ART. IX. Letters from the Egean. By James Emerson, Esq. PAGE. 265 283 295 in XI. The Annual Biography and Obituary for the Year 1829. 303 305 XIII. William Montgomery; or The Young Artist. By Mrs. XV. Belgic Pastorals, and other Poems By Francis Glasse XVII. Analytic Physiology; treating of the cure of Nervous Dis- 306 306 307 307 308 XVIII. Travels in Italy, Sicily, and the Lipari Islands. By R. XX. The Fate of Graysdale; a Legend Literary and Miscellaneous Intelligence 309 THE MONTHLY REVIEW. FEBRUARY, 1829. ART. I.-De l'Hypochondrie et du Suicide; considerations sur les causes, sur le siege et le traitmeut de ces maladies, sur les moyens d'en arreter les progrès et d'en prevenir le developpement: par J. P. FALRET, D. M. &c. &c. &c. &c. 8vo. pp. 512. Paris. Dictionaire des Sciences Médicales Article, Suicide: par M. ESQUIROL. THE fact is indisputable that suicide is alarmingly on the increase, both in Britain and on the continent. We are not, indeed, in possession of any perfect series of statistical records, by which to exhibit this in accurate numerical result, for the several cities, countries, and kingdoms of Europe; but the few which we do possess demonstrate that the crime, or rather the disease, has recently been making great progressive advances, far outstripping, (as we shall subsequently shew) the proportional increase of population. Professor Grohmann has published an interesting table of the suicides which took place in Hamburgh, from 1816 to 1822 inclusive, exhibiting an increase greatly beyond the most apid increase of population. In 1816 only two are recorded, though this is probably much below the actual number; for in the following year, 1817, there are eighteen; but in 1822, we find no fewer than fifty-nine. Even this number, fifty-nine, though enormous when compared with two, is small in proportion to the population, which is estimated at 115,000,-small, we mean, when compared with the suicides in some other capitals, being only .0521 per thousand, while at Copenhagen, the proportion is .6 per thousand, and at Richenbach as high as 16.6 per thousand, while at Paris, the proportion is only . 42 per thousand, and at London as low as . 2 per thousand. At Copenhagen, the number of suicides was nearly doubled within twenty years, namely, from 1787 to 1805: from 1787 to 1790, it was 181; from 1790 to 1795, it was 209; from 1795 to 1800, it was 261; and from 1800 to 1805, it was 319. But in 1817, we find only 51 suicides reported at Copenhagen. * Journal der Hellkande Von Hufeland, Berlin, 1823, 4. From the very nature of the circumstances, however, it must be obvious that we cannot implicitly rely on any one of those recorded numbers, which ought rather to be taken as a probable estimate, than as an accurate return. Nay, the greater accuracy of the recorded numbers in one place, or in one year, more than in another, must affect the accuracy of our comparative reasonings, and must render our conclusions somewhat uncertain :-—an approximation to the truth, but not the actual and accurate fact. From such causes, the small number of suicides in Hamburgh, during 1816, and their decrease at Copenhagen during 1817, may perhaps in part be accounted for, without having recourse to other speculations upon the causes producing increase or diminution. But from the general accuracy of the returns at Paris, we may trust, perhaps, that the increase which they exhibit is pretty near the truth; the number recorded in 1817 was 300; in 1826 it was 512, or . 73 per thousand, being an increase (supposing the returns correct) of .31 per thousand in nine years. M. Gasc, in a memoir lately read before the Academie Royale de Médecine, accounts in part for the increase of suicide in Paris, from the increased addiction to gambling manifested among all ranks of the Parisians. Whatever, indeed, raises a storm of conflicting passions in the human mind, must induce a corresponding tumult in the organic functions, and thus lead to violent disorders, fatal diseases, and, not unfrequently, to self-destruction. M. Gasc traces the propensity to gaming to two of the predominant passions of the human heart,-self-love and self-interest, which can seldom be checked, and cannot be subdued by the lectures of the divine, the exhortations of the philosopher, or the penal statutes of the legislature. He exhibits the gambler as a prey alternately to delirious joy, despair, and rage; and it is no wonder that the tremendous shocks which the brain and nervous system must receive in these paroxysms, should frequently destroy the intellectual faculties, and thus lead to insanity, furious mania, and suicide. We lately recorded a case, by Dr. Willis, in which the influence of the organs of digestion in producing derangement of the mind was strongly marked, (MONTHLY REVIEW, January, 1829, p. 108); and M. Gasc has shewn that no part of the animal economy suffers more directly and unequivocally in those direful conflicts of the passions, than the stomach and bowels,-partly from the tortures of the mind, which at once destroy the appetite and suspend digestion, and partly from the stimulating potations which the gamester swallows to support his courage and drown his reflections.* Such facts have long been familiar to medical men, but it is by no means so well known in the profession, and scarcely suspected by the public at large, how much the widely extended system • Archives Générales de Médecine, 1828. of speculation in this country, approximates in its ruinous effects on the constitution, to those which have just been traced to the gambling propensities of the Parisians. In reference to the subject of suicide, now under investigation, we would rank it as one of the most influential causes of increase, though it has been almost overlooked by those who have considered the matter systematically. The following case, for which we are indebted to Dr. James Johnson, strikingly illustrates the preceding remark, and shows how the constitution may be undermined by rash, inconsiderate conduct, during the excitement arising from temporary circumstances. One day, on the Stock Exchange, when the rumours of failures at home and commotions abroad, were producing such alarming vacillations in the public funds, that the whole property of a gentleman of high probity, temperance, and respectability, was in momentary jeopardy; he found himself in so terrible a state of nervous agitation, that he was obliged to leave the scene of confusion and apply to wine, though quite unaccustomed to more than a glass or two at dinner. To his utmost surprise, the wine had no apparent effect, though he drank glass after glass in quick succession, until he had finished a whole bottle. Not the slightest inebriating influence was induced by this unusual quantity taken before dinner. His nervous agitation, however, was calmed, and he went back to the Exchange and transacted business with steadiness, composure, and equanimity. None of the ordinary effects of wine were produced at the time, but the ultimate consequence several days afterwards, was a severe attack of indigestion, to which he had not been previously subject;-a most curious and interesting fact, which shows, that although mental agitation masks, or even prevents the usual effects of wine and other stimulants at the time, and thus induces, and indeed enables men to take more than under ordinary circumstances; yet that the ulterior effects are greatly worse on the constitution, than if the stimulants had produced their usual excitement at the moment of their reception into the stomach. It is thus, we have no doubt, that the nervous system of thousands in this country is ruined; and, in numerous instances, the seeds of suicidal derangement sown, and that without the victims being conscious of the channel through which they have been poisoned. M. Falret remarks most justly, that opposite extremes of severity and indulgence in education are amongst the most fertile sources of suicide for if a boy be indulged in every whim and caprice while he is at home; if he be allowed to rule and domineer, not only over domestics, but even over his parents themselves, (a case unfortunately by no means rare), what are we to expect of him when he enters upon life; when he mixes with the world, and finds that nobody will allow him to have his own way, or to exhibit his tyrannical habits; and when, instead of indulgence, he meets with affront, opposition, and attack; and instead of excuses for his follies or his crimes, finds accusations and criminal charges brought directly against him. Is it to be wondered at, if such a boy run headlong to suicide, when he is buffetted about among those who care not for his darling self, whom he has been practically taught from infancy to consider the uncontrolled sovereign of the actions, and even the looks of those around him? Is it to be wondered, that he will retire from the scene where he encounters nothing but continued rebuff and reiterated neglect, to brood in solitude over his past supremacy, and to sink into hopeless melancholy, or that he will take refuge at last in the dark uncertainty of death. On the contrary, when severe measures are employed to curb the propensities of youth, the young heart is broken and ruined, and the spirit of manliness is crushed down to shrinking timidity and slavish terror, which trembles at the parent's frown, and never dares relax into the smile of cheerfulness. The poor boy becomes melancholy and listless, and flies to solitude, to escape from the severities to which he is daily and unfeelingly subjected. He broods in silence over his misery, and, in all probability, will at last put an end to his unhappy life. These are not exaggerated pictures, though they are extreme cases, and they ought to be a warning and a lesson to all who may have the power to avert one of the most terrible diseases that can afflict humanity. Dr. Burrows refers to the difference of disposition in children, the cause of the same effects from excessive indulgence or severity; but if the above remarks be just, any difference of disposition will be immaterial to the consequences. That we have not reasoned upon imaginary facts, will appear from the frequent instances recorded in the public prints, of mere children, (some as young as ten years of age) destroying themselves in consequence of being chidden, contradicted, or threatened with corporeal punishment. The same dispositions in maturer age, meeting even the ordinary mortifications of life, soon give way, and precipitate their fate. When actuated by envy and jealousy, orphans of eight years old have been known to starve themselves to death, and M. Falret knew a boy, twelve years old, who hanged himself because he was only the twelfth in his class; a similar case occurred at Westminster school about seven years ago. Harriet Cooper, of Haden Hill, Rowley-Regis, aged ten years and two months, upon being reproved for a trifling indiscretion, went up stairs, after exhibiting symptoms of grief hy sighing and sobbing, and hung herself in a pair of cotton braces from the rail of a tent bed. A girl named Green, eleven years old, drowned herself in the New River, from the fear of correction for a trifling fault. In such cases, the act may be voluntary, though it is evidently the mere impulse of childish passion, or fear of corporeal punishment. Dr. Burrows thinks that neither the physical nor moral condition of the faculties at such an age can be sufficiently |