weariness of life. When no one is sure of the morrow; when reputation, property, fortune, have nothing stable; when Conservatives and Socialists begin all their writings with this phrase-We travel towards the unknown; when, looking around us, we discover nothing but ruins-not an institution standing; when intellect seeks for shelter beneath the sword;-do you believe that the tranquillity of soul of which Seneca speaks is at the command of the greater number? This foreboding of approaching evil, is it not general? In seeing the people rush like torrents in search of pleasure, do we not understand that they seek to fly from themselves, and turn aside their eyes from the ill that is at their doors? Is it not the faithful image of the Jews at the siege of Samaria, crying out, 'Let us drink and eat, for we shall die to-morrow?'

We have only to remark upon this painful picture of the state of feeling in Paris during the anarchy of 1850, that however true it may be as explaining the recklessness of life and disposition to suicide there at that time, it by no means accounts for the perfectly analogous phenomena which have at all times, and in all countries which history or observation informs us of, existed, although, perhaps, sometimes in unequal extent. The perpetuity and universality of these sentiments and propensities bespeak a more inherent, more profound, and more intimate relationship to the physical organisation of man than M. de Boismont represents.

Out of the 4595 reports which have served for the foundation of M. de Boismont's researches, the number of notes, letters, scraps of verses, or other documents, left by those who destroyed themselves through ennui, disgust, despair, scepticism, indifference, materialist convictions, amounts to 237. They are divided into two series: the first comprises those in whom spleen, tedium vitæ, succeeded to some grief or suffering-secondary or acquired ennui; the second, those suicides in whom reverie, melancholy, always existed-original, primitive ennui. It is obvious that the second class, at least, of original ennui can hardly be accounted for on any other supposition than that of being connected with primitive somatic peculiarities. It would probably be more correct to add these cases to the list of the insane.

To the same list must be added a very large proportion of those who, in M. de Boismont's classification, are described as having committed suicide in consequence of disease. The following passage is entirely in accordance with our own experience, and reflection upon its import might have satisfied the author of the error of his classification:

"There is an organ whose sufferings appear to have a marked influence on suicide, that is, the stomach. The predominance of sad ideas in those who digest badly has long been observed. Chronic gastritis, gastralgic affections, cancer, predispose to sadness, melancholy, suicide, insanity. Without denying the part of the brain in hypochondria, it must be admitted that this disease often has its point of departure in the stomach, intestines, and ganglionic system. As soon as hypochondriacs cease to suffer, sad ideas vanish as if by enchantment. Another remark which we have many times had occasion to make, is that the gastralgias which had brought about serious perturbations in the digestive functions alternate with mental diseases, and that on the appearance of insanity all the disorders of the digestive functions cease."

We might pursue this analysis much further, but we have shown

enough to prove that an immensely larger number of suicides than that stated by M. de Boismont must be transferred to mental alienation as the true cause.

A point upon which it is of deep interest to entertain clear ideas, is whether we ought to recognise a distinct form of insanity, of which the disposition to suicide is the pathognomonic character. If it be true in nature that suicidal insanity, as a species or type apart, exists, it is exceedingly important to establish on clear pathological facts and demonstration. A careful analysis of particular cases-not a statistical conglomeration, which, for the most part, has no other effect than hiding from our sight that clear knowledge which special clinical observation supplies-will enable us to solve this question. This analysis will speedily prove one fact,-namely, that a first case of suicide occurred in a monomaniac afflicted with illusions, that a second occurred in a maniac during a paroxysm of frenzy, that a third occurred in a patient afflicted with general paralysis, that a fourth occurred in a confirmed hypochondriac, and so on, until we arrive at the positive discovery that cases of suicide are observed in any and every form of insanity. We trace the particular histories further back, and we discover that in many of them the disposition to suicide was a development subsequent upon other manifestations or symptoms of insanity rarely, indeed, if ever, will it be established that suicide sprang up in the mind as the original, essential symptom of the disease. Having gone thus far in the analysis, it will be found that we have eliminated by far the greater number of cases of suicide, or suicidal propensities, from the inquiry. In the immense majority it will be seen that suicide and suicidal thoughts are but an epiphenomenon, a symptom of some well-known form of insanity. There remain a small class of cases which, as they are more difficult of analysis, occasion greater difficulty in the endeavour to assign them their true place. These are the cases of sudden suicide in which little or no antecedent account of the victim's true somatic and psychical condition can be obtained; these are the cases analogous, at least in their appearance, to impulsive homicidal insanity, as it is called. Now, it has been clearly proved, for many of these cases of so-called impulsive homicidal insanity, that some marked bodily or mental disorder existed for a period more or less prolonged, before the manifestation of the homicidal act or attempt; and in others of these cases, subsequent observation of the patients has furnished demonstrative evidence of the existence of some well-recognised form of insanity. In other cases, again, it may be fairly doubted whether there was any insanity at all, that is, whether they were not purely cases of murder. The application of this analogy to the assumption of impulsive suicidal insanity is perfectly legitimate. We are entitled to conclude that more minute history of the antecedents, and more frequent opportunities of observation after the suicidal attempts, would reveal distinct evidence of some one of the common forms of insanity. In some few cases, moreover, it would be perfectly arbitrary to assume that there was any insanity at all. The cases, then, which seem to favour the theory of a specific suicidal insanity, dwindle down to an evanescent

point, and scarcely leave enough of fact whereupon to base an argument.

A survey of the modes of death resorted to by suicidists will supply numerous interesting illustrations of the different habits of thought, customs, laws of different countries and classes, and, in some cases, throw considerable light upon the mental condition and form of mental alienation of the victim. This is also the point which most deserves to arrest the attention of the medical jurist.

The different modes of self-destruction observed in Paris are classed as follows:

1. Asphyxia by charcoal.

2. Drowning.

3. Strangulation.

4. Fire-arms.

5. Precipitation.

Other returns for the whole of France place submersion and strangulation at the head of the list.

This

The mode by asphyxia is especially resorted to by women. circumstance is accounted for by the universal use of charcoal for domestic purposes in Paris, and the consequent familiarity in the management of it. If we compare the favourite modes adopted in England with what is observed in France, we shall find some remarkable differences. We must in this place premise, that generally excellent as is our system of registering the causes of death, and its admirable administration by that accomplished statist, Dr. Farr, it has failed to furnish us with the same amount of detailed and complete information upon the subject of suicides which is collected in France. Several causes concur to impede the collection of trustworthy information in England. The inquisitions of coroners' juries are often, nay, in most cases, conducted with much inferior minuteness and care than are exercised in France, where an expert is charged, in every case, to make a full report. With us, too, there is a disposition amongst coroners' juries to seize upon the most trivial circumstances in order to make a colourable justification for a verdict of "Temporary insanity." The parsimony, and often culpable indifference, of county magistrates, too, by refusing the necessary funds for conducting efficient and skilled investigations, frustrates all hope of ascertaining the cause of death in many cases. The vain, if not blasphemous verdict, "Died of the visitation of God," is still, in many parts of the country, the refuge of ignorance, indolence, or indifference. Under this, or some other vague term, is doubtless concealed many a death by suicide or by foul murder.

We must therefore abandon the desire to present any extended comparative view of suicide in the two countries. We commend these considerations to our author, who, in his love for statistics, has overlooked here, as in other instances, grave defects in the collection of the individual facts, such as must render many general conclusions utterly fallacious. The determination of the relative frequency of the various modes of death is, however, one thing which the facts in our possession enable us to effect. Out of 232 suicides in this country, there were

91 cases of hanging, cutting instruments were used in 47, poisoning 45, drowning 29, precipitation 10, and fire-arms in 10 cases. Asphyxiation, then, so common in France, is unknown amongst us-a circumstance obviously accounted for by the little use of charcoal. It is deserving of especial remark, that poisoning rises to a much higher rank in England. M. de Boismont notes 157 cases only of poisoning out of 4595, whereas in England the cases of poisoning are quite one-fifth of the whole. How is this explained? Also very easily. In France the sale of poisons is restricted by the most vigilant legal provisions. Here nothing is so simple as the obtaining poison enough for any purpose of suicide or murder. It may be said that this makes little difference in the result; that in France, where poison is difficult to obtain, charcoal is always at hand; that the commission is in no degree checked or encouraged by the restriction or freedom of the sale of poisons; that, in short, those bent upon suicide, failing in one means, have only to select another. Even as regards suicide this is not altogether true; the slightest delay or disappointment in compassing the means first sought may save the intended victim from himself. But in relation to the facility of obtaining the means of committing murder, there cannot be a doubt as to the necessity of imposing the most rigorous restrictions upon the sale of poisons.

The influence of season upon the production of suicide in France seems to be remarkable. Thus, in ten years the highest figures are observed in the months of May, June, and July; the lowest, in November, December, February, and January. Grouping the months in series of four, the following result is obtained: out of a total of 4595, there happened in the first four months of the year 1491, in the second term 1837, and in the last four months 1267.

M. de Boismont's figures show an annually-increasing number of suicides in France and in Paris; he fails in demonstrating that the proportion of suicides to population also increases. The proportion of suicides in Paris, relatively to those in the departments, is considerably greater; and M. de Boismont has sought to show, by an elaborate analysis, that the influence of Paris and Marseilles radiates into the surrounding country, raising the proportion of suicides in the districts nearest to these great centres.

The facts collected by Dr. Bingham show 184 cases of suicide, in 1844, in America. Out of 172 cases in which the season is indicated, 104 were committed in the hot months. The principal mode of death was hanging. It is stated by Leuret and M. Boudin that suicide is far more frequent amongst the black population than the white; and Dr. Baly has shown that violent deaths are twice as frequent amongst the blacks of New York as amongst the whites.

In Belgium there are recorded 620 suicides during the four years from 1835 to 1838, the whole population being 4,260,631.

In Prussia, on the authority of M. Morel de Maréville, there occurred 15,103 suicides in the ten years from 1834 to 1843. In 1843 the population was 15,447,440.

M. Boudin states that in Austria the proportion of voluntary deaths, which stood at 85 in 100,000 of population during the period from

1819 to 1827, rose in the period from 1828 to 1844, to 102 in 100,000.

M. Hübertz, the Danish statist, states that between 1835 and 1844, there occurred in Sweden an average of 407 violent deaths yearly; that in Copenhagen there are about 45 suicides annually.

The figures from Russia are probably not very exact. The following statement, however, by M. Herman, seems to justify the conclu. sion that the serfs are not so much reconciled to a life of slavery as is sometimes represented. Out of 652 suicides occurring in the western part of the central provinces of the empire in 1821, 458 occurred amongst the serfs; and in the following year, out of 673 suicides, the serfs again figured as 498.

In Mahometan countries suicide is believed to be rare.

M. de Boismont devotes a long and interesting chapter to "the Physiology and Symptomatology of Suicide." In this title he again declares his conviction that suicide is not always a pathological question. He opposes the doctrines of Esquirol, who insisted strongly upon the delirium of suicidists. The truth, as it so often does, lies between the two extremes. Ni jamais, ni toujours, is a maxim especially applicable here. M. de Boismont has exceeded by depreciating the share of insanity; M. Esquirol, by assigning to it a too absolute part. We have already said that the possibility of responsible suicide is not to be proved by the indistinct evidence of statistical tables, but by well-observed and well-sifted individual facts. Now, if we apply this test, we shall certainly be struck with the absence of everything indicative of insanity in the conduct of some of the victims-unless, indeed, we regard the act of suicide itself to be such an indication, which is simply begging the question, and placing it beyond the range of serious inquiry. The cases which to our mind prove to demonstration that suicide has been committed by persons of sound mind in the ordinary medical and legal meaning of the term, are those of suicide in companionship, of which our sentimental neighbours present so many singular examples. Two young people encounter an obstacle to their union which appears to them irresistible. In their impatience, they, or rather one of them in the first instance, become disgusted with the world; they discuss between them the project of suicide; their resolution formed, and the preparatory arrangements got up with all the theatrical display conventional on these occasions, they shut themselves in a room, stop up the crevices, light the charcoal braziers, and expire in each other's arms. In some instances the anxiety to be discovered locked in an embrace is so great, that couples have tied themselves together with a shawl, lest in the act of death they should fall asunder! Now, in a deed of this kind there is folly enough, wrongheadedness, and even criminality; but is this insanity? Perhaps yes, in one of the lovers-the one that has proposed the mutual suicide, and fascinated his paramour into consent. But it is against the law of probability that both were insane.

There are yet other cases which, in this world of struggling interests, disappointments, and conflicting passions, every now and then startle the public by their attendant circumstances. That sharp misery may,