Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 November 1876 — The Prevention of Suicide. [ARTICLE]

The Prevention of Suicide.

It has often been said of people slightly insane who commit or attempt suicide, that they are moved by unreasoning selfishness or vanity.. vanity might, and we venttire to think would, .be in many cases overborne by the recollection tbatsuicideis murder, and that the peredn who'cbmmiifi it wnl be treated after death as a felon —his-botfr buried without Christina ftouk hfe family disgraced and|i|s property lost to them. The man who could make and sign a disposition of his property with the intention of suicide clearly in his mind,would be more determined on self-destruction than certain <y a half of the persona Whe at present qommit thp dreadful act. t it‘has not, we believe,, been denied by medical men that the homicidal mania is frequently by the fear.of punisbmentif But. as Jhe l|wds at patent worked, many cases occur in which the maniac coolly counts upon the impunity which wiil attend his crime. The same feeling may work upon suicides. They a case. Among recent examples there is a large proportion in which the suicide,

however insane upon the one point, was perfectly u l K ® everything else, and, there being no restraining thought in the fear of legal consequences, has been left ..to comdiit self-murder as an act affecting himself alone. There are many men to whom disgrace appears worse than death. Buch a, feeling is not uncommon even among those whose intellects are considerably disordered. Stealing, adultery, blasphemy are quite impossible to many aman who will yet commit suicide. The idea of hurting another is often more repugnant than that of hurting oneself. There are many with whom a consideration of the injury dond to their families woula operate powerfully as a deterrent, even more powerfully than the desire to gratify the suicidal Impulse. Passion Is thus controlled, and the man who would stick at no crime to attain an end where his own longings are concerned is yet held back by the consequences his rashqess may bring upon those he loves, or even those with whom he wishes to stand well. It is not possible to believe that if every intelligent suicide—that is, every suicide whose intellect has only failed ou the one point—could be shown, whether by argument or by witnessing the experience of others, that his crime would be punished by social disgrace, he might not be induced to hesitate, and, as In all diseases, time gained would be life saved. The impulse is often transient. Restrained for a sufficient period it dies out, and every consideration, legal and moral, which can be used for its restraint should be diligently sought out and employed. Half a dozen verdicts of “felo-de-se” would have a stronger influence, we are convinced, upon intending suicides, and would have a greater effect upon the annual number of cases than any medical treatment whatever. London Saturday Reoiew.