Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 77, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 June 1908 — SUICIDE STATISTICS. [ARTICLE]

SUICIDE STATISTICS.

Childless Marriages a Cause—Rata High Among Germanic Nations. Among 1,000,000 suicides of all classes, it has been found that 305 . married men with children! destroyed their lives; 470 married men without children; 526 widowers with and 1,004 widowers without children. "> With respect to the women, 45 married' women with and 158 without children committed auicide, while 104 widows with, and " 's3B' without offspring, completed the list. On the race of things, says the Illustrated London News, it would appear that In childless marriages the number of men suicides is doubled and in women trebled. Leaving the case of actually insane persona out of count, it would also appear that in males suicide is more frequeut than in females. Equally interesting is that phase of the subject Which deals wttn the causes. One table dealing with 5.782 cases Bhows one-seventh caused by misery, one twenty-first part by loss of fortune, one forty-third by gambling, one nineteenth by love affairs, one-ninth by domestic troubles, one sixty-sixth by fanaticism, and by foiled ambition and remorse one-sev-enth and one tweotyseventh respectively. The geography of auicide is also of high interest.. Weetcott says the highest proportion in Europe Is shown by the Germanic races, Saxony having "the largest suicide rate of any country." In Norway the rate was very large for a time, its decrease being attributed to the greater restrictions now. laid on the liquor traffic. * The Celtic races have a low rate, and this is evinced by the figures for Ireland and Wales. Mountainous regions are said to show a lower rate than lowlands.r In the highlands of Scotland and Wales, and in the high areas of Switzerland, suicide Is rare. , 1 unes and seasons also operate, apparently to influence the act of selfdestruction. Roughly speaking, the curve line of suicide, calculated through the year, rises from January to July,-and decrease® for the second half of the year. The maximum periods have been found to fall in May, June and July. I believe indeed June is found to show a marked predominance- as a suicide month. One reason-tor such preeminence in the warm season of the- year is set down as represented by tae onset of hot weather affecting the- system and tending to disturb the mental equilibrium of the subjects. In 1.993 cases noted in Paris the prevailing hours of self-destruction were from 0 a. m. to noon and from 2 t<> 3 P- mPerhaps one of the most curious phases of this study Is revealed in j the fact already alluded to —namely, that different countries appear to show preferences for different means of committing suicide from other j lands. The most common European i methods is by means of nanging. but ! in Italy this mode of self-destruction is rare. Drowning comes next in order, and twice as many women as men perish in this - way each year in Europe, Shooting is frequent in Italy and to Switzerland. Chit throat is common IS' England and Ireland; it does not seem to constitute anywhere else a frequent mode of ending life. Poisoning i 3 a specially AngloSaxon method of suicide, we are told; while suffocation by the fumes of carbonic acid gas, inhaled in a dosed, room, is very typical of_suteide tnFrance.