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in Cheshire in 1856, 18 in 1857, and 30 in 1858; 60 were committed in Hampshire in 1856, 12 in 1857, and 29 in 1858. Other illustrations may be obtained by referring to Table I. If the coroners in one or more of the counties where these great variations are observed, could be induced to record carefully the circumstances attending and determining the act of self-destruction, doubtless much light would be thrown upon the influences which govern the prevalence of suicide.

If we seek now to ascertain the causes which lead to the peculiarities of distribution of suicides in England and Wales, we are at the very outset confronted with difficulties which are for the present insuperable. The data which we have made use of in this article enable us to determine the general facts of the greater or less prevalence of suicides in different localities; but they furnish no particulars by which we might eliminate errors, or with any information concerning the age, the civil condition of the suicides, or the circumstances which prompted the act of selfdestruction. We can only then endeavour to ascertain if the general knowledge we possess of the etiology of suicide will in any way aid us in elucidating this subject.

Brierre de Boismont (Op. cit., p. 100) collated the causes which led to the committal of suicide in 4077 cases, and with the following results:

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Of any single, well-defined cause of suicide, insanity, according to the foregoing list, plays the foremost part. Does insanity manifestly contribute in determining the position of the districts of greatest excess of suicides in England? The only statistics accessible by which an approximative knowledge of the distribution of unsoundness of mind throughout the kingdom may be obtained, are those contained in the returns of pauper lunatics chargeable to parishes, furnished at intervals by the Poor Law Board to the Commissioners in Lunacy. The last return made of this character is for the year 1857,* and it is contained in

* The 13th Report of the Commissioners in Lunacy, recently published, contains an abstract of the "Annual Returns of Pauper Lunatics and Idiots belonging to the several Unions in England and Wales on the 1st of January, 1859."

the Twelfth Annual Report of the Lunacy Commissioners. From this return it would appear that the greatest proportion of pauper lunatics is found in Gloucestershire and Berkshire; next in the scale stand the counties of Middlesex, Surrey, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Northamptonshire, and Shropshire; while in reference to the counties of less tendency (confining our attention to the suicide-fields), Kent and Hampshire hold a third place in the list (this being divided into five classes), and Sussex a fourth, in the London field; Nottingham and Warwick also hold a third place, and Lincolnshire a fourth, in the Midland field; and Cumberland a third, and Westmoreland and Lancashire a fourth in the Northern field. Thus it will be seen that there is no systematic agreement between the counties of greatest tendency to lunacy and the counties of greatest tendency to suicide. Of the counties standing prominent in the suicide-fields, Middlesex, Surrey, and Leicester alone appear as manifesting a more than average tendency to lunacy.

With the exception of drunkenness, no one of the remaining determining causes of suicide is so prominent that it might be expected to exert a marked influence upon the geographical distribution of the act, and the promptings of drunkenness are so often interwoven with the moral causes which too commonly bring about intemperance, that it cannot very well be separated from the moral causes of suicide.

Suicide is, indeed, an exceptional result of the disease and wretchedness, the many bitter pangs and troubles which infest life, and a tabulated list of the causes which have apparently immediately brought about the act of self-destruction, presents but a reflex of every-day events and evils. Are we then to look upon suicide as an index of the degree of tension of those moral and physical causes which predispose to and determine it? This proposition may involve a truism, but if we assume it, we shall find that it will aid us but little in our quest, and that we fall short of some element or elements in the causation of self-murder.

It is certain that the greatest tendency to suicide is found for the most part in districts which are chief centres of commercial activity, and where the mental, moral, and physical powers are kept in the highest degree of tension. This is true of London; of Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and Warwickshire; of Cumberland and Lancashire; and the seemingly anomalous positions of Westmoreland, Lincolnshire, Kent, Sussex, and Hampshire may perhaps be subsequently explained by suicidal infection from the counties first named. But, admitting this, Gloucestershire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and Shropshire, Cheshire, Durham, and Northumberland, and we believe also the West Riding of Yorkshire, all localities second to none of the suicide-fields, except

perhaps the London field, in their commercial activity, and in the turmoil and tension of life in them, exhibit but a slight tendency towards self-destruction.

Differences in the character of the industry of different counties do not apparently solve the question. The tendency to suicide is below the average in the purely agricultural counties, with the exception of Lincoln, Kent, Sussex, and Hampshire. In Herefordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, and Somerset, counties in which agricultural pursuits predominate, but in which small manufactures are carried on in cottages, such as lace-making, straw-plaiting, and glove-making (Somersetshire), and in which immorality and ignorance are great, suicide is also below the average. If we compare the agricultural and mining counties of Westmoreland, Cumberland, Northumberland, and Durham, with the agricultural and mining counties of Cornwall, Monmouth, and the districts of North and South Wales, we see the northern counties ranging towards the highest pitch of suicidal disposition, the southern and Welsh towards the bottom of the scale. Of the great manufacturing and mining counties of Lancashire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, and the great manufacturing district of the West Riding of Yorkshire, we find Gloucestershire, Staffordshire, and Worcestershire, and probably also the West Riding of Yorkshire, manifesting a much inferior disposition to suicide than the other counties.

But, in addition to the causes which determine the act of suicide, there are others which are influential in predisposing towards it; to wit, hereditary tendency, sex, age, civil condition, fortune, profession, and character or degree of instruction.

We have no means of ascertaining the influence which hereditary tendency might have in determining the geographical distribution of suicide, if, indeed, it were supposed that such influence would be appreciable; and we have not been able to trace any relation between the distribution and that of the different sexes, of celibates, widows, or widowers. We entirely fail of those data which would enable us to ascertain the effects of age, and also of professions; and, guided by Mr. Fletcher's Tables of Moral and Educational Statistics (which refer to a period intermediate between 1838-39 and 1856-58), we have not discovered any intimate relation between the distribution of crime and immorality and suicide (and, we may add also, as requiring notice, density of population).

It may be remarked here, however, that in 1841 the greatest number of persons of independent means in proportion to population were to be found in Surrey, Middlesex, and Westmoreland;

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and in 1842-43, the greatest amount of real property existed in Lincolnshire-all counties of excessive suicidal tendency. These coincidences deserve to be remarked in connexion with the opinion' of some writers, that wealth and a sufficiency of means predispose to suicide-in fact, that a greater tendency to suicide is manifested among those of easy circumstances than among the impoverished. Thus Dr. Marc d'Espine remarks on the suicidestatistics of the Canton of Geneva :-" If we consider the suicides apart, we find that thirteen were wealthy individuals, thus giving 185 per cent. as the lethiferous figure of the wealthy, in place of 121 per cent. the lethiferous figure of the whole population. Another calculation leads to the same result. The deaths among the rich form 4.2 per cent. of the whole mortality, and suicides among the rich form 6.3 per cent. of the total deaths from suicide. Easy circumstances then increase the chances and occasions of suicide." (Statistique Mortuaire Comparée, p. 114.)

In one respect only do we find any general correspondence between a predisposing cause of suicide and its geographical distribution. It is a fact of singular interest that suicide prevails most in the most educated districts. If we adopt as a measure of the degree of ignorance of different counties, the number of persons who sign the marriage register with marks, we find, as a general rule, that the average number of suicides decreases as the average amount of ignorance increases.

The relationship existing between suicide and ignorance will be best seen by a reference to the accompanying diagram, in which is depicted the proportion of suicides and the degree of Diagram representing the relative proportion of Ignorance and Suicides

in the different Counties.

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ignorance in the several counties of England, and in the registration division of Monmouth and South Wales, as set forth in Table I. The lines of suicide and ignorance describe curves in opposite directions, and although the points of depression of the one curve and of elevation of the other do not absolutely agree, still the correspondence is such as, perhaps, to justify the conclusion that the prevalence of suicide and the degree of ignorance in a district are in inverse relation the one to the other.

This, which is true of 1856-58, is also true in the main of 1838-39. Dr. Farr writes:-"Suicide is, in fact, most frequent in the metropolis, the south-eastern counties, and the northern counties, where the greatest number can write, and it is the least frequent in Wales. The intermediate counties range from 62 to 48, who could write, in 100 (persons married), the suicides from 4.5 to 6.8 in 100,000." The proportion who could write, in the metropolis, was 82 per cent., in the northern counties, 68, in the south-eastern, 62, and in Monmouth and Wales, 41.-(Third Report of the Registrar-General, p. 80.)

The general relationship which exists between the amount of instruction in the different French departments, and the number of suicides occurring in them, is similar to that found in the English counties. But, in addition to this, the French statistics of suicide and instruction for the thirteen years 1836-48 show, that suicide has progressively increased in frequency in proportion as instruction has become more diffused in each region, as well as throughout the whole of France. M. Lisle, from whose valuable work, Du Suicide, Statistique, Médecine, Histoire, et Legislation (Paris, 1856, p. 79), the foregoing conclusions are derived, asserts also, that wherever a comparative examination of the relation of suicide to instruction has been made, the results have proved absolutely similar to those obtained in France. He quotes the following Table from a memoir, by M. Brouc (Annales d'hygiène publique et de médecine légale, t. xvi.)

Table showing the Relation of Suicide to the State of Instruction in different Countries.

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