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SUICIDE ITS HISTORY, LITERATURE, JURISPRUDENCE, CAUSATION, AND PREVENTION.
SUICIDE ITS HISTORY, LITERATURE, JURISPRUDENCE, CAUSATION, AND PREVENTION.
BY W. WYNN WESTCOTT, M.B. Lond. DEPUTY CORONER FOR CENTRAL MIDDLESEX. Joint Author of the Extra Pharmacopœia . LONDON: H. K. LEWIS, 136, GOWER STREET, W.C. 1885. TO GEORGE DANFORD THOMAS, Esq. , M.D. , CORONER FOR CENTRAL MIDDLESEX, THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED WITH MUCH RESPECT AND ESTEEM BY THE AUTHOR....
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PREFACE.
PREFACE.
In preparing an Essay on Suicide, which I recently delivered before a Society of medical men in London, I found it impossible in the limited time at my disposal to do anything like justice to the gravity and importance of the subject. The question is one well worthy of the earnest consideration of the community; indeed, it may be legitimately regarded as one of our Social Problems, as it involves matters which are intimately connected with our social organisation, and is with propriety embraced
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CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION.
In every age of the world, and in the history of almost every country, we find instances more or less numerous of men and women who, preferring the dim uncertainty of the future to the painful realities of the present, have sought relief from all their troubles by suddenly terminating their own existence. Misery and pain have been the lot of the human race ever since the dawn of history, and these causes have from the earliest times induced persons to destroy themselves, and even the fear of ete
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CHAPTER II. THE HISTORY OF SUICIDE.
CHAPTER II. THE HISTORY OF SUICIDE.
The history of Greece extends back to such a remote period that it is not clearly evident what the general opinion on Suicide was among its early inhabitants. However, a few landmarks occur. In such a dim past as the time of the Trojan War, Ajax, one of the Grecian heroes, slew himself, in a fit of passion, brought on by offended vanity. Lycurgus, the legislator of Sparta, was one who killed himself for his country’s good. Strabo , the historian, in his Tenth Book, tells us that at Ceos, the cou
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I.─Mentioned in the Bible.
I.─Mentioned in the Bible.
Abimelech , 1206 B.C. , King of the Shechemites. Judges, cap. ix. Samson , 1120 B.C. , Judge of Israel. Judges, cap. xvi. Saul , 1050 B.C. , the first King of Israel. I. Samuel, cap. xxxi. Saul’s Armour Bearer, an Amalekite, loc. cit. Ahitophel , 1023 B.C. , Counsellor of David. II. Samuel, cap. xvii. Zimri , 929 B.C. , King of Israel. II. Kings, cap. xvi. Eleazar , 164 B.C. , one of the Maccabees. I. Maccabees, cap. vi. Razis , 162 B.C. , a Jewish Elder. II. Maccabees, cap. xiv. Judas Iscariot
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II.─Classical.
II.─Classical.
Sesostris , or Rameses the Great, King of Egypt, killed himself in despair at having lost his sight. Menon , 2000 B.C. , Governor of Nineveh, first husband of Semiramis, afterwards Queen of Assyria; he hung himself when Ninus the King became enamoured of his wife. Ajax , 1184 B.C. , in the Trojan War, slew himself in a frenzy of anger against Ulysses, to whom instead of to himself the armour of the dead Hector had been allotted. Codrus , 1070 B.C. , the last King of Athens; he was at war with th
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III.─Middle Ages and Modern Times.
III.─Middle Ages and Modern Times.
A very long interval occurs here, during which period I cannot discover any Notable Suicides: on passing to the next series a great change will be noticed as to causation, the days of suicide for honour are passed: Misery has become the mainspring. Richard II. , King of England, 1399. Some historians, as Walsingham, Otterbourne, and Peter of Blois, say that this king starved himself to death. Charles VII. , King of France, 1461, starved himself, because he feared the Dauphin would poison him. Ac
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Foreign Literature.
Foreign Literature.
Desfontaines , in the Supplement du Dictionnaire de Trevoux, 1752, first uses the term “Suicide” in French Literature. Duverger de Haurane , Abbot of St. Cyran, the patriarch of the Jansenists, wrote in 1608, a treatise on Suicide, speaking of it as equally permissible with the right of fellow men to execute judicially: he adds, “A man may kill himself for the good of his prince, for that of his country, or for that of his relations.” Maupertuis, Pierre de , approved of its commission when life
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CHAPTER V. CRIMINAL JURISPRUDENCE.
CHAPTER V. CRIMINAL JURISPRUDENCE.
By English law Suicide is of the Felony of Murder, inasmuch as it is the murder of one of the subjects of the sovereign: it is a murder committed by a man on himself. There is authority for saying that there is no such offence as self-manslaughter. Regina v. Burgess, Leigh and Cave, 258. It is suicide, or “felo-de-se,” not only to kill oneself with deliberation, when in right mind, and of years of discretion, but also to kill oneself accidentally when performing a felonious act; such as attempti
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CHAPTER VI. CIVIL JURISPRUDENCE.
CHAPTER VI. CIVIL JURISPRUDENCE.
The civil branch of the jurisprudence of our subject is more complex than the criminal. Life assurance companies naturally object to have to pay sums of money for suicidal deaths, when these are proved to have occurred in persons who have never shown any mental derangement, and who may have had reasons for providing a considerable sum of money for their families, even at the expense of forfeiting their own further concern in this world. Such fraudulent suicides have taken place, just as some men
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CHAPTER VII. PRESENT SUICIDE RATE AND INCREASE.
CHAPTER VII. PRESENT SUICIDE RATE AND INCREASE.
It is a matter of the greatest difficulty to obtain recent statistics of the actual numbers of suicides, either in our own country, or in the Continental States. Each nation has its own methods of obtaining these statistics, and its own modes of tabulation, and those variations render it very difficult to procure figures for comparison. But beyond this hindrance to accuracy lies the deeper one, that whatever may be the State under consideration, even when we have obtained the authentic numbers s
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CHAPTER VIII. THE CAUSATION OF SUICIDE.
CHAPTER VIII. THE CAUSATION OF SUICIDE.
In considering this portion of our subject we shall be assisted by analogy, if we investigate the data of contributing causes, in a manner similar to that which is ordinarily pursued with regard to diseases, in textbooks of medicine. I refer to the method of distributing these causes into two classes of predisposing influences, and exciting or determining causes. It will be very necessary, however, to bear in mind that the onset of a disease is generally of a nature quite removed from the influe
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Climate and Geographical Data.
Climate and Geographical Data.
The extremes of heat and cold seem to tend to a low rate. In Europe the highest rates are found in the central and upper two-thirds of the north temperate zone; the maximum being at about 50° lat. The countries of the west and the south of Europe give the minimum proportions. The principal suicide area of Europe is a zone lying from the north of France to the east of Germany, with two foci, viz., the country around and including Paris, at a rate of 330 per million of inhabitants, and the kingdom
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The Influence of Religion.
The Influence of Religion.
It is impossible to deny that, in respect to the influence of religion on the proportions of suicide in Europe, the maximum rate constantly falls to Protestant States, to the Roman Catholic next, then the Greek Church, and, lastly, the minimum falls to the Jews. An average, estimated from a large collection of numbers by Morselli, shows that the ratio is 58 per million in Catholic States, 190 per million in Protestant States, and in the Greek Church 40 per million; but the low suicide rate of th
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Morality.
Morality.
The morals of a state cannot fail to have a deep and lasting effect on the amount of crime and madness, and hence on the suicide rate. But it is by no means easy to prove by statistics the actual rate of influence; the social customs and modes of life are so very various, and the different laws of each state with regard to moral sins are so different. At the same time it cannot be denied that several important nations, among whom the virtues of social family life are specially studied, have a ve
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Employment.
Employment.
With regard to the business of one’s life, it has been noticed that professions and trades, which by habits, physical and mental, bring women near to men, often tend to raise in an extraordinary degree the inclination of women to kill themselves. It is a matter of the greatest difficulty to procure statistics sufficiently reliable of the numbers of each profession and trade, to couple with the numbers of known suicides of each trade and profession, for the purpose of obtaining a “professional su
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Military and Naval Life.
Military and Naval Life.
It is an almost universal truth that the suicide rate of any state is smaller than the rate observed in the men composing the Army and Navy of the same country. This point was first brought prominently into notice about twenty years ago with respect to our English soldiers; Dr. Millar pointed out that in 1862 the rate was 278 per million (estimated at per million), and in 1871 at 400 per million, and at the present time it is about triple the rate for ordinary Englishmen of between 20 and 30 yea
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Prison Life.
Prison Life.
Prisoners have a higher suicide rate than civilians at liberty, especially if we consider attempts at suicide. It is usual to make a distinction between convicts whose fate is settled, and prisoners arrested, and untried, or at least not convicted. For instance, Morselli gives for as the relative rates of voluntary death. Female prisoners give a very high rate in Denmark and Italy, and suicides of females are more numerous than those of males in the prisons of these two states. More than half of
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CHAPTER XII. SEASONS AND TIMES.
CHAPTER XII. SEASONS AND TIMES.
It is an old, old story that the destinies of man are governed by the sun, moon, and planets; but modern science rather scouted the ideas of the astrologers and Chaldeans; to suicide is due the honour of reintroducing the connection. Morselli says, with regard to the sun, “It is in fact well known that the number of these violent deaths varies according to the position of the earth and the sun. In the season of the year in which the earth is in aphelion there is a maximum , of suicide; when in p
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Age.
Age.
In a calculation including the greater part of Europe, the effect of age is found to be such that the proportion of suicide increases from childhood up to about fifty-five years of age, and then declines very uniformly. The largest numbers occur in the years between forty and fifty. Taking both sexes together, the period of life which exhibits by far the most cases extends from twenty-one to sixty years of age. The male tendency comes to its maximum after forty years of age. The female tendency
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Suicide in Childhood.
Suicide in Childhood.
Suicide, apart from lunacy, is the act of passion, or despair, and so far spares childhood, during which stage of life one is protected by others from care, and when the mind is not yet opened enough to feel the overwhelming tides of amatory, jealous, and other passionate feelings which the adult intellect has to struggle through, and perchance survive. It is very rare, also, for insanity to occur in a child before puberty, unless congenital, as imbecility. Brierre de Boismont gives the ages of
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Marriage, Celibacy, Widowhood.
Marriage, Celibacy, Widowhood.
Having regard simply to numbers, there are most suicides among the unmarried, next among the married, then among widowed persons, and lastly, among persons divorced and separated. Bachelors kill themselves oftener than married men; but in Italy, France, Switzerland and Saxony, married women oftener than virgins. Widows surpass widowers in frequency of suicide, and it has been suggested by statistics that widowhood in this respect brings woman nearer to man than any other social condition. Wars t
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The Forms of Lunacy.
The Forms of Lunacy.
The special symptoms of each form of madness will on consideration be found sufficient to account for difficulties in forming anything like an accurate estimate of the relative amount of suicide in each of its forms. For example, in mania, sudden outbursts of violence may either end in instant self-destruction, or the sudden violence causes such precautions to be at once taken, that suicide is not practicable. In melancholia the chances of a self-inflicted death being allowed to occur, are much
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CHAPTER XV. EPIDEMIC SUICIDE; SUICIDE FROM IMITATION, AND DESIRE FOR NOTORIETY.
CHAPTER XV. EPIDEMIC SUICIDE; SUICIDE FROM IMITATION, AND DESIRE FOR NOTORIETY.
In relation to lunacy and mental disturbance, I must now refer to the question of Epidemic and Imitational Suicide. No crime seems to have so strong a tendency to spread by example and imitation as this one. Epidemics have occurred on many occasions, and I have already mentioned an epidemic of suicide taking place among the soldiers of Tarquinius Superbus. At Alexandria, in the time of the Ptolemies, an epidemic was originated by Hegesias the philosopher, who discoursed so eloquently on the nume
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Insomnia.
Insomnia.
Closely connected with mental and bodily disorders as a cause of suicide is sleeplessness, apart from organic disease. There is, I suppose, nothing more trying to the sensations, and nothing more exhausting to the nervous system, than this symptom. Its tendency to become habitual, and to become more and more complete, are its harassing qualities. I have held inquests on cases distinctly referable to the misery caused by want of sleep. That sleeplessness is an important factor in producing suicid
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Alcohol.
Alcohol.
Without doubt the habitual use of alcohol to excess is a very fertile suicide prompter, and it is found that the stronger the form of alcohol used, the more often crime and suicide are produced; such are as rare when the light wines are drunk, as they are frequent among spirit drinkers. Lunier, Ann. Med. Psychol., 1872, calculating the results in 79 departments, states that the amount of crime in France is in direct proportion to the consumption of alcohol, and so are the rates of lunacy and sui
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Heredity.
Heredity.
The influence of Hereditary Predisposition is one of surpassing interest, but is also another of those causes of which it is very difficult to procure accurate statistics; and very few countries have as yet given any data in connection with it. Relations of suicides are apt to be very reticent of confessing to lunacy in their families, and it is hereditary mental failure, lunacy, epilepsy, dipsomania, &c., which are the forerunners of a future death by suicide. In Bavaria alone has an ef
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Spiritualism.
Spiritualism.
There is yet another mental cause which is credited both with causing insanity and with causing suicide, especially in the United States. I refer to Spiritualism, in the modern acceptation of the title. It has been seriously discussed in America, whether or not a believer in spiritualism is not ipso facto mad (Buckham) but without going to that extreme point of view, it is most wise to bear in mind that many cases of lunacy and many suicides have been assigned to this cause. The combined effects
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CHAPTER XVII. TÆDIUM-VITÆ, THE PASSIONS, MISERY AND DESPAIR.
CHAPTER XVII. TÆDIUM-VITÆ, THE PASSIONS, MISERY AND DESPAIR.
Life weariness was the suicide cause, which French authors supposed to be excited in English people by their climate; and in like manner to their error in attributing a heavier suicide rate to England than to their own country; they erred in assigning tædium vitæ as a fertile suicide cause in England. Modern observations disclose but very few English suicides due to this influence; we islanders require as a rule a stronger stimulus than this one to induce us to terminate our existences. Misery a
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CHAPTER XVIII. THE MEANS OF SUICIDE.
CHAPTER XVIII. THE MEANS OF SUICIDE.
It is a somewhat curious fact, considering the immense number of feasible means of terminating one’s existence, that there should be such a small number of methods in constant use. To enumerate the possible means which should fulfil the necessities of the case, viz., to be certain and be speedy, would take too long, and would be unnecessary. The means that are used daily are practically very few; the following eight methods include almost every case: Hanging, drowning, shooting, cut throat and o
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Attempted Suicide.
Attempted Suicide.
The relative proportion between suicides and suicidal attempts has been the subject of much difference of opinion. It is a common idea that many attempts are made with a view to coerce or influence relations and friends, attempts which, in fact, are not intended to be successful, although they sometimes succeed. In general, if a second attempt be made, after a fruitless effort, and especially after recovery from injury, the patient is insane. Attempts at suicide by cutting very frequently fail,
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The Law of Suicidal Attempts.
The Law of Suicidal Attempts.
Suicide, as before described, is a felony; the attempt to commit a felony is in the eye of the English law a misdemeanour; consult R. v. Higgins, 2 East., 8; and R. v. Martin, 9 C. and P. 213-215. An attempt at Felo-de-se is a misdemeanour over which the quarter sessions have jurisdiction; but it is not an attempt to commit murder within the meaning of the Act 24 & 25 Vict, c. 100, see R. v. Burgess, 1. L. and C. 258, 32 L. J., M. C. 56. When the police hear of an attempt at suicide, the
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Revenge or Accusation.
Revenge or Accusation.
Although less common at the present time than formerly, cases are still seen in which a man or woman will commit suicide to spite another, and call down the opprobrium of the neighbours on him for some injury, or fancied slight, such deaths were called chandi , or self-immolation; the Rajpoot class greatly practised it; they would protest against a decree, and then stab themselves as a final protest. Another form was dhurna , sitting at an enemy’s door and waiting for death by starvation, hoping
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Religion.
Religion.
The Brahmin religion has had for ages a tenet that self-sacrifice is the most acceptable offering to deity, and five modes of great sanctity are enumerated: 1. Starvation; 2. Burying alive; 3. Drowning in the Ganges; 4. Covering the body with dried cow dung, and setting it on fire; and 5. Cutting the throat at the mouth of the Ganges. See the “Ayeen Akbery.” To throw oneself off the precipices of the Mahadeo hills was also a sacred act (Sleeman), and perhaps above all was deemed the death by cru
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Physical Suffering.
Physical Suffering.
Suicide as a means of relief from pain and disease is common in Bengal; the sacred books named the Shastras inculcate the doctrine of its propriety in such cases. In former times these deaths took place with public ceremonials, but are now perforce privately completed. Intestinal worms seem to produce great physical pain and discomfort among the poor rice-eating Bengalese, and suicide is not infrequent from this cause.─Woodford....
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Grief, Shame, and Jealousy.
Grief, Shame, and Jealousy.
The Hindoos seem to be very sensitive to some trifling annoyances, which the Englishman would take no notice of, and suicides are not uncommonly the effect of insults and imputations. Thus, the Commissioner of the Chota Nagpore district mentioned the case of a woman who poisoned herself because her husband complained of her untidiness, and another because she was asked to feed her own child, instead of being provided with a nurse. A wife killed herself because a friend told her that her husband
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Suicide of the Insane.
Suicide of the Insane.
In a work such as this, intended not entirely for physicians, but also for students of Social Science, I do not think it fitting to enter into particulars as to the exact means of treating the suicidal propensity in such cases, nor do I suggest any definite medical prescriptions to relieve collateral symptoms; such may be safely left in the hands of the skilful physician. I have only to insist on the urgent necessity that exists for the immediate removal from society of any person exhibiting min
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Suicide of Sane Persons.
Suicide of Sane Persons.
The suicidal tendency so often coexists, either with straightened circumstances, or sudden deprivation of income, that the very modes of treatment most likely to remove the tendency are by these very causes rendered impracticable. Temporary abstention from duty or business, coupled with change of climate and scene, would doubtless cure a very large percentage of cases, but it is exactly the inability to drop the chains of employment, and the absence of the monetary means for travel which are lac
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CHAPTER XXII. SUICIDE OF ANIMALS.
CHAPTER XXII. SUICIDE OF ANIMALS.
The question “to what extent does the mind of one of the lower animals resemble that of man,” has been argued by many able men, but no very definite decision has been arrived at. The point is of prime importance in a consideration of whether animals can commit suicide; I mean “can animals kill themselves intentionally, either as the result of consideration and choice, or of impulse?” No one doubts that animals may die from some voluntary action of their own; for example, a dog may die of eating
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APPENDIX. THE ATTITUDE OF ASSURANCE COMPANIES TO THE SUICIDE.
APPENDIX. THE ATTITUDE OF ASSURANCE COMPANIES TO THE SUICIDE.
To obtain this information application was made to each of the offices mentioned, for a prospectus which should include the regulations with respect to forfeiture of policies. I find by analysis that there are seven varieties in the proceedings of the companies, and in all of them assigned policies are indisputable. A.─Policy is void by suicide:─Crown, Hand-in-Hand, Law, Rock, Provident, and Royal Exchange. Of these, however─ Hand-in-Hand may return premiums and interest. Law may pay a sum of mo
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