Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1908-02-07
SUICIDE STATISTICS.
ChiIdless Marriages a Cause-Rate
High Among Germanic
Nations.


Among 100000 suicides OF all
classes, it has been found that 205
married men with children destroyed
their lives; 470 married men with
out children: SIG widowers with, and
1,O04 widowers without children.
With respect to the women, As mar
ried women with, and 15S without,
children committed suicide, while 1O4
widows with, and 23S without Of
spring, completed the list.
On the face of things. says the IL
Illustrated London News, it would APP
pear that in childless marriages the
number of men suicides is doubled and
in women trebled. Leaving the case
of actual insane persons out of count,
it would also appear that in males
suicide is more frequent than in fe-
males.
Equally interesting is that phase OF
the subject which deals with the
causes. One table dealing with 6,7S2
cases shows one-seventh caused by
misery, one twenty-fftE part by loss
of fortune, one forty.tbird by gamb-
ling, one ninetaeLth by love affairs,
one-ninth by domestic troubles, one
sixty-sixth by fanaticism, and by foil
ed ambition and remorse one-seventh
and one twenty-seventh respectively.
The GEOGRAPHY of suicide is also OF
high interest. Westcott says the high
est proportion in Europe is shown by
the Germanic races, Saxony having the
largest suicide rate of any country.
In Norway the rate was very large for
time, it's decrease being attributed
to the greater restrictions now laid
on the liquor traffic.
The Celtic races have a low rate.
and this is evinced by the figures for
Ireland and Wales. Mountainous re-
gions are said to show a lower rate
than lowlands. In the highlands OF
Scotland and Wales, and in the high
areas of Switzerland suicide is rare.
Times and seasons also operate ap-
parently, to influence the act of self
destruction. Roughly speaking, the
curve line of suicide, calculated
through the year, rises from January
to, July, and decreases for the second
half of the year. The maximum per-
iCis have been, found to fall in May,
June and July. | believe indeed Juna
Is found to show marked predomi-
nance as a suicide month
| Co. inc =,
the warm season of the year is Set
dawn as represented by the onset 81
hot weather affecting the system ah.l
tending to disturb the mental equilio-
rum of the subjects. In 1888 cases
npted in Paris the prevailing hous .
OK self-destruction were from a. L.
to noon and from to p. m.
4. Perhaps one of the most curious
phases of this study is revealed in tie
'act already alluded to-namely, that
different countries appear TO shoE
preferences for different means II
committing suicide from other lands
The most common European methct
is by means of hanging, but in Itaiy
.bis mode of self-destruction is rare
Drowning comes next in order, arj
Gwice as many women as men perish
IN this way each year in Europe
Shooting is frequent in Italy and -
Switzerland. Cut throat is common ~
England and Ireland; it does not seeJ
to constitute anywhere else frequenI
mode of ending life.
Poisoning is a specially Anglo-Sax
on method of suicide, we are told;
while suffocation by the fumes of osr
bonic Scid gas, inhaled in a closnC
room, is very typical of suicide i,
France.