STATISTICS OF SUICIDE.

Patea Mail, 26 May 1882, Page 1 (Supplement)

STATISTICS OF SUICIDE.

Signor Morselli lias been at considerpains to show, by the most ghastly tables, that Mr Buckle’s theory.; of the unerring laws which govern suicide is unimpeachable. The Italian physician’s arguments, and the figures by which they are supported, are not to be commended to the morbid or timorsome as light and agreeable reading, albeit they suggest some very interesting conclusions. A glance at the carefully-coloured map designed to show the relative intensity of suicide reveals the somewhat unpleasant fact that education and the love of living do not always go hand in hand. The countries which show the lowest proportion of suicides are not precisely those which display the greatest love of learning or proficiency in knowledge. Calabria stands first, without any close competitor, the proportion of suicides to every million inhabitants being scarcely over eight, whilst in the department of which Paris is the centre the proportion is 330. Very high in the life-respecting countries stand Portugal, Sardinia, Dalmatia, Ireland, and the old kingdom of Naples —generally all ultra-Catholic countries; whilst at the other extreme we find Saxony, Denmark (parts), Hamburg, and, at a distance, Lower Austria. Another curious point on which Signor Morselli touches is the apparent want of free-will which is denied to those who voluntarily shorten their existence. Tbe proportions between hanging, drowning, shooting, stabbing, and poisoning are fixed for each country in apparently relentless order, and in nevershifting ratio. For instance, in Italy, drowning is the most popular ; in France, Prussia, and England, hanging. In England, the next most usual method is stabbing or cutting; whilst iu France, Italy, and Prussia, this bears a very insignificant proportion to the total, shooting being more resorted to in Italy and drowning in the other two countries. Another curious fact which Morselli deduces is the steady increase in one form of suicide —hanging apparently gaining ground in every country of Europe except Italy and Prussia, where it remains stationary. The spirit of imitation, which is always strong with persons of disordered minds, accounts for this, though another reason may possibly be found in the restrictions which are put upon other means, such as the sale of poisons, and the increased efficiency of the police, which makes drowning more and more difficult in large towns. The repugnance of certain races to certain forms of death is also very remarkable, the Slavs of all kinds being especially disinclined to drowning, which finds favour in the most highly civilised countries. Philosophers will find ample food for reflection, and therewith may spin endless webs with the materials furnished in Morselli’s somewhat dismal analysis of the laws to which minds un-j hinged seem to be still subjected.