OCR Text |
Show SUICIDE. Suicide is becoming more frequent with each period of five years in all parts of Europe where statistics have been taken. The exceptions do not vitiate the general rule. Since 1865 suicides have been more frequent in the Kingdom of Saxony than in any other State. From 1866 to 1873 they numbered 298 per 1,000,000 yearly. In England the ratio of suicide from 1836 to 1875 rose from 63 to 86 per 1,000,000. Suicides are most frequent in low countries rather than in those that are mountainous, in alluvial countries, rather than in those not formed by river deposits, in the region of great rivers, rather than in districts remote from rivers. In point [?] of time during the year, June is the favorite month for committing suicide, and December least apt to be selected for that purpose. He thinks the moon exercises more or less influence on suicides, the second quarter and full moon having most effect. Monday is the day oftenest chosen by men, and Sunday by women, to commit suicide upon. From an ethnologic point of view, "the poorer the German race, the stronger the Germanism of a country, the more it reveals in its physical character an extraordinary propensity to self destruction. Slavism tends to lower the average of suicides as Germanism elevates it." The taller the man, the more likely he is to commit suicide, and the act is more frequent among those whose heads measure more from side to side than from front to rear. In the matter of religion, in States of the Catholic faith, 58 per million, in Protestant States, 190, in Greek, 40, commit suicide. In Bavaria, Prussia, Wurtemberg [Wurttemberg] and Austria, the average among Protestants in 102.7; among Catholics, 62.8; among all other Christians, 36.2; and among the Jews, 48.4 per million. As regards intelligence, the more enlightened the country, the more suicides. Prussia stands first, as to education and suicide; France next, and last Italy and Hungary. As regards sex, three or four men to one woman commit suicide. In Italy, the learned men and the unmarried women commit suicide least frequently - the widows and widowers the oftenest. In France, one out of ten of the childless widowers commits suicide, and one in forty eight of the childless widows, while of either sex, the married with children are the least prone to suicide. The figures on the million for the French industries are as follows: millers, 97; bakers, 116; butchers, 161; tailors, 191; shoe makers, 100; workers in textile industries, 176; in metal industries, 260. In Italy, those who are skilled in "food industries" are the most prone to suicide; also literary and scientific men. In Italy, France, and Prussia "the known disposition of doctors to become mad" considerably swells the return of suicides. Soldiers are also prone to suicide. As regards the means of suicide, the rope is most frequently chosen, and drowning next, then fire-arms or weapons which cut or stab, and afterward all other modes. American Sentry. |