The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-08
SUICIDE AND THE SEXES.
1t Is More Frequent with Men and Is
Destined to Increase with

Popular Science Monthly.
At the present day man is much more
prone to suicide than woman. This is true
of man in regard to epilepsy, crime ana
other marked signs of degeneration. But
it has been observed that as woman APP
proaches man in her mode of life she also
becomes more familiar with those ,abnor-
NAL conditions which have previously peen
peculiar to man. The comparative i'm
munity of woman from Self-deStructlon In
the past has depended greatly upon the
relatively less harassing part she has taken
in the struggle for life. To-Day 1t IS dl1er-
ent. Now woman occupies the nelds OF arr,
literature, finance, and even politics, and as
she goes deeper into these vacations she
must expect to suffer the consequences.
Already it is noticeable that feminine sui
eide is not now entirely due to the senti-
mental causes of disappointed .love,. deser-
ton and jealousy, but to those trials of a
more material order, such as have led men
to the act of self-destruction.
Imitation far exceeds any other of what
are called trivial causes of suicide, and
asserts itself more in woman than in man.
1t is much more common than is supposed.
When self-destruction becomes epidemic, as
it sometimes does, its prevalence very
largely depends upon imitation. 1t is said
that many years ago the wall of Thomas
Hood over The One More Unfortunate
brought many a sentimental person to a
watery grave in the Thames. And in our
own day the vivid representation of suicide
upon the stage under conditions appealing
forcibly to the imagination has been known
to be followed by the ~self-imposed death of
persons whose conditions resembled closely
those of the suicide in the drama.
Attempts have been made to prove that
climate has an effect upon the rate of sui
eide, but these attempts have never done
more than show that the temperate regions
have the highest ratio. This. of course. is
not due to the climate, but to the more
complicated civilization, the greater phys
ical and mental wear, and the more extern
sive interference with natural laws met
with in the temperate regions. While it is
true that climate eXerts but little influence
over the rate of suicide, the seasons, on
the contrary, do strongly affect it. The
popular belief is that suicide is more fire.
quent during the months of winter and
spring. This, however, is incorrect. Cold,
wet, damp weather does not, as so many
people suppose, promote dependency and
suicide. Strange as it may seem, at that
period of the year when the suffer1ngs of
the poor and the sick are least, when en-
ployment is most readily obtained. when
the pleasure of living should be at its high
est, suicide is most frequent. May, June
and July, the months of song and sunshine
in all countries, give the greatest number
of self-murders. For this there is no sat
isfactory explanation, unless we accept
that of the medical fraternity, which is
that during the period of early summer the
organism is working at a higher tension,
every function of mind and body is more
active than at any other period of the year,
and consequently there is greater liability
TO sudden physical and mental collapse.