NEURASTHENIA.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 771, 21 March 1910, Page 7

NEURASTHENIA.

SUICIDE IN ST. PETERSBURG. GIRLS TIRED OF LIFE. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright St. Petersburg, March 18. There has been tan epidemic of neurastheniac' Buicides: in.. St.- Petersburg. _■■ Two, sisters named Kolmann,: aged . sixteen; and; twenty' respectively; .and ■si .friend named Mademoiselle. Lauriez, who is, heiress to two million pounds sterling, - drank poison '< after playing Chopin's ."Funeral March.".. '■ <:■ Letters left', by the girls stated that they were .tired of life. : , Fifteen other cases of suicide, mostly of, girls,. occurred yesterday, and on an , earlier day there were twenty-nine, including those of sixteen women and three children. - , •'. ■ • ,V:■•--1.: - "- 1 - ll —; ;'.' STRESS OF MODERN LIFE. . la an interesting book entitled '.'The Biddle'. of...'Personality;" published last year by H. Addingfcon Bruce, the following facts are given:— .■ ' . ; Under the stress of modern civilisation, and more particularly in! countries ; of. great economic activity, neu-' rasthenia, hysteria,. and , kindred disorders. havo >-increased, with .appalling: rapidity, - Comincing : proof' of : this .is furnished' by ' the recently ;■■' published statistics of the United States. Census; {Bureau- relating to insanity, that- dread culmination of liervous --v and mental breakdown. These wo may well contemplate 'for,.a moment, in order, to faring clearly before. our. mind's eye the lavages of insanity and . the' necessity for utilising: all the means at oar command to combat it. ■ There is good reason to suspect;that, insanity, is-mcreas-Jug: in the.'- United States more rapidly I than.! in any: other country. In any [tevent, :it is increasing, so rapidly as-to. assume the aspect or an : urgent social problem which must be; solved if the (best interests of. the nation are to bo conserved. ■

Investigation shows that the present ratio of; 186.2 per ■100,000, refers only to the insane immnrod in asylums, it exoeeds by 16.2 tho ratio of 1890: for all 'the insane in the United States, whether in or; out of asylums, and exceeds by 68.0 the * ration of the. same', year,;, for the asylum insane. Doubtless, as has been suggested, the increase ' is.; in . part . attributable to kinder and more Rational methods, of treatment whereby, the lives of the insane' are prolonged. But this can explain only a small; part of the increase, when the fact is borne 1 in'mind' that during the: decade 1880-1890 the'population of: American asylums, increased from 40,942 to 74,028, and by 1903' had leaped to 150,161, or : more than double the total for 1890.1 Obviously, the: census officials have warrant for their belief l that in', the _ United States /the growth of insanity .is outdistancing that .of the population ; ■ and . consequently. there is .good ground for. the assertion that, the lesser;mental ills are increasing with even greater rapidity. The need, of a remedy is plainly urged 'both' by humanitarian and economic considerations. . The maintenance bill for American; asylums already amounts to more than 20,000,000 dollars annually, over ninety per cent, of the inBane in the Unitc-d States being wholly or partially dependent on public supAncl no nation .thus: constantly and increasingly «veakened may hope to retain political, industrial, or commercial headship:

Of the-potatoes sold and consumed in Auckland • and suburbs the districts of Pukekohe, Buckland, and Tuakau can fairly., claim to supply, tho major portion, and although the blight has acted as a great deterrent to growers of lato years, tho majority have not become disheartened, but still persevere with growing the crop. . This : season, although many of the,crops have only hirntd oui moderate, some very good returns hava been - obtained. Eight acres, planted by one farmer, with the seed of Tasmanian and Northern' Star varieties,, yielded iti all 90 tons of tubers, and so, although eome'expenso is incurred in spraying, etc., yields even approaching the foregoing pay growers handsomely, as good prices have this season ruled for the product, about .£8 ..per ton. It. is estimated by the "News" that from 50 to E0 tons per day are dug in the above districts while the season', lasts, so it will be seen that a considerable supply is maintained. The lata planted crops, from which next seaeon's seed will be obtained, are reported to be coming along splendidly. The report of the British National Bine Association for 1909 (the association's jubilee year) was issued recently. The council state that the weather at the jubilee prize meeting last July was generally favourable, and the standard of. shooting high, that the average number of competitors and others sleeping in oamp during tho meeting was 2397, and that the health was good. < The aggregate amount given, in prizes was .£15,502,. and the amount received for entrance fees was .£15,018, and for pool and practice shots £1352, as against .£14,355 and JJ1307 respectively in 1908. The number of prizes competed for, exclusive of challenge cups, was SGG3, and the total num-~ ber of entries 50,901, or nearly 5000 more than in the previous year.- Tho ammunition supplied by the AVar Office was of good quality, and gave general satisfaction.