives and shed their
remaining tears in common! Then they
took their last supper, at which they
| laughed and sang. People are joyous
| when they become decided. They feel
| stronger. The strongest is he who has
renOunced," as Isben says; and in this
case each one was fortified by the de-
termination Of the others.
ENTIRELY TOO COMMON.
This kind of suicide in common is
certainly tragic, and it is a grave symp-
| tom of the progress of what we may
call this epidemic. The philosopher
| Hartmann, a disciple of Schopenhauer
and also an apostle of pessmism, gives
| as the final consequence of his system
and the inevitable end of the world
| IAN immense cOsmical suicide to be
| committed by humanity" Certainly
pessimism, philosophical denial, and ir'
religion count for great deal in the
increase of suicides. Musset himself
speaking Of the death of Rolla, blamed
Voltaire, proclaiming that If the slight
est thread had still held his soul to any
faith he would not have "prostituteC
his death" The want Of faith is one o
the great causes of this malady. New
| ertheless, we have the example of sui
cides bequeathing all the money tina
they possessed for masses for the re
pose Of their souls.
But there are other causes. In tn
first place, we are no longer able L
suffer, not even physically. We SEN
for cocaine and chlOroform in cases o
simple suffering, even the drawing O
q tooth. Where is the endurance o
other times before the discovery q
these marvellous drugs which seer
almost necessary for our too sensitiv
modern and perhaps degenerated hu
manity, incapable Of bearing physica
pain? Moral suffering we cannot en-
dure. We accept life on the conditio
that It must be without bitterness. /
other words, we want the impossible
i'm the "Parislenne," that admirabl
comedy of NJ. Becque, there is one pro
, found phrase. When the lovers be
come cold and a sort of sadness come
over them, and when one asks the 9th
er the meaning of it, the answer is
There are shades" That is the Yer
soul Of the period II is the malady G