{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_50907/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_50907","id":"gutenberg_50907","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50907","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Health & Medicine","Category: History - Other","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Psychiatry/Psychology","Suicide"],"text":"Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n      file which includes the original illustration.\n      See 50907-h.htm or 50907-h.zip:\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/50907/pg50907-images.html)\n      or\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/50907/50907-h.zip)\n\n\n      Images of the original pages are available through\n      Internet Archive. See\n      https://archive.org/details/anatomyofsuicide00wins\n\n\nTranscriber's  note:\n\n      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).\n\n      The original text contains some unpaired quotation marks\n      which could not be corrected with cofidence.\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Vide p. 331.]\n\n\nTHE ANATOMY OF SUICIDE:\n\nby\n\nFORBES WINSLOW,\n\nMember of the Royal College of Surgeons, London;\nAuthor of \u201cPhysic and Physicians.\u201d\n\n\n   \u201cBut is there yet no other way, besides\n   These painful passages; how we may come\n   To death, and mix with our connatural dust?\n\n         *       *       *       *       *\n\n   Nor love thy life, nor hate: but what thou liv\u2019st\n   Live well; HOW LONG OR SHORT PERMIT TO HEAVEN.\u201d\n\n   MILTON.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLondon:\nHenry Renshaw, 356, Strand.\nSold By Carfrae & Son, Edinburgh;\nAnd Fannin & Co., Dublin.\n1840.\n\n\n  TO\n\n  JAMES JOHNSON, ESQ., M.D.\n\n  PHYSICIAN EXTRAORDINARY TO THE LATE KING,\n  ETC. ETC.\n\n  This Work is dedicated,\n\n  AS A TESTIMONY OF RESPECT FOR HIS HIGH PROFESSIONAL ATTAINMENTS,\n\n  AND AS AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE\n\n  ADVANTAGES DERIVED FROM A PERUSAL OF THE MANY ABLE WORKS\n\n  WITH WHICH HE HAS ENRICHED\n\n  THE MEDICAL LITERATURE OF HIS COUNTRY.\n\n\n  _London,\u2014May, 1840._\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nThis treatise had its origin in the following circumstance:\u2014A\nfew months ago, the author had the honour of reading before the\n_Westminster Medical Society_, a paper on \u201cSuicide Medically\nconsidered,\u201d which giving rise to an animated discussion, and evolving\nan expression of the opinions of several eminent professional men,\nexcited at the time much interest.\n\nIt was the author\u2019s object in his paper to establish a fact, he\nbelieves, of primary importance,\u2014that the disposition to commit\nself-destruction is, to a great extent, amenable to those principles\nwhich regulate our treatment of ordinary disease; and that, to a degree\nmore than is generally supposed, it originates in derangement of the\nbrain and abdominal viscera.\n\nNotwithstanding, however, these points were not considered with the\nminuteness commensurate with their value, the discussion which followed\nthe author\u2019s communication afforded him great satisfaction. It tended\nto strengthen in his mind an opinion previously formed, that the\nmembers of the medical profession were inferior to no other class in a\nknowledge of those higher branches of philosophy that give dignity and\nelevation to human character.\n\nTo explain more fully the author\u2019s views on the subject of Suicide is\nthe object of the present work, which is, strange to say, the first\nin England that has been exclusively devoted to this important and\ninteresting branch of inquiry.\n\nHitherto suicide has been the theme of the novel and the drama, and has\nnever, with the exception of an incidental notice in works on medical\njurisprudence, been considered in this country in reference to its\npathological and physiological character.\n\nThat an intimate acquaintance with this branch of knowledge is highly\nimportant to the medical philosopher, few will deny; that it is a\nsubject of general and painful interest, all must admit. The apparent\ncoolness with which suicide is often committed has induced many to\nsuppose that the unfortunate perpetrator was at the time in possession\nof a sound mind; and it is this idea which has induced the profession\nto conceive the subject as one foreign to their pursuits, and belonging\nrather to the province of the moral philosopher. How far the author has\nsucceeded in disproving this opinion, it is for others to decide.\n\nHe takes this opportunity of acknowledging the assistance he has\nreceived from the writings of Pinel, Esquirol, Falret, Fod\u00e9re, Arnold,\nCrichton, Willis, Black, Haslam, Burrows, Conolly, Pritchard, Mayo,\nEllis, Paris, Smith, Beck, Taylor, and Ray. To the pages of Dr.\nJohnson\u2019s Medico-chirurgical Review, the Medical Gazette, the Lancet,\nand British and Foreign Medical Review, he is also largely indebted.\n\nIn conclusion, the author, conscious of its imperfections, claims for\nhis work no other praise than that it is the first attempt in this\ncountry to reflect light on a branch of medical and moral philosophy,\nthe importance of which is only equalled by the difficulties impeding\nits investigation. He will feel himself amply repaid, should his\nintroductory essay (for such only can it be considered) stimulate\nothers more competent than himself to prosecute the inquiry which he\nhas commenced. Their success will afford him much satisfaction and\npleasure; for in the attainment of their endeavours will his hopes be\nfulfilled, and his ambition gratified.\n\n\n  LONDON,\u2014MAY, 1840.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n  CHAPTER I.\n\n  SUICIDES OF THE ANCIENTS.\u2014ANCIENT LAWS AND OPINIONS\n  ON THE SUBJECT OF SUICIDE.\n\n  Examples of antiquity no defence of suicide\u2014Causes of ancient\n  suicides\u2014The suicides of Asdrubal, Nicocles, Isocrates,\n  Demosthenes, Hannibal, Mithridates, the inhabitants of\n  the city of Xanthus, Cato, Charondas, Lycurgus, Codrus,\n  Themistocles, Emperor Otho, Brutus and Cassius, Mark Antony\n  and Cleopatra, Petronius, Lucan, Lucius Vetus, Sardanapalus,\n  M. Curtius, Empedocles, Theoxena\u2014Noble resistance of\n  Josephus\u2014Scripture suicides: Samson, Saul, Ahitophel, Judas\n  Iscariot, Eleazar, Razis\u2014Doctrines of the stoics, Seneca,\n  Epictetus, Zeno\u2014Opinions of Cicero, Pliny, on suicide\u2014Ancient\n  laws on suicide                                                 p. 1-29\n\n\n  CHAPTER II.\n\n  WRITERS IN DEFENCE OF SUICIDE.\n\n  Opinions of Hume\u2014Effect of his writings\u2014Case of suicide caused\n  by\u2014The doctrines of Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Montaigne\n  examined\u2014Origin of Dr. Donne\u2019s celebrated work\u2014Madame de\n  Sta\u00ebl\u2019s recantation\u2014Robert of Normandy, Gibbon, Sir T. More,\n  and Robeck\u2019s opinions considered                               p. 30-35\n\n\n  CHAPTER III.\n\n  SUICIDE A CRIME AGAINST GOD AND MAN.\u2014IT IS NOT AN\n  ACT OF COURAGE.\n\n  The sin of suicide\u2014The notions of Paley on the\n  subject\u2014Voltaire\u2019s opinion\u2014Is suicide self-murder?\u2014Is it\n  forbidden in Scripture?\u2014Shakspeare\u2019s views on the subject\u2014The\n  alliance between suicide and murder\u2014Has a  man a right to\n  sacrifice his own life?\u2014Everything held upon trust\u2014Suicide\n  a sin against ourselves and neighbour\u2014It is not an act of\n  courage\u2014Opinion of Q. Curtius on the subject\u2014Buonaparte\u2019s\n  denunciation of suicide\u2014Dryden\u2019s description of the suicide in\n  another world                                                  p. 36-44\n\n\n  CHAPTER IV.\n\n  ON THE INFLUENCE OF CERTAIN MENTAL STATES IN INDUCING\n  THE DISPOSITION TO SUICIDE.\n\n  Moral causes of disease\u2014Neglect of psychological\n  medicine\u2014Mental philosophy a branch of medical study\u2014Moral\n  causes of suicide\u2014Tables of Falret, &c.\u2014Influence of\n  remorse\u2014Simon Brown, Charles IX. of France\u2014Massacre of\n  St. Bartholomew\u2014Terrible death of Cardinal Beaufort, from\n  remorse\u2014The Chevalier de S\u2014\u2014. Influence of disappointed\n  love\u2014Suicide from love\u2014Two singular cases\u2014Effects of\n  jealousy\u2014Othello\u2014Suicide from this passion\u2014The French opera\n  dancer\u2014Suicide from wounded vanity\u2014False pride\u2014The remarkable\n  case of Villeneuve, as related by Buonaparte\u2014Buonaparte\u2019s\n  attempt at suicide\u2014Ambition\u2014Despair, cases of suicide from\u2014The\n  Abb\u00e9 de Ranc\u00e9\u2014Suicide from blind impulse\u2014Cases\u2014Mathews,\n  the comedian\u2014Opinion of Esquirol on the subject\u2014Ennui,\n  birth of\u2014Common cause of suicide in France\u2014Effect of\n  speculating in stocks\u2014Defective education\u2014Diffusion of\n  knowledge\u2014\u201cSocialism\u201d a cause of self-destruction\u2014Suicide\n  common in Germany\u2014Werter\u2014Go\u00ebthe\u2019s attempt at suicide\u2014Influence\n  of his writings on Hackman\u2014Suicide from reading Tom Paine\u2019s\n  \u201cAge of Reason\u201d\u2014Suicide to avoid punishment\u2014Most remarkable\n  illustrations\u2014Political excitement\u2014Nervous irritation\u2014Love\n  of notoriety\u2014Hereditary disposition\u2014Is death painful? fully\n  considered, with cases\u2014Influence of irreligion                p. 45-107\n\n\n  CHAPTER V.\n\n  IMITATIVE, OR EPIDEMIC SUICIDE.\n\n  Persons who act from impulse liable to be influenced\u2014Principle\n  of imitation, a natural instinct\u2014Cases related by Cabanis and\n  Tissot\u2014The suicidal barbers\u2014Epidemic suicide at the H\u00f4tel\n  des Invalids\u2014Sydenham\u2019s epidemic\u2014The ladies of Miletus\u2014Dr.\n  Parrish\u2019s case\u2014Are insanity and suicide contagious?          p. 108-114\n\n\n  CHAPTER VI.\n\n  SUICIDE FROM FASCINATION.\n\n  Singular motives for committing suicide\u2014A man who delighted\n  in torturing himself\u2014A dangerous experiment\u2014Pleasures of\n  carnage\u2014Disposition  to leap from precipices\u2014Lord Byron\u2019s\n  allusion to the influence of fascination\u2014Miss Moyes and\n  the Monument\u2014A man who could not trust himself with a\n  razor\u2014Esquirol\u2019s opinion of such cases\u2014Danger of ascending\n  elevated places                                              p. 115-120\n\n\n  CHAPTER VII.\n\n  OF THE ENTHUSIASM AND MENTAL IRRITABILITY WHICH, IF\n  ENCOURAGED, WOULD LEAD TO SUICIDE.\n\n  Connexion between genius and insanity\u2014Authors of fiction\n  often feel what they write\u2014Metastasio in tears\u2014The enthusiasm\n  of Pope, Alfieri, Dryden\u2014Effects of the first reading of\n  Telemachus and Tasso on Madame Roland\u2019s mind\u2014Raffaelle and\n  his celebrated picture of the Transfiguration\u2014The convulsions\n  of Malbranche\u2014Beattie\u2019s Essay on Truth\u2014Influence of intense\n  study on Boerrhave\u2019s mind\u2014The demon of Spinello and\n  Luther\u2014Bourdaloue and his violin\u2014Byron\u2019s sensitiveness\u2014Men do\n  not always practise what they preach\u2014Cases of Smollett, La\n  Fontaine, Sir Thomas More, Zimmerman\u2014Tasso\u2019s spectre\u2014Johnson\u2019s\n  superstition\u2014Concluding remarks                              p. 121-129\n\n\n  CHAPTER VIII.\n\n  PHYSICAL CAUSES OF SUICIDE.\n\n  Influence of climate\u2014The foggy climate of England does not\n  increase the number of suicides\u2014Average number of suicides in\n  each month, from 1817 to 1826\u2014Influence of seasons\u2014Suicides\n  at Rouen\u2014The English not a suicidal people\u2014Philip Mordaunt\u2019s\n  singular reasons for self-destruction\u2014Causes of French\n  suicides\u2014Influence of physical pain\u2014Unnatural vices\u2014Suicide\n  the effect of intoxication\u2014Influence of hepatic disease\n  on the mind\u2014Melancholy and hypochondriasis, Burton\u2019s\n  account of\u2014Cowper\u2019s case of suicide\u2014Particulars of his\n  extreme depression of spirits\u2014Byron and Burns\u2019s melancholy\n  from stomach and liver derangement\u2014Influence of bodily\n  disease on the mind\u2014Importance of paying attention to it\u2014A\n  case of insanity from gastric irritation\u2014Dr. Johnson\u2019s\n  hypochondria\u2014Hereditary suicide, illustrated by cases\u2014Suicide\n  from blows on the head, and from moral shocks communicated to\n  the brain\u2014Dr. G. Mantell\u2019s valuable observations and cases\n  demonstrative of the point\u2014Concluding remarks                p. 130-161\n\n\n  CHAPTER IX.\n\n  MORAL TREATMENT OF SUICIDAL MANIA.\n\n  Diseases of the brain not dissimilar to affections of other\n  organs\u2014Early symptoms of insanity\u2014The good effects of\n  having plenty to do\u2014Occupation\u2014Dr. Johnson\u2019s opinion on the\n  subject\u2014The pleasure derived from cultivating a taste for\n  the beauties of nature\u2014Effect of volition on diseases of\n  the mind\u2014Silent grief injurious to mental health\u2014Treatment\n  of _ennui_\u2014The time of danger, not the time of disease\u2014The\n  Walcheren expedition\u2014The retreat of the ten thousand Greeks\n  under Xenophon\u2014Influence of music on the mind in the cure of\n  disease\u2014Cure of epidemic suicide\u2014Buonaparte\u2019s remedy\u2014How the\n  women of Miletus were cured of the disposition to suicide, and\n  other illustrations\u2014Cases shewing how easily the disposition\n  to suicide may be diverted\u2014On the cure of insanity by\n  stratagems\u2014On the importance of removing the suicidal patient\n  from his own home\u2014On the regulation of the passions          p. 162-194\n\n\n  CHAPTER X.\n\n  PHYSICAL TREATMENT OF THE SUICIDAL DISPOSITION.\n\n  On the dependence of irritability of temper on physical\n  disease\u2014Voltaire and an Englishman agree to commit\n  suicide\u2014The reasons that induced Voltaire to change his\n  mind\u2014The ferocity of Robespierre accounted for\u2014The state\n  of his body after death\u2014The petulance of Pope dependent\n  on physical causes\u2014Suicide from cerebral congestion,\n  treatment of\u2014Advantages of bloodletting, with cases\u2014Damien\n  insane\u2014Cold applied to the head, of benefit\u2014Good effects of\n  purgation\u2014Suicide caused by a tape-worm\u2014Early indications of\n  the disposition to suicide\u2014The suicidal eye\u2014Of the importance\n  of carefully watching persons disposed to suicide\u2014Cunning\n  of such patients\u2014Numerous illustrations\u2014The fondness for a\n  particular mode of death\u2014Dr. Burrows\u2019 extraordinary case\u2014Dr.\n  Conolly on the treatment of suicide\u2014Cases shewing the\n  advantage of confinement                                     p. 195-220\n\n\n  CHAPTER XI.\n\n  IS THE ACT OF SUICIDE THE RESULT OF INSANITY?\n\n  The instinct of self-preservation\u2014The love of life\u2014Dr.\n  Wolcott\u2019s death-bed\u2014Anecdote of the Duke de Montebello\u2014Louis\n  XI. of France\u2014Singular  death of a celebrated lawyer\u2014Dr.\n  Johnson\u2019s horror of dying\u2014The organ of destruction\n  universal\u2014Illustrations of its influence\u2014Sir W. Scott, on\n  the motives that influence men in battle\u2014Have we any test of\n  insanity?\u2014Mental derangement not a specific disease\u2014Importance\n  of keeping this in view\u2014Insanity not always easily detected\u2014Is\n  lowness of spirits an evidence of derangement?\u2014The cunning\n  of lunatics\u2014Esquirol\u2019s opinion that insanity is always\n  present\u2014Moral insanity\u2014The remarkable case of Frederick of\n  Prussia\u2014Suicide often the first symptom of insanity\u2014Cases\n  in which persons have been restored to reason from loss\n  of blood, after attempting suicide\u2014The cases of Cato, Sir\n  Samuel Romilly, Lord Castlereagh, Colton, and Chatterton,\n  examined\u2014Concluding remarks                                  p. 221-245\n\n\n  CHAPTER XII.\n\n  SUICIDE IN CONNEXION WITH MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE.\n\n  The importance of medical evidence\u2014The questions which medical\n  men have to consider in these cases\u2014Signs of death from\n  strangulation\u2014Singular positions in which the bodies of those\n  who have committed suicide have been found\u2014The particulars of\n  the Prince de Cond\u00e9\u2019s case\u2014On the possibility of voluntary\n  strangulation\u2014General Pichegru\u2019s singular case\u2014The melancholy\n  history of Marc Antonie Calas\u2014How to discover whether a person\n  was dead before thrown into water\u2014Singular cases\u2014Admiral\n  Caracciolo\u2014Drowning in a bath\u2014The points to keep in view in\n  cases of suspicious death\u2014Was Sellis murdered?\u2014Death from\n  wounds\u2014The case of the Earl of Essex                         p. 246-264\n\n\n  CHAPTER XIII.\n\n  STATISTICS OF SUICIDE.\n\n  Number of suicides in the chief capitals of Europe from 1813\n  to 1831\u2014Statistics of death from violence in London from 1828\n  to 1832\u2014Number of suicides in London for a century and a\n  half\u2014Suicides in Westminster from 1812 to 1836\u2014Suicide more\n  frequent among men than women\u2014Mode of committing\u2014Influence of\n  age\u2014Effect of the married state\u2014Infantile suicides\u2014M. Guerry\n  on suicides in France\u2014Cases\u2014Suicide and murder\u2014Suicide in\n  Geneva                                                       p. 265-279\n\n\n  CHAPTER XIV.\n\n  APPEARANCES PRESENTED AFTER DEATH IN THOSE WHO\n  HAVE COMMITTED SUICIDE.\n\n  Thickness of cranium\u2014State of membranes and vessels of\n  brain\u2014Osseous excrescences\u2014Appearances discovered in one\n  thousand three hundred and thirty-eight cases\u2014Lesions of the\n  lungs, heart, stomach, and intestines\u2014Effect of long-continued\n  indigestion                                                  p. 280-282\n\n\n  CHAPTER XV.\n\n  SINGULAR CASES OF SUICIDE.\n\n  Introduction\u2014Contempt of death\u2014Eustace Budgel\u2014M. de Boissy\n  and his wife\u2014Mutual suicides from disappointed love\u2014Suicide\n  from mortification\u2014Mutual suicide from poverty\u2014A French lady\n  while out shooting\u2014A fisherman after praying\u2014Determination to\n  commit if not cured\u2014Extraordinary case after seduction\u2014Madame\n  C. from remorse\u2014M. de Pontalba after trying to murder his\n  daughter-in-law\u2014Young lady in a pet\u2014Sir George Dunbar\u2014James\n  Sutherland while George III. was passing\u2014Lancet given by a\n  wife to her husband to kill himself\u2014Servant girl\u2014Curious\n  verses by a suicide\u2014Robber on being recognised\u2014A man who\n  ordered a candle to be made of his fat\u2014After gaming\u2014Writing\n  whilst dying\u2014From misfortune just at a moment of\n  relief\u2014Curious papers written by a suicide\u2014By heating a\n  barrel in the fire\u2014By tearing out the brains\u2014Sisters by the\n  injunction of their eldest sister\u2014Mutual from poverty\u2014Girl\n  from a dream\u2014Three servants in one pond\u2014Indifference as to\n  mode\u2014By starvation\u2014A man forty-five days without eating\u2014Mutual\n  of two boys after dining at a restaurateur\u2019s\u2014By putting head\n  under the ice\u2014By a pair of spectacles\u2014By jumping amongst\n  the bears\u2014Young lady from gambling\u2014Verses by a suicide\u2014To\n  obtain salvation\u2014A lover after accidentally shooting his\n  mistress\u2014Mutual attempt\u2014M. Kleist and Madame Vogle\u2014Richard\n  Smith and wife\u2014Love and suicide\u2014Bishop of Grenoble\u2014Suicide\n  in a pail of water\u2014Mutual suicide of two soldiers\u2014Lord\n  Scarborough\u2014A man who advertised to kill himself for benefit\n  of family\u2014The case of Creech, and the romantic history of\n  Madame de Monier\u2014Suicide of M. \u2014\u2014, after threatening to kill\n  his brother\u2014Two young men\u2014Two lovers\u2014Homicide and suicide from\n  jealousy\u2014Cure of penchant for suicide\u2014Attempt at prevented\u2014Man\n  in a belfry\u2014Attempt at\u2014The extraordinary case of Lovat by\n  crucifixion                                                  p. 283-334\n\n\n  CHAPTER XVI.\n\n  CAN SUICIDE BE PREVENTED BY LEGISLATIVE ENACTMENTS?\u2014INFLUENCE\n  OF MORAL INSTRUCTION.\u2014CONCLUSION.\n\n  The legitimate object of punishment\u2014The argument of\n  Beccaria\u2014A legal solecism\u2014A suicide not amenable to human\n  tribunals\u2014Evidence at coroners\u2019 courts _ex-parte_\u2014The old law\n  of no advantage\u2014No penal-law will restrain a man from the\n  commission of suicide.\u2014Verdict of _felo-de-se_ punishes the\n  innocent, and therefore unjust\u2014All suicides insane, and\n  therefore not responsible agents\u2014The man who reasons himself\n  into suicide not of sound mind\u2014Rational mode of preventing\n  suicide by promoting religious education                     p. 335-340\n\n\n\n\nERRATA.\n\n  Page 46, for \u201cmens conscia\u201d &c. read _mens sana in corpore\n  sano_, and for \u201cHorace\u201d read JUVENAL.\n\n\n\n\nANATOMY OF SUICIDE.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nSUICIDES OF THE ANCIENTS.\u2014ANCIENT LAWS AND OPINIONS ON THE SUBJECT OF\nSUICIDE.\n\n\n  Examples of antiquity no defence of suicide\u2014Causes of ancient\n  suicides\u2014The suicides of Asdrubal, Nicocles, Isocrates,\n  Demosthenes, Hannibal, Mithridates, the inhabitants of\n  the city of Xanthus, Cato, Charondas, Lycurgus, Codrus,\n  Themistocles, Emperor Otho, Brutus and Cassius, Mark Antony\n  and Cleopatra, Petronius, Lucan, Lucius Vetus, Sardanapalus,\n  M. Curtius, Empedocles, Theoxena\u2014Noble resistance of\n  Josephus\u2014Scripture suicides: Samson, Saul, Ahitophel, Judas\n  Iscariot, Eleazar, Razis\u2014Doctrines of the stoics, Seneca,\n  Epictetus, Zeno\u2014Opinions of Cicero, Pliny, on suicide\u2014Ancient\n  laws on suicide.\n\nHuman actions are more under the influence of example than precept;\nconsequently, suicide has often been justified by an appeal to the\nlaws and customs of past ages. An undue reverence for the authority of\nantiquity induces us to rely more upon what has been said or done in\nformer times, than upon the dictates of our own feelings and judgement.\nMany have formed the most extravagant notions of honour, liberty, and\ncourage, and, under the impression that they were imitating the noble\nexample of some ancient hero, have sacrificed their lives. They urge\nin their defence that suicide has been enjoined by positive laws, and\nallowed by ancient custom; that the greatest and bravest nation in\nthe world practised it; and that the most wise and virtuous sect of\nphilosophers taught that it was an evidence of courage, magnanimity,\nand virtue. There is no mode of reasoning so fallacious as that which\nis constantly appealing to examples. A man who has made up his mind\nto the adoption of a particular course can easily discover reasons\nto justify himself in carrying out his preconceived opinions. If a\ncontemplated action, abstractedly considered, be good, cases may\nbe of service in illustrating it. There must be some test by which\nto form a correct estimate of the justness or lawfulness of human\nactions; and until we are agreed as to what ought to constitute that\nstandard, examples are perfectly useless. No inferences deduced from\nthe consideration of the suicides of antiquity can be logically applied\nto modern instances. We live under a Christian dispensation. Our\nnotions of death, of honour, and of courage, are, in many respects,\nso dissimilar from those which the ancients entertained, that the\nsubject of suicide is placed entirely on a different basis. In the\nearly periods of history, self-destruction was considered as an\nevidence of courage; death was preferred to dishonour. These principles\nwere inculcated by celebrated philosophers, who exercised a great\ninfluence over the minds of the people; and, in many instances, the\nact of self-immolation constituted a part of their religion. Is it,\nthen, to be wondered at, that so many men, eminent for their genius,\nand renowned for their valour, should, under such circumstances, have\nsacrificed themselves?\n\nThe famous suicides of antiquity generally resulted from one of three\ncauses:\u2014First, it was practised by those who wished to avoid pain and\npersonal suffering of body and mind; secondly, when a person considered\nthe act as a necessary vindication of his honour; and thirdly, when\nlife was sacrificed as an example to others.\n\nThe first class is the most excusable of the three. Pain, physical\nor mental, puts a man\u2019s courage severely to the test. He may have to\nchoose between the alternative of years of unmitigated anguish, or an\nimmediate release from torture. Need we feel surprise at many resorting\nto the latter alternative, when they have been taught to believe death\neither to be an eternal sleep, or a sure entrance into regions of\nhappiness!\n\nHow many instances have we on record of persons who have dispatched\nthemselves to avoid falling into the hands of an enemy! The case of\nthe wife of Asdrubal, the Carthaginian general, is a famous instance\nof the kind. Asdrubal had deserted his post, and had fled to Scipio;\nand during his absence his wife took shelter with her troops in\nthe temple, which she set on fire. She then attired herself in her\nrichest robes, and holding her two children in her hands, addressed\nScipio\u2014who had surrounded the building with his troops\u2014in the following\nlanguage:\u2014\u201cYou, O Roman, are only acting according to the laws of open\nwar; but may the gods of Carthage, and those in concert with them,\npunish that false wretch who, by such a base desertion, has betrayed\nhis country, his gods, his wife, his children! Let him adorn thy gay\ntriumph; let him suffer in the sight of all Rome those indignities and\ntortures he so justly merits!\u201d\n\nThe case of Nicocles, King of Paphos, in Cyprus, who committed suicide\nin conjunction with his wife and daughter, on the approach of King\nPtolemy, is another in point. Isocrates, the celebrated Athenian\norator, starved himself to death, sooner than submit to the dominion of\nPhilip of Macedon. Demosthenes also poisoned himself, when Antipater,\nAlexander\u2019s ambassador, required the Athenians to deliver up their\norators, fearful of being subjected to slavery and disgrace.\n\nThe persecution to which the Romans subjected Hannibal, after he was\noppressed with years and sunk in obscurity, impelled him to have\nrecourse to the poison which he always kept about him in a ring,\nagainst sudden emergencies. Mithridates took poison, and administered\nthe same to his wives and daughters, in order to escape being taken\nprisoner by Pompey, before whose victorious arms he had been compelled\nto fly.\n\nThe case of the inhabitants of the city of Xanthus is another\nremarkable instance of the determination exhibited by thousands of\npersons, resolved sooner to die by their own hands than submit to\nthe dominion of a conqueror. Notwithstanding the proffered clemency\nof Brutus, who not only wept at the dreadful scene he witnessed, but\ncommanded his soldiers to extinguish the fire, and even offered a\nreward for every inhabitant whose life was saved, the people were so\neager for death that they rushed into the flames with exclamations of\ndelight, and forceably drove back the soldiers who were sent by Brutus\nfor the purpose of saving their lives.\n\nThe example of Cato is applauded by some writers as a proof of\nmagnanimity; the action was the reverse; it was the effect of pride\nand timidity. If ever Rome required his experience and patriotic\ncounsels it was at that very period. To desert the duty which Rome had\na right to demand by a voluntary death was the meanest conduct in his\ncharacter. It stamped an indelible stain on his reputation, which only\na supposition that his intellect was impaired could rationally excuse.\nIt was not the virtuous Cato who had stemmed the torrent of tyranny,\nwho had crushed the Cataline conspiracy, who had given the most noble\nexamples of virtuous resolution and rectitude in moral conduct, but\nthe enfeebled Cato, sinking under the accumulation of evils, whose\nsoul was depressed with suspense and distracting passions, waiting an\nopportunity for revenge, or preparing to finish his life on the first\ndisappointment.\n\nIf such examples were admitted magnanimous, in any serious quarrel\nor war, where success could not be commanded, it might be considered\nlaudable to commit suicide. The consequences of such reasoning would\nbe obvious. On such occasions, countries would lose their bravest\ngenerals, private families their noblest and most experienced\nsupporters.\n\n\u201cIf I cannot acquire what I wish,\u201d says Cato, \u201cI will kill myself;\nI will not live to grace C\u00e6sar\u2019s triumph, though I know C\u00e6sar to be\nthe most generous and clement of conquerors; I cannot consent to\nreceive C\u00e6sar\u2019s favours. My pride is wounded; my fears destroy all\ntranquillity; my body is sinking under adversity; I will not dedicate\nmy services to my distressed country under the auspices of successful\nC\u00e6sar. I will plunge a sword into my bosom, and commit an injustice to\nmyself, which through a long life I never committed to others. From\nthe uniformity of my former patriotic character, writers, without\ndeep reasoning, will paint this concluding action in glowing colours;\nthey will give additional lustre to an immortal reputation.\u201d Such,\nwe conceive, were the secret springs of action in Cato\u2019s mind; such\nwere the contending passions which excited the delirium. It was not\nthe placid, judicious Cato of former years, but the depressed Cato,\n_impos mentis_, committing a rash action, contrary to all his former\ngreat reasoning, and virtuous persevering conduct. It was, in fact,\nCato\u2019s act of insanity; it was not dying to serve his country, but to\neffectually rob C\u00e6sar of his eminent services; it therefore appears\nmore the effect of private pique and despondency than a demonstration\nof public virtue or courage. Had all others concerned in that civil\nwar followed this extraordinary example, the country would have\nbeen robbed of many of its brightest ornaments. Cato could not say\nwith Horace, \u201cDulce et decorum est pro patria mori,\u201d for it was not\nfor his countrymen that he died, but to gratify a selfish caprice,\na personal resentment and hatred to C\u00e6sar and his power. Had C\u00e6sar\nattacked the city while Cato enjoyed a vigour of mind and body, and\nwhen the citizens were better disciplined and less corrupt, he would\nhave despised such inglorious conduct; he would rather have hoped for\nsome future opportunity to dispel the dark clouds overwhelming the\ndistracted country.\n\nPhysicians have frequent opportunities of observing the diminution of\nhuman courage and wisdom from long continued misfortunes, or bodily\ninfirmities. The most lively, spirited, and enterprising, have become\ndepressed from reiterated disappointment; cowardice and despair have\nsucceeded to the most unquestionable bravery and ambition. The man\nis then changed; his blood is changed; and with these his former\nsentiments. The timidity is no longer Cato\u2019s, but belongs to the\nmiserable _debilitated body_ of Cato, which had lost that _vigorous\nsoul_ that so eminently distinguished on other important occasions this\nexcellent and divine patriot.\n\nLa Motte observes, with reference to Cato\u2019s death\u2014\n\n  \u201cStern Cato, with more equal soul,\n  Had bowed to C\u00e6sar\u2019s wide control,\n  With Rome, had to her conqueror bowed,\n  But that his spirit, rough and proud,\n  Had not the courage to await\n  A pardoned foe\u2019s too humbling fate.\u201d\n\nVoltaire, in alluding to the lines quoted above, says, \u201cIt was, I\nbelieve, because Cato\u2019s soul was always equal, and retained to the last\nits love for his country and her laws, that he chose rather to perish\nwith her than to crouch to the tyrant. He died as he had lived.\n\n\u201cIncapable of surrendering, and to whom? to the enemy of Rome\u2014to the\nman who had forcibly robbed the public treasury in order to make war\nupon his fellow citizens, and enslave them by means of their own\nmoney. A pardoned foe! It seems as if La Motte Houdart was speaking of\nsome revolted subject who might have obtained his Majesty\u2019s pardon by\nletters in chancery. It seems (continues Voltaire) rather absurd to say\nthat Cato slew himself through weakness. None but a strong mind can\nthus surmount the most powerful instinct of nature. This strength is\nsometimes that of frenzy; but a frantic man is not weak.\u201d\n\nIn forming an estimate of the condition of Cato\u2019s mind, we must not\nlook at him as delineated by the dramatist and poet, but as exhibited\nby the historian and philosopher. Our notions of Cato are too often\nbased on Addison\u2019s, and not Plutarch\u2019s description of his character.\nThat Cato was one of the most complete and perfect examples in\nantiquity of private manners and of public spirit cannot be questioned;\nand therefore, in this respect, worthy to be held up as an example.\nSallust thus eulogizes Cato:\u2014\u201cHis glory can neither be increased by\nflattery nor lessened by detraction. He was one who chose to be, rather\nthan to appear good. He was the very image of virtue, and in all points\nof disposition more like the gods than men. He never did right that he\nmight seem to do right, but because he could not do otherwise. That\nonly seemed to be reasonable which was just. Free from all human vices,\nhe was superior to the vicissitudes of fortune.\u201d It was the dignity of\nCato\u2019s life that stamped a celebrity on the mode of his death.\n\nIn forming a judgment of the motives which led this distinguished\nman to sacrifice his life, we must look at him in connexion with his\ngreat enemy, C\u00e6sar. He was not only opposed to him on public, but on\nprivate grounds. C\u00e6sar\u2019s intimacy with Servilia, Cato\u2019s sister, was\nthe ground of much conversation at Rome. During one of the debates\nconcerning the Cataline conspiracy, C\u00e6sar received a letter whilst he\nwas in the senate house. Cato, who had intimated that C\u00e6sar had been\nprivy to Cataline\u2019s proceedings, and believing that the letter might\nrefer to the subject, from the manner in which C\u00e6sar endeavoured to\nconceal it, demanded that it should be handed over to him. The letter\nwas accordingly handed to Cato, when, perceiving that it was a letter\nfrom Servilia to C\u00e6sar, full of protestations of love to his deadliest\nenemy, he threw it at C\u00e6sar in a great rage, and called him a drunkard.\nThis, added to the circumstance of C\u00e6sar\u2019s complete triumph over him,\ninduced Cato to put an end to his own life. He did not commit suicide\nto defeat usurpation, or to preserve the liberties and laws of Rome,\nbut it was done when he despaired of his country. It arose from his\nhorror of tyranny, and the feeling of intolerable shame at the prospect\nof a long life under an arbitrary master. The superstructure of years\nwas in a moment levelled to the dust. He had to choose between death\nor slavery. After the defeat at Thapsus, and hearing that C\u00e6sar was\nmarching against him, Lucius C\u00e6sar offered to intercede for Cato. His\nanswer was as follows:\u2014\u201cIf I would save my life, I ought to go myself;\nbut I will not be beholden to the tyrant for any act of his injustice;\nand \u2019tis unjust for him to pretend to pardon those as a lord over\nwhom he has no lawful power.\u201d Although it was evident he was bent\nupon suicide, he persuaded his son to go to C\u00e6sar, and cautioned his\nfriend Statilius, whom Plutarch calls \u201ca known C\u00e6sar-hater,\u201d not to\nkill himself, but to submit to the conqueror. He then entered into a\ndiscussion concerning liberty, which he carried on so violently that\nhis friends were apprehensive that he would lay hands on himself.\nIn consequence of this, his son removed his sword. Cato is then\nrepresented as reading Plato\u2019s Ph\u00e6do, and then calling for his sword,\nwhich they refused to bring him. He called a second and third time, and\nin a fit of rage he struck the servant, and wounded him, and by doing\nso, injured his own hand, which prevented him from effectually killing\nhimself with his weapon. After he had stabbed himself, his wound was\ndressed; but so determined was he to sacrifice his life, that he tore\nopen the wound forcibly, and pulled his bowels out, and thus effected\nhis purpose.[1]\n\nIt has been said that Addison approved of Cato\u2019s self-murder. This\ndoes not appear to be the fact, if we are to judge from the words which\nhe has put in the mouth of the dying hero\u2014\n\n  \u201cI am sick to death; oh, when shall I get loose\n  From this vain world, the abode of guilt and sorrow!\n  And yet methinks a beam of light breaks in\n  On my departing soul. Alas, I fear\n  I have been too hasty! O ye powers that search\n  The heart of man, and weigh his inmost thoughts,\n  If I have done amiss, impute it not:\n  The best may err, but you are good, and\u2014(_dies._)\u201d\n\nTwo celebrated instances amongst the Grecians of men who voluntarily\nsacrificed their lives in order to maintain the dignity and importance\nof their own institutions, are exhibited in the cases of Charondas and\nLycurgus. The former, in order to encourage a proper freedom of debate,\nhad made it death to come armed into the assembly of the states. One\nday, coming himself in haste to a convention without having first laid\naside his sword, he was rebuked by some one present, as a transgressor\nof his own laws. Stung with the justice of the imputation, he instantly\nplunged the sword into his own heart, both as a sacrifice to the\nviolated majesty of the law, and a tremendous example of disinterested\njustice; trusting, moreover, thus to seal with his own blood a strict\nobservance in others of his wholesome institutions.\n\nWhen Lycurgus had accomplished his great work of legislation in Sparta,\nhe took the following method of rendering his system unchangeable and\nimmortal. He stated that it was necessary that he should consult the\nDelphian oracle relative to his new laws. He then made all the Spartan\nmagistrates and people take a solemn oath that they would observe\nand keep his laws inviolate \u201ctill his return.\u201d He accordingly went\nto consult the oracle, and having sent back the answer in writing to\nSparta, \u201cThat the laws were excellent, and would render the people\ngreat and happy who should observe them,\u201d he resolved never to return\nhimself, in order that the people might never be absolved from their\noath. He accordingly starved himself to death. Plutarch considers\nthat Lycurgus reasoned himself into the act, under the belief that a\ngood statesman and patriot should seek to make his death itself in\nsome way useful to his country. The same authority considers that\nhe intended the mode of his death to be a practical illustration of\nthe great principle which pervaded the whole code of his laws, which\nwas\u2014_temperance_.\n\nAlike honourable, in a worldly point of view, was the death of Codrus,\nKing of Athens. The oracle was consulted with reference to the\ncondition of the country. That nation was predicted to be prosperous\nwhose king should be first slain by the enemy. Codrus disguised himself\nas a private soldier, and entered the enemy\u2019s camp, where he contrived\nto pick a quarrel with the first man he met, whom he permitted to slay\nhim; thus, for the good of his country, courting his own death.\n\nThemistocles is said to have poisoned himself rather than lead on the\nPersian army against his own countrymen, although fame, wealth, and\nhonour were within his grasp.\n\nThe Emperor Otho, to avoid the further sacrifice of life in the\nimperial contest, resolved to die by his own hands, notwithstanding\nhis troops implored and beseeched him to lead them on to a second\nengagement in which victory was almost certain. King Otho\u2019s answer to\nthe demand of his soldiers is considered to embody the spirit of true\nRoman heroism\u2014\u201cDeny me not the glory of laying down my own life to\npreserve yours. The more hope there is left, the more honourable is my\nearly retirement; since it is by my death alone that I can prevent the\nfurther effusion of Roman blood, and restore peace and tranquillity\nto a distracted empire, by being ready to die for its peace and\nsecurity.\u201d[2]\n\nTwo of the most distinguished men of antiquity who sacrificed their\nown lives were Brutus and Cassius. Before their battle with C\u00e6sar\non the plains of Philippi, these two warriors had a conversation on\nsuicide. Cassius asked Brutus what his opinions were on the subject of\nself-destruction, provided fortune did not favour them in the contest\nin which they were about to be engaged. Brutus replied, that formerly\nhe had embraced such sentiments as induced him to condemn Cato for\nkilling himself; he deemed it an act of irreverence towards the gods,\nand that it was no evidence of courage. But he continues, \u201cNow, in\nthe midst of dangers, I am quite of another mind.\u201d He then proceeds\nto tell Cassius of his determination to surrender up his life \u201con the\nIdes of March.\u201d He states no particular reasons for having changed\nhis opinions on the subject of suicide. The issue of the battle is\nwell known. Many things conspired to damp the courage of Cassius and\nBrutus. In imitation of C\u00e6sar, Brutus made a public lustration for his\narmy in the field, and during the ceremony an unlucky omen is said to\nhave happened to Cassius. The garland he was to wear at the sacrifice\nwas given to him the wrong side outwards; the person, also, who bore\nthe golden image before Cassius stumbled, and the image fell to the\nground. Several birds of prey hovered about his camp, and swarms of\nbees were seen within the trenches. Cassius, believing in the Epicurean\nphilosophy, considered all these circumstances as disheartening omens\nof his fate. After the defeat of Cassius, he ordered his freedman to\nkill him, which he did by severing his head from his body.\n\nPlutarch makes Brutus die most stoically. After having taken an\naffectionate leave of his friends, and having assured them that he\nwas only angry with fortune for his country\u2019s sake, since he esteemed\nhimself in his death more happy than his conquerors, he advised them to\nprovide for their own safety. He then retired, and, with the assistance\nof Strato, he ran his sword through his body. Dion Cassius (Lib. xlvii.)\nrepresents Brutus as far from acting the stoic at his last moments. He\nis said just before his death to have quoted the following passage from\nEuripides\u2014\u201cO wretched virtue! thou art a bare name! I mistook thee for\na substance; but thou thyself art the slave of fortune.\u201d\n\nIn considering the motives that induced Brutus to destroy himself,\nwe must not forget to take into calculation the effect which the\napparition he saw previous to the battle of Philippi must have had\non his mind. Brutus was naturally watchful, sparing in his diet, and\nallowed himself but little time for sleep. He never retired to rest,\nday or night, until he had arranged all his business. At this time,\ninvolved as he was in the operations of war, and solicitous for the\nevent, he only slumbered a little after supper, and spent the remainder\nof the night in attending to his most urgent affairs. When these were\ndispatched, he occupied himself in reading till the third watch, when\nthe tribunes and centurions came to him for orders. Thus, a little\nbefore he left Asia, he was sitting alone in his tent, by a dim light,\nat a late hour. The whole army lay in sleep and silence, while Brutus,\nwrapped in meditation, thought he perceived something enter his tent;\nturning towards the door, he saw a monstrous and horrible spectre\nstanding by the side of his bed. \u201cWhat art thou?\u201d said he, boldly.\nThe spectre answered, \u201cI am thy evil genius, Brutus! Thou wilt see\nme at Philippi.\u201d To which he calmly replied, \u201cI\u2019ll meet thee there.\u201d\nIn the morning he communicated to Cassius what he had seen. Cassius,\nwho was an Epicurean, had often disputed with Brutus on the subject\nof apparitions. He said, when he had heard the statement of Brutus,\nthat the spectre was not a spirit, but a real being; and argued at\nconsiderable length on the subject, and induced the general to think\nthat his fate was decided. There can be no doubt but that this singular\npresentiment co-operated with other circumstances in inducing Brutus to\nfall by his own hands.[3]\n\nAmongst the ancient suicides, those of Mark Antony and Cleopatra\ndeserve especial consideration. It is not our purpose to enter into an\nelaborate history of these celebrated characters, but merely to refer\nto those circumstances that had an immediate connexion with their last\nmoments.\n\nThree circumstances acted powerfully on Antony\u2019s mind in inducing him\nto seek a voluntary death. The first was his having been defeated by\nC\u00e6sar; the second, the idea that Cleopatra had betrayed him; and the\nthird was the belief in Cleopatra\u2019s death.\n\nAs soon as Antony was defeated, the unhappy queen fled to her monument,\nordered all the doors to be barred, and commanded that Antony should\nbe informed that she was dead. He was overwhelmed with grief, and\nretiring to his chamber, opened his coat of mail, and ordered his\nfaithful servant Eros (who had been engaged to kill him whenever he\nshould think it necessary) to dispatch him. Eros drew his sword,\nand, instead of killing his master, ran it through his own body, and\nfell dead at Antony\u2019s feet. Antony then plunged his sword into his\nbowels, and threw himself on the couch. The wound was not, however,\nimmediately fatal. In a short period after, Diomedes, Cleopatra\u2019s\nservant, came to Antony with a request that he would instantly repair\nto her chamber. His delight was unbounded when he heard that Cleopatra\nwas alive, and he directly ordered his servant to carry him to her.\nAs she would not allow the doors to be opened, Antony was drawn up to\nher window by a cord. He was suspended for a considerable time in the\nair stretching out his hands to Cleopatra. Notwithstanding she exerted\nall her strength, strained every nerve, and distorted her features\nin endeavouring to draw him up, it was with the greatest difficulty\nit was effected. Cleopatra laid him on the bed, and, standing over\nhim, so extreme was her anguish, that she rent her clothes, and beat\nand wounded her breast. After Antony\u2019s death, when Cleopatra heard\nthat C\u00e6sar had dispatched Gallus to take her prisoner, and that he\nhad effected an entrance into the monument, _she attempted to stab\nherself with a dagger which she always carried about with her for that\npurpose_. When she heard that it was C\u00e6sar\u2019s intention to send her\ninto Syria, she asked permission to visit Antony\u2019s tomb, over which\nshe poured forth most bitter lamentations. \u201cHide me, hide me,\u201d she\nexclaimed, \u201cwith thee in the grave; for life, since _thou_ hast left\nit, has been misery to _me_.\u201d After crowning the tomb with flowers,\nshe kissed it, and ordered a bath to be prepared. She then sat down to\na magnificent supper; after which, a peasant came to the gate with a\nsmall basket of figs covered with leaves, which was admitted into the\nmonument. Amongst the figs and under the leaves was concealed the asp,\nwhich Cleopatra applied to her bosom. She was found dead, attired in\none of her most gorgeous dresses, decorated with brilliants, and lying\non her golden bed.\n\nFew of the illustrious men of antiquity have exhibited such philosophic\ncoolness as Petronius, after he had determined to sacrifice his life.\nThe levity which distinguished his voluntary death was in accordance\nwith the gaiety and frivolity of his life. The capricious friendship\nof a Nero had been withdrawn from him, and in consequence he had\ndetermined on his own death. This _arbiter elegantiarum_ during life,\ndetermined to indulge in a luxurious refinement of that death he was\npreparing to encounter. Being well aware he could not long escape\nfrom the murderous edict, after a fall from the summit of imperial\nfavour, he opened and closed his veins at pleasure. He slept during the\nintervals, or sauntered about and enjoyed the delights of conversation\nwith his friends; but his discourse was not of so elevated a character\nas that attributed to Seneca or Socrates.\n\nThe poet Lucan exhibited great apparent serenity at the approach of\ndeath. After the veins of his arm had been voluntarily opened, and he\nhad lost a large quantity of blood, he felt his hands and his legs\nlosing their vitality. As the hour of death approached, he commenced\nrepeating several lines out of his own Pharsalia, descriptive of a\nperson similarly situated to himself. These lines he repeated until he\ndied.\n\nCocceius Nerva starved himself to death in the reign of Tiberius. It\nwas said that he was displeased with the state of public affairs, and\nhad made up his mind to die whilst his own integrity remained unsullied.\n\nDuring the bloody reign of Nero, many singular suicides took place. The\nparticulars attending the deaths of Lucius Vetus, his mother-in-law\nSextia, and Pollutia his daughter, are worth recording. After Lucius\nhad distributed all his wealth among his domestics, requesting them\nto remove everything from his house excepting three couches, he, with\nhis mother-in-law and daughter, retired into the same chamber, opened\na vein with the same lancet, and after, reclining each on a separate\ncouch, waited calmly the approach of death. His eyes, and those of his\nmother-in-law, were both fixed on the daughter, while the daughter\u2019s\nwandered from one to the other. It was the earnest prayer of each of\nthem to die first, and to leave the others in the act of expiring.[4]\n\nWhen the throne of Sardanapalus was endangered, he conceived a\nmagnificent and truly luxurious mode of committing suicide, quite in\ncharacter with the extravagance and dissoluteness of his former life.\nHe erected a funeral pile of great height in his palace, and adorned\nit with the most sumptuous and costly ornaments. In the middle of this\nbuilding was a chamber of one hundred feet in length, built of wood,\nin which a number of golden couches and tables were spread. On one of\nthese he reclined with his wife, his numerous concubines occupying\nthe rest. The building was encompassed round at some distance with\nlarge beams and thick wood, to prevent all egress from the place.\nMuch combustible matter, and an immense pile of wood were also placed\nwithin, together with an infinite quantity of gold and silver, royal\nvestments, costly apparel, rich furniture, curious ornaments, and\nall the apparatus of luxury and magnificence. All being arranged, this\nsplendid funeral pile was set on fire, and continued burning until the\nfifteenth day; during which time Sardanapalus revelled in all kinds\nof sensualities. The multitude without were in astonishment at the\ntremendous scene, and at the immense clouds of incense and smoke which\nissued with the flames. It was stated that the king was engaged in\noffering some extraordinary sacrifices; while the attendants within\nalone knew that this dissolute prince was putting such a splendid end\nto his effeminate life.[5]\n\nThere has been some dispute as to the death of Marcus Curtius. Plutarch\nattributes his death to accident, but Procillius considers that it\nwas voluntary. He says, the earth having opened at a particular time,\nthe Aruspices declared it necessary, for the safety of the republic,\nthat the bravest man in the city should throw himself into the gulf;\nwhereupon Curtius, mounting his horse, leaped armed into it, and the\ngulf immediately closed. But Livy and Dionysius relate the circumstance\nin a different manner. They say that Curtius was a Sabine, who, having\nat first repulsed the Romans, but being in his turn overpowered by\nRomulus, and endeavouring to make good his retreat, fell into the lake,\nwhich from that time bore his name. The lake was situated almost in the\ncentre of the Roman forum. Some writers consider the name was derived\nfrom Curtius the Consul, because he caused it to be walled in after it\nhad been struck with lightning.[6]\n\nThe death of the celebrated philosopher and poet, Empedocles, of\nSicily, was remarkable. Wishing to be believed a god, and that his\ndeath might be unknown, he threw himself into the crater of Mount \u00c6tna,\nand perished in the flames. The mode of his death was not discovered\nuntil some time afterwards, when one of his sandals was thrown up from\nthe volcano.\n\nAncient history affords us many noble examples of individuals who\npreferred voluntary death to dishonour and loss of character. If ever\nself-murder could be considered as in the slightest degree justifiable,\nit would be under such circumstances. Who cannot but honour the conduct\nof the noble virgins of Macedon, who threw themselves into the wells,\nand courted death, sooner than submit to the dishonourable proposals\nof the Roman governor! When Theoxena was pursued by the emissaries of\nPhilip, king of Macedon, who had been guilty of murdering her first\nhusband, she produced a dagger and a box of poison, and placing them\nbefore the crew of the ship in which she was endeavouring to make her\nescape, she said, \u201cDeath is now our only remedy and means of vengeance;\nlet each take the method that best pleases himself of avoiding the\ntyrant\u2019s pride, cruelty, and lust. Come on, my brave companions\nand family, seize the sword or drink of the cup, as you prefer an\ninstantaneous or gradual death.\u201d Some fell on the sword, others drank\nthe poison until death was effected. After Theoxena had accomplished\nher designs, she threw herself into the arms of her husband, and they\nboth plunged into the sea.\n\nThe resistance which Josephus made to the importunities of his soldiers\nto fall by his own hand sooner than surrender to the enemy, is perhaps\nthe most noble instance of the kind on record. After the success of\nthe Romans in Jud\u00e6a, Josephus, who commanded the Jewish army, wished\nto deliver himself up to his conquerors; he was encouraged to this by\ncertain dreams and visions. When Josephus\u2019s intention was known, the\nsoldiers flocked round him, and expressed their indignation at his\nintention. They urged him to fall by his own sword, and to let them\nfollow his example, sooner than abandon the field. To this appeal\nJosephus replies, \u201cOh, my friends, why are you so earnest to kill\nyourselves? why do you set your soul and body, which are such dear\ncompanions, at such variance? It is a brave thing to die in war, but\nit should be by the hands of the enemy. It is a foolish thing to do\nthat for ourselves, which we quarrel with them for doing to us. It is a\nbrave thing to die for liberty; but still it should be in battle, and\nby those who would take that liberty from us. He is equally a coward\nwho will not die when he is obliged to die. What are we afraid of, when\nwe will not go up and meet the Romans? Is it death? Why then inflict it\non ourselves? You say, We must be slaves. Are we then in a clear state\nof liberty at present? Self-murder is a crime most remote from the\ncommon nature of all animals, and an instance of impiety against God\nour Creator.\u201d\n\nJosephus, in the spirit of a true philosopher, urged his soldiers to\nabandon the notion of suicide; but instead of being calmed by his\ndiscourse, they became enraged, and rushed on him. Fearing that the\ncase was hopeless, Josephus prevailed upon them to listen to the\nfollowing proposal. He persuaded them to draw lots; the man on whom\nthe first lot fell was to be killed by him who had the second, and the\nsecond by the third, and so on. In this way no soldier would perish\nby his own hand, except the last man. Lots were accordingly drawn;\nJosephus drew his with the rest. He who had the first lot willingly\nsubmitted his neck to him who had the second. It happened that Josephus\nand a soldier were left to draw lots; and as the general was desirous\nneither to imbrue his own hand in the blood of his countryman, nor to\nbe condemned by lot himself, he persuaded the soldier to trust his\nfidelity, and to live as well as himself. Thus ended this tragical\nscene, and Josephus immediately surrendered himself up to Vespasian.\n\nThe first instance of suicide recorded in Scripture is that of Samson.\nAfter suffering many indignities from the hands of the Philistines, his\nanger was roused to the highest pitch, and, resting against the pillars\nthat supported the building in which the lords of the Philistines\nand an infinite number of others were assembled, he offered up the\nfollowing prayer: \u201cO Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen\nme, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may at once be avenged\nof the Philistines for my two eyes;\u201d and taking hold of the pillars, he\nsaid, \u201cLet me die with the Philistines: and he bowed himself with all\nhis might, and the house fell upon the lords and all that were therein;\nso that the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which\nhe slew in his life.\u201d\n\nIn Samson\u2019s case, there is nothing said in Scripture either to condemn\nor justify the act; but it appears evident from the whole history of\nthe last events of his life, that he was but an instrument in the\nhands of God for the accomplishment of his wise purposes. The glory of\nGod had been violated in the person of Samson; he had been subjected\nby the Philistines to great indignities; and it was to demonstrate\nthe power of God in the destruction of his enemies that Samson\u2019s life\nwas sacrificed. Samson is, then, to be considered as a martyr to his\nreligion and his God.\n\nThe case of Saul has also been cited. It is thus referred to in\nScripture:\u2014\u201cAnd the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit\nhim, and he was sore wounded of the archers. Then said Saul unto his\narmourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith, lest\nthese uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his\narmourbearer would not, for he was sore afraid; therefore Saul took a\nsword and fell upon it. And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was\ndead, he fell likewise upon his sword and died with him.\u201d[7]\n\nIt must be recollected that the Jews considered that a man was\njustified in committing suicide to prevent his falling into the\nenemy\u2019s hand, and on this account Saul was commended for killing\nhimself. But there was nothing glorious in Saul\u2019s death. His army was\ndefeated by the Philistines, and Saul sounded a retreat; and as he was\nmaking his ignominious flight, an arrow from the ranks of the enemy hit\nhim, and it was then that he implored his armourbearer to dispatch him.\n\nMuch has been made of the self murder* of Ahitophel. Donne has referred\nto it at some length. He says that in this case there can be \u201cno room\nfor excuse.\u201d Ahitophel was considered one of the wisest counsellors of\nhis age. He joined Absalom in his rebellion against his lawful prince,\nDavid; and when he saw that it was God\u2019s determination to defeat his\ncounsel, and that his advice for the first time was neglected, he\nbecame full of secret indignation and disappointment; and in order\nto avoid the consequences of his own utter despair and ruin, for his\nperfidy, he hanged himself. Nothing can be urged in justification\nof this act. The facts are presented to us in biblical history; and\nwe are left to form our own judgment upon the course which this\n\u201cMachiavellian counsellor,\u201d as he has been termed, thought proper to\nadopt.\n\nDonne has also cited the case of Judas Iscariot.[8] He must have\nbeen sadly in want of sound illustrations to have brought forward the\ninstance of this traitor as a justification of the act of suicide.\nJudas has been considered by some writers as a martyr. Petilian said\n\u201cthat Judas, and all who killed themselves through remorse of sin,\nought to be accounted martyrs, because they punish in themselves what\nthey grieve to have committed.\u201d To whom Augustine replies, \u201cThou hast\nsaid, that the traitor perished by the rope, and has left a rope behind\nhim for such as himself. But we have nothing to do with him. We do not\nvenerate those as martyrs who hang themselves.\u201d\n\nThe case, mentioned by the same authority, of Eleazar, the brother of\nJudas Maccabeus, taken from the book of the Maccabees, is said to be\none of voluntary suicide, and where self-destruction was laudable.\nEleazar sacrificed his own life for the purpose of destroying King\nAntiochus, and therefore his suicide is to be considered as a voluntary\nsacrifice for the good of his country.\n\nThe self-destruction of Razis is full of horror, and can only be quoted\nas an evidence of the act of a madman. When the tower in which Razis\nwas fighting against the enemy of Nicanor was set on fire, he fell\non his own sword, \u201cChoosing rather,\u201d says the text, \u201cto die manfully\nthan fall into the hands of the wicked, to be abused otherwise than\nbeseemed his noble birth; but missing his stroke through haste, the\nmultitude also rushing within doors, he ran boldly up to the wall, and\ncast himself down manfully among the thickest of them; but they quickly\ngiving back, and a space being made, he fell down in the midst of a\nvoid place. Nevertheless, while there was yet breath within him, being\ninflamed with anger, he rose up; and though his blood gushed out like\nspouts of water, and his wounds were grievous, yet he ran through in\nthe midst of the throng, and standing on a steep rock, when, as his\nblood was not quite gone, he plucked out his bowels, and taking them in\nboth his hands, he cast them upon the throng, and calling upon the Lord\nof life and spirit to restore him them again, he thus died.\u201d[9]\n\nHaving considered the remarkable suicides of antiquity, we will now\nbriefly allude to those doctrines and opinions of the celebrated\nphilosophers of ancient times, which must of necessity have tended to\ncreate this recklessness of human life.\n\nThe doctrines inculcated by the stoical philosophers, or the disciples\nof Zeno, must have increased the crime of suicide. \u201cA stoical wise man\nis ever ready to die for his country or his friends. A wise man will\nnever look upon death as an evil; that he will despise it, and be ready\nto undergo it at any time.\u201d \u201cA wise man,\u201d says Diog. Laertius, in his\nlife of Zeno, when expounding the stoical philosophy, \u201cwill quit life,\nwhen oppressed with severe pain, or when deprived of any of his senses,\nor when labouring under desperate diseases.\u201d It is astonishing that a\nsect of philosophers who inculcated that pain was no evil, should so\noften have practised suicide. Much as we would condemn such principles,\nstill we must admit that most of the admired characters of antiquity\nbelonged to this celebrated sect\u2014men distinguished for their wisdom,\nlearning, and the strictness of their morals. Cato was a stoic, and he\nput into practice the principles of the sect to which he belonged.[10]\n\nAmong the philosophers of antiquity, Seneca stands preeminently*\nforward as the defender of suicide. He says, \u201cDoes life please you?\nlive on. Does it not? go from whence you came. No vast wound is\nnecessary; a mere puncture will secure your liberty. It is a bad\nthing (you say) to be under the necessity of living; but there is no\nnecessity in the case. Thanks be to the gods, nobody can be compelled\nto live.\u201d[11] These were the principles of the \u201cwise Seneca,\u201d and yet\nhe wanted the courage to commit suicide when put to the test. He says,\n\u201cBeing emaciated by a severe illness, I often thought of suicide,\nbut was recalled by the old age of a most indulgent father; for I\nconsidered not how resolutely \u2018I\u2019 could encounter death, but how \u2018he\u2019\ncould bear up under my loss.\u201d This is not, however, the only instance\nin which Seneca yielded his stoical principles to the dictates of\nnatural affection and rational judgment.\n\nAmong other distinguished philosophers who advocated suicide was\nEpictetus. Although a stoic, he did not blindly follow the doctrines\nof Zeno. Epictetus considered that it was the duty of man to suffer to\nalmost any extent before he sacrificed his own life. \u201cIf you like not\nlife, you may leave it; the door is open; get you gone! But a little\nsmoke ought not to frighten you away; it should be endured, and will\nthereby be often surmounted.\u201d\n\nEpictetus followed strictly his own principles: in this respect he\nwas superior to Seneca. Seneca was born in the lap of good fortune;\nEpictetus was a slave, and had to pass through the rugged paths of\nadversity, bodily pain, and penury. Seneca was banished from Rome for\nan intrigue; Epictetus was sent into exile for being a man of learning\nand a philosopher.\n\nWhen Epictetus was beaten unmercifully by his master, he said, with\ngreat composure, \u201cYou will certainly break my leg.\u201d He did so; and the\nphilosopher calmly rejoined, \u201cDid I not tell you you would do it?\u201d\nThis was in the true spirit of stoical philosophy.\n\nMarcus Aurelius Antoninus was, perhaps, one of the brightest ornaments\nof the sect of stoics. He carried into the minutest concern of life the\ndoctrine of Zeno. \u201cHe was,\u201d says Gibbon, \u201csevere to himself, indulgent\nto the imperfections of others, just and beneficent to all mankind.\u201d\n\nZeno, the founder of the sect of stoical philosophers, acted up to\nthe principles which he inculcated to his disciples. His suicide is\nrecorded to be as follows:\u2014As he was going out of his school one day,\nat the age of ninety-eight, he fell down, put a finger out of joint,\nwent home, and hanged himself.\n\nCleanthes, also, the successor of Zeno, followed the example of his\nmaster in philosophy, by shortening the period of his life in the\nfollowing manner:\u2014After having used abstinence for two days, by the\nadvice of his physician, for the cure of a trifling indisposition under\nwhich he was labouring, he had permission to return to his former diet;\nbut he refused all sustenance, saying, \u201c_that as he had advanced so far\non his journey towards death, he would not retreat_.\u201d He accordingly\nstarved himself to death.\n\nAmong the most distinguished orators of antiquity who spoke in favour\nof suicide stands Cicero. During his banishment he would have actually\ndestroyed himself, if it had not been for his natural timidity and\nwant of resolution. He writes to his brother Quintus, \u201cThe tears of my\nfriends have prevented me from flying to death as my refuge.\u201d\n\nPliny was an advocate of suicide. In a chapter entitled \u201cOn God,\u201d he\nwrites thus\u2014\u201cThe chief comfort of man in his imperfect state is this,\nthat even the Deity cannot do all things. For instance, he cannot put\nhimself to death when he pleases, which is the greatest indulgence he\nhas given to man amid the severe evils of life.\u201d Pliny belonged to the\nEpicureans, and his notions are in accordance with the doctrines of\nthat sect.\n\nPliny the younger appears to have had different notions on the\nsubject. When lamenting the death of a dear friend, Corellius Rufus,\nwho had killed himself, he says, \u201cHe is dead\u2014dead by his own hand,\nwhich agonizes my grief; for that is the most lamentable kind of death\nwhich neither proceeds from nature nor from fate.\u201d The whole epistle\nfrom which the above extract is made indicates a noble and feeling\nheart.\n\nIt appears that the Roman laws respecting suicide were of a fiscal\nnature. They viewed the act not as a crime abstractedly, but considered\nhow far the circumstance affected the state or treasury. In some\nportion of the Roman empire the magistrate had the power of granting\nor refusing permission to commit suicide. If the decision was given\nagainst the applicant, and he persisted in sacrificing his life,\ndisgrace and ignominy were heaped upon his body, and it was buried in\nthe most humiliating manner. The tenour of the law relating to suicide\nlaid down in \u201cJustinian\u2019s Digests\u201d is to the following effect:\u2014\u201cThose\nwho, being actually accused, or who being caught in any crime, and\ndreading a prosecution, made way with themselves, were to have their\neffects confiscated. But this confiscation was no punishment of\nsuicide, _as a crime in itself_, being then only to take place when the\ncrime committed incurred the confiscation of property, and when the\nperson accused of it would have been found guilty. For which reason\nthe heirs-at-law were permitted (if they thought proper) to try the\ncause as though the accused person, who had put a period to his life,\nhad been still living; and if his innocence could be proved, they were\nstill entitled to his effects. But if any one killed himself, either\nthrough weariness of life, or an impatience under pain or ill health,\nfor a load of private debt, or for any other reason not affecting the\nstate or public treasury, the property of the deceased flowed in its\nnatural channel. In the case of an attempted but incomplete suicide,\nwhere a man was under no accusation, a distinction was made as to the\ncauses impelling to it, before the question as to its punishment was\nto be determined. If it proceeded not from weariness of life, or an\nimpatience under the pressure of some calamity, the attempter was to\nsuffer the same punishment as if he had effected his purpose; and for\nthis reason, because he who without reason spared not his own life,\nwould not be likely to spare another man\u2019s.\u201d[12]\n\nIf a prisoner committed suicide, the jailor authorized to protect him\nwas punished very severely. The Roman law made a distinction between\nsoldiers and civilians. If a soldier attempted to take away his life,\nand it could not be proved that he was suffering at the time from great\ngrief, misfortune, madness, &c., it was deemed a capital offence, and\ndeath was the punishment. And even in cases where it was established\nthat the act was the result of mental perturbation, he was dismissed\nfrom the service with ignominy and disgrace.\n\nDuring the pure ages of the Roman Republic, when religion was\nreverenced, when the gods were looked up to with respect as the\ndisposers of all events, suicide was but little known. But when the\nphilosophy of Greece was introduced into the Roman Empire, and the\nmanners of the people became corrupted and degenerated, the crime\nincreased to an alarming extent. This indifference to life was also\naugmented by the spread of stoical and epicurean principles. The stoic\nwas taught to believe his life his own; that he was the sole arbiter of\nhis existence; and that he could live or die as he pleased. The same\nprinciples were inculcated by the epicurean philosophy. Is it, then, to\nbe wondered at, that suicide should be of common occurrence, when such\ndegrading principles had taken possession of the minds of the people?\n\nBy the law of Thebes, the person who committed suicide was deprived of\nhis funeral rites, and his name and memory were branded with infamy.\nThe Athenian law was equally severe: the hand of the self-murderer\nwas cut off, and buried apart from his body, as having been an enemy\nand traitor to it. The Greeks considered suicide as a most heinous\ncrime. The bodies of suicides, according to the Grecian custom, were\nnot burned to ashes, but were immediately buried. They considered it\na pollution of the holy element of fire to consume in it the carcases\nof those who had been guilty of self-murder. Suicides were classed\n\u201cwith the public or private enemy; with the traitor, and conspirator\nagainst his country; with the tyrant, the sacrilegious wretch, and\nsuch grievous offenders whose punishment was impalement alive on a\ncross.\u201d[13]\n\nThese laws, however, fell into disuse, as appears evident from the\ncircumstance of there being so many cases of suicide which escaped this\ntreatment.\n\nIn the island of Ceos the magistrates had the power of deciding whether\na person had sufficient reasons for killing himself. A poison was kept\nfor that purpose, which was given to the applicant who made out his\ncase before the magistracy.\n\nThe same custom was followed among the Massilians, the ancient\ninhabitants of Marseilles. A preparation of hemlock was kept in\nreadiness, and the senate, on hearing the merits of the case, had the\npower to decide whether the applicant had good and substantial reasons\nfor committing suicide. There was, no doubt, much good effected by this\nregulation, as it clearly acknowledged the principle that the power\nof a man over his own life rested not in himself, but in the voice of\nthe magistrate, who alone was to determine how his life or death might\naffect the state.\n\nLibanius, of Antioch, who flourished towards the end of the fourth\ncentury, has very happily ridiculed the practice to which we have\nalluded. In some imaginary pleadings before the senate, he advocates\nthe cause of a man who wishes to swallow the hemlock draught, that\nhe may be freed from the garrulity of a loquacious wife. \u201cTruly,\u201d\nsays he, \u201cif our legislator had not been addicted too much to law\nmaking, I should have been under no necessity of proving before you\nthe expediency of my departure, but a rope and the first tree would\nhave given me peace and quiet. But since he, determining we should be\nslaves, has deprived us even of the liberty of dying when we please,\nand has enchained us with decrees on this business, I imprecate the\nauthor and obey his mandates, in thus laying my complaints and my\nrequest before you.\u201d He then, with considerable eloquence and humour,\nadvocates the cause of the \u201cenvious man,\u201d who wishes to taste the\n\u201csuicidal draught\u201d because his neighbour\u2019s wealth had increased beyond\nhis own. \u201cLet the wretch,\u201d he says, \u201crecite his calamities, let the\nsenate bestow the antidote, and let grief be dissolved in death.\u201d\n\nLibanius then pleads in behalf of Timon, the man hater, who begs\npermission to dispatch himself because he was bound by profession to\nhate all mankind, but he could not help loving Alcibiades.\n\nIt is a singular circumstance connected with the subject of suicide,\nthat authors who have written in its defence should quote the cases\nreferred to in this chapter in justification of their views. They\nhave not taken into consideration the peculiar customs, habits, and\nreligion of the people, which of course must have greatly influenced\ntheir actions. How absurd would it be for us to take the authority of\nantiquity as an infallible rule of conduct. The Massagetes considered\nthose unhappy who died a natural death, and therefore eat their dearest\nfriends when they grew old. The Libarenians broke their necks down a\nprecipice. The Bactrians were thrown alive to the dogs. The Scythians\nburied the dearest friends of the deceased with them alive, or killed\nthem on the funeral pile. The Roman people, when sunk in vice and\nlicentiousness, considered it a mark of courage and honour to fall by\ntheir own hands, and suicide was a common occurrence with them.\n\n\u201cIn the beginning of the spring,\u201d says Malt. Brun, \u201ca shocking ceremony\ntakes place at Cola Bhairava, in the mountains between the rivers Tapt\u00e6\nand Nerbuddah. It is the practice of some persons of the lowest tribes\nin Berar to make vows of suicide, in return for answers which their\nprayers are believed to have received from their idols. This is the\nplace where such vows are performed in the beginning of spring, when\neight or ten victims generally throw themselves from a precipice. The\nceremony gives rise to an annual fair, and some trade.\u201d[14]\n\nNo just distinction can be drawn between these customs. The Indian\nwidow, in obedience to the religion of her country, ascends the\nfuneral pile of her husband, and is burnt to death. Thousands annually\nsacrifice their lives by throwing themselves under the wheels of their\nidol Juggernaut. Strong feelings of religion impel them to this; they\nbecome excluded from society, they lose caste, and are subjected to\nall kinds of persecution if they do not bow to the customs of the\ncountry. What legitimate argument can be deduced from these facts in\nfavour of suicide? And yet these cases are considered to constitute\na justification of the stoical dogma, that we have a right when we\nplease to put an end to our own existence. Desperate indeed must be the\ncircumstances of those who are compelled to found their reasoning on so\nflimsy a basis.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nWRITERS IN DEFENCE OF SUICIDE.\n\n\n  Opinions of Hume\u2014Effect of his writings\u2014Case of suicide caused\n  by\u2014The doctrines of Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Montaigne\n  examined\u2014Origin of Dr. Donne\u2019s celebrated work\u2014Madame de\n  Sta\u00ebl\u2019s recantation\u2014Robert of Normandy, Gibbon, Sir T. More,\n  and Robeck\u2019s opinions considered.\n\nIt will be foreign to my purpose to enter elaborately into an\nexamination of the opinions of those who have thought proper to justify\nthe commission of suicide. The arguments which have been advanced by\nHume, Donne, Rousseau, Madame de Sta\u00ebl, Montesquieu, Montaigne, Gibbon,\nVoltaire, and Robeck, are founded on such gross and apparent fallacies,\nthat they carry with them their own refutation.\n\nHume, whose pen was always ready to support opinions at variance with\nthe precepts of the Christian religion, wrote an essay on the subject\nof suicide. He has endeavoured to shew that self-murder is consistent\nwith our duty to God, our neighbour, and ourselves. Referring to the\nfirst of these three heads, he says\u2014\u201cAs, on the one hand, the elements\nand other inanimate parts of creation carry on their action without\nregard to the particular interests and situation of men, so men are\nentrusted to their own judgment and discretion in the various shades\nof matter, and may employ every faculty with which they are endowed in\norder to provide for their ease, happiness, or preservation.\u201d\n\nIf an action be clearly shewn to be an infringement of the laws of\nGod, it certainly cannot be one which he has left us to exercise\nat discretion. All the laws of religion and morality are so many\nabridgments of man\u2019s liberty, in the exercise of his judgment and\ndiscretion for his own happiness. Hume then proceeds to examine\nwhether suicide be a breach of duty to our neighbour and society. He\nobserves\u2014\u201cA man who retires from life does no harm to society,\u2014he\nonly ceases to do good; which, if it be an injury, is of the lowest\nkind.\u201d The man who sacrifices his own life does a _great injury_ to\nsociety. There are very few men in the world who have no relations\nor connexions, and he entails upon these the opprobrium that society\nattaches to the crime of suicide. Independently of this, his example\nacts injuriously on the minds of others, who may not have such good\nreasons for suicide as he has. \u201cI believe,\u201d continues Hume, \u201cthat no\nman ever threw away life while it was worth keeping. For such is our\nnatural horror of death, that small motives will never be able to\nreconcile us to it.\u201d He might as well have stated that such is our\nhorror of poverty that no man ever threw away _riches_ which were worth\nkeeping. The fallacy consists in drawing a conclusion from a mind\nsupposed in its right state, in which every faculty, propensity, and\naversion has its due proportion of strength; and in which the natural\nhorror of death will secure a man from throwing away a life which is\nworth keeping: and this conclusion is applied to a _depraved_ state of\nmind, in which it can by no means hold.\n\nThe same author asserts, \u201cThat it would be no crime in me to divert\nthe Nile or Danube from its course, if I could; where, then, is the\ncrime of turning a few ounces of blood out of its natural channel?\u201d The\nargument is too puerile to merit refutation. He must first establish\nthat no injury would accrue from diverting the course of the Nile and\nDanube, before any argument can be deduced from it which is worth one\nmoment\u2019s consideration.\n\nIt has been asserted, and remains uncontradicted, that Mr. Hume lent\nhis \u201cEssay on Suicide\u201d to a friend, who on returning it told him it was\na most excellent performance, and pleased him better than anything he\nhad read for a long time. In order to give Hume a practical exhibition\nof the effects of his defence of suicide, his friend shot himself the\nday after returning him his Essay.\n\nIf, in any one instance, suicide might admit of something like an\napology, it would have been in this\u2014if the detestable author of this\nabominable treatise had, on receiving the melancholy intelligence,\ncommitted it to the flames, and terminated his own pernicious existence\nby a cord. But the cold-blooded infidel was too cowardly to execute\nsummary justice on himself. With a truly diabolical spirit, his delight\nwas to scatter firebrands among the people, and say, \u201cAm I not in\nsport?\u201d\n\nMr. Hume is the hero of modern infidels, because he is the only one\namong them whose life was not disgraced by the grossest of vices;\nfor this, his selfish and avaricious spirit affords, perhaps, the\ntrue reason. It is well known that Hume, in more than one instance,\nsacrificed his principles (if he had any) to views of emolument at the\nsuggestion of the booksellers. It has been said that he was scarcely\nguilty of a good or benevolent action. His treatment of Rousseau was\nunfeeling in the extreme; and an intimate friend of the essayist\naffirms, that \u201chis heart was as hard and cold as marble.\u201d\n\nMontesquieu\u2019s arguments in favour of suicide appear to border very\nclosely on those advanced by Hume. They will be found in a letter\nwritten in the character of a Persian resident in Europe.\n\nRousseau[15] in his \u201cNouvelle Helo\u00efse\u201d observes, \u201cThe more I reflect\nupon it (suicide), the more I find that the question reduces itself\nto this fundamental proposition:\u2014To seek one\u2019s own good, and avoid\none\u2019s own harm in that which hurts not another, is the law of nature.\u201d\nRousseau must first clearly establish that what he terms \u201cseeking\none\u2019s own good\u201d will not be productive of injury to others. According\nto the notion of what the majority of men conceive to be their good,\nmuch evil would result from allowing mankind to act under the influence\nof their own feelings and judgment. What one man considers \u201cgood,\u201d\nanother considers evil; and what often appears to be very beneficial to\nourselves, if examined fairly, will be found to be the very reverse.\n\nMontaigne\u2019s arguments are borrowed from ancient writers in defence of\nsuicide. He assumes at the commencement that suicide is not an evil.\nHe says, that pain, and the fear of suffering a worse death, is an\nexcusable incitement to suicide. The whole that he has advanced is but\na string of sophistries.\n\nDr. Donne has entered more fully into the defence of suicide than any\nother writer. The whole of his work appears to be written for the\npurpose of demonstrating that it is praiseworthy to shew a contempt of\nlife in the discharge of our duty, and in the execution of noble and\nbeneficent enterprises.\n\nDr. Donne was probably drawn to the contemplation of this subject by\nhis own sufferings. While he was secretary to Lord Chancellor Egerton,\nhe married a young lady of rank superior to his own, which gave offence\nto his patron, and he was consequently dismissed from office. He\nsuffered extreme poverty with his wife and children; and in a letter,\nin which he adverts to the illness of a daughter whom he tenderly\nloved, he says that he dares not expect relief, even from death, as he\ncannot afford the expense of a funeral. He afterwards took orders, and\nwas promoted to the deanery of St. Paul\u2019s. In the early part of his\nlife, and probably during the period of his sufferings, he wrote his\nbook, entitled, \u201c\u0392\u03b9\u03b1\u03b8\u03b1\u03bd\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2, _A Declaration of that paradox\nor thesis, that self-homicide is not so naturally sin that it may never\nbe otherwise_.\u201d He did not publish it. He desired _it to be remembered,\nthat it was written by Jack Donne, not by Dr. Donne_; and it was\npublished many years after his death, by his son, a dissipated young\nman, tempted by his necessities to forget his father\u2019s prohibition.\n\n_Madame de Sta\u00ebl_ attempted to justify suicide in her work on the\npassions, but she, greatly to her honour, published her celebrated\n\u201cReflections on Suicide,\u201d which was written as a recantation of some\nopinions on the subject incidentally expressed in the work alluded\nto. She expresses the change in her sentiments on this subject in the\nfollowing curious manner:\u2014\u201cJ\u2019ai l\u2019acte du suicide, dans mon ouvrage sur\nl\u2019influence des passions, et je me suis repentie depuis de c\u00e9tte parole\ninconsider\u00e9e. J\u2019etois alors dans tout l\u2019orgueil et la vivacit\u00e9 de la\npremi\u00e8re jeunesse; mais \u00e0 quoi servirait-il de vivre, si ce n\u2019\u00e9tait\ndans l\u2019espoir de s\u2019ameliorer.\u201d\n\nMadame de Sta\u00ebl has treated the subject with considerable ingenuity\nand ability, and with a great deal of eloquence, but she has hardly\nenforced sufficiently the arguments against this crime which may be\ndeduced from the use of that portion of existence we pass upon earth.\nWe are wise and good just in proportion as we consider and treat life\nand all its incidents as moral means to a great end. Upon every moment\nof time an eternity is dependent; and whenever we sacrifice a moment,\nwe throw away an instrument by which we might have created an eternity\nof happiness.\n\nAll mankind are not placed upon an equality. Some experience pleasure,\nothers pain, privation or suffering; the tools with which we are to\nwork may be inconvenient or burthensome, or light and pleasant; but\nthey must be the most useful and efficacious, or they would not be\nput into our hands; at any rate, they are all we have. We cannot fix\ntoo deeply on our minds the truth that life is not an absolute, but a\nrelative existence, as in its relation to the eternity with which it is\nconnected, consists all its value and importance.\n\n_Robert of Normandy_, surnamed the Devil, sacrificed his own life,\nand before doing so he wrote a work in defence of suicide, in which\nhe argued that there was no law that forbids a person to deprive\nhimself of life; that the love of life is to be subservient to that\nof happiness; that our body is a mean and contemptible machine, the\npreservation of which we ought not so highly to value; if the human\nsoul be mortal, it receives but a slight injury, but if immortal,\nthe greatest advantage; a benefit ceases to be one when it becomes\ntroublesome, and then surely a man ought to be allowed to resign it;\na voluntary death is often the only method of avoiding the greatest\ncrime; and finally, that suicide is justified by the example of most\nnations in the world. Such is the substance of the arguments in favour\nof suicide urged by Robert of Normandy, and worthy of his celebrated\nnamesake.\n\nGibbon and Sir Thomas More are cited as champions in favour of suicide;\nbut there is nothing which these authors have advanced that merits a\nseparate consideration.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nSUICIDE A CRIME AGAINST GOD AND MAN.\u2014IT IS NOT AN ACT OF COURAGE.\n\n\n  The sin of suicide\u2014The notions of Paley on the\n  subject\u2014Voltaire\u2019s opinion\u2014Is suicide self-murder?\u2014Is it\n  forbidden in Scripture?\u2014Shakspeare\u2019s views on the subject\u2014The\n  alliance between suicide and murder\u2014Has a man a right to\n  sacrifice his own life?\u2014Everything held upon trust\u2014Suicide\n  a sin against ourselves and neighbour\u2014It is not an act of\n  courage\u2014Opinion of Q. Curtius on the subject\u2014Buonaparte\u2019s\n  denunciation of suicide\u2014Dryden\u2019s description of the suicide in\n  another world.\n\nAmong the black catalogue of human offences, there is not, indeed,\nany that more powerfully affects the mind, that more outrages all\nthe feelings of the heart, than the crime of suicide. Our laws have\nbranded it with infamy, and the industry which is exerted by surviving\nrelatives to conceal its perpetration evinces that the shame which is\nattached to it is of that foul and contagious character, that even the\ninnocent consider themselves infected by its malignity.\n\nMuch discussion has taken place as to whether self-murder is expressly\nforbidden in the Old or New Testament.[16] Paley, who is a high\nauthority on all questions connected with moral philosophy, denies that\nit is. He considers that the article in the decalogue so often brought\nforward, \u201cThou shalt do no murder,\u201d is inconclusive. \u201cI acknowledge (he\nobserves) that there is to be found neither any express determination\nof the question, nor sufficient evidence to prove that the case of\nsuicide was in the contemplation of the law which prohibits murder. Any\ninference, therefore, which we deduce from Scripture, can be sustained\nonly by _construction and implication_.\u201d\n\nTo maintain that God has not forbidden us to destroy the work of his\nhands, because self-murder is not particularly specified, is to leave\nus at liberty to commit many other offences which are not named among\nthe prohibitions, but which are included under general heads. When\nGod said to Noah, \u201cWhoso sheddeth man\u2019s blood, by man shall his blood\nbe shed, for in the image of God made he man,\u201d it is evident that,\nwhatever meaning we may attach to the last words, in whatever sense man\nis said to be made in the image of God, the reason of the prohibition\nholds as strong against self-murder as against any other kind of\nmurder. If I am commanded not to shed the blood of another man because\nhe is made in the _image of God_, I am not justified in shedding my own\nblood, as I stand in the same relation to the Deity as my fellow-men.\nBut there is a particular reason why suicide is not any where expressly\nforbidden by _name_; that is, that whatever sins and offences God,\nas a lawgiver, prohibits, he does so with a penalty; he affixes such\na punishment to such a crime, and he who transgresses is to undergo\nthe determined punishment in this world or in the next. Neither God\nnor the magistrate can prohibit self-murder with any penalty that can\naffect the criminal himself; because of his very crime, he escapes\nall temporal punishment in person\u2014he has anticipated the operation of\nthe law. In fact, he has, in his own person, acted the part of the\ncriminal, judge, jury, and executioner; he is dead before the law\ncan take any cognizance of his offence. No law can be enacted to any\npurpose without a penalty; where, therefore, there can be no penalty,\nthere can be no law. Self-murder prevents all penalty, and therefore\nwants no particular prohibition; it must therefore be included under\ngeneral commands, and forbidden as a _sin_, which it is only in the\npower of God to take cognizance of, in another world.\n\nAgain, doubtlessly the inspired writer considered suicide of such an\natrocious nature that the warnings of conscience were sufficient to\nprevent its frequency, and because the voice of nature instinctively\ncries out against it.\n\nThat the act of suicide must be most offensive in the sight of God is\nevident, since it is that which most directly violates those laws by\nwhich his providence has formed, and still directs, the universe. If\nany one principle in man is instinctive and implanted in him by the\nhand of nature, it is that of self preservation. Different religions\nand different codes have marked out particular duties, and proscribed\nparticular crimes; in this, every religion unites, every society\nconcurs, and every individual acknowledges within his own bosom the\nsacred command. If, therefore, to disobey the ordinances of God must be\nsinful in his sight, if ever the ordinances of men are to be respected,\nwhat must be the guilt of that person who violates the first law of\nnature, who disregards the principle that holds human society together,\nthat fits us for every duty, and prompts us in the performance of them!\n\nBut it is not merely against the ordinance of his Creator that the\nself-murderer offends,[17] he is guilty of a breach of duty to his\nneighbour. He plants a dagger not merely in his own breast, but in that\nof his dearest, his tenderest connexions. He wantonly sports with the\npangs of sensibility, and covers with the blush of shame the cheek of\ninnocence. With a degree of ingratitude which excites our abhorrence,\nhe clouds with sorrow the future existence of those by whom he was most\ntenderly beloved, and affixes a mark of ignominy on his unfortunate\ndescendants. He disobeys the first of social laws, that order by which\nGod appropriated his labours to the welfare of society, and, because he\nfancies he can no longer exist with comfort to himself, disregards all\nthe duties which he owes to others.\n\nThe alliance between suicide and the murder of others is a closer one\nthan is generally supposed. How many instances are recorded in which\nsuicide and homicide have been conjoined! He who will not scruple to\ntake away his own life, will not require much reasoning to impel him\nto sacrifice another\u2019s. We refer to the cases of Mithridates, king of\nPontus, and Nicocles, as illustrative of this position. Many modern\ninstances are recorded of the same character.\n\nIt was maintained by Marcus Aurelius, that there was no more of evil in\nparting from life than in going out of a smoky chamber; and Rousseau\nasks, \u201cWhy should we be permitted to cut off a leg, if we may not\nequally take away life? has not the will of God given us both?\u201d Madame\nde Sta\u00ebl very properly observes that the following passage in Scripture\nreplies to this sophism\u2014\u201cIf thy hand offend thee, cut it off; if thine\neye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee.\u201d Temptation is\nevidently referred to in the above passage, but it may consistently be\nused in refutation of Rousseau\u2019s illogical argument. Although a man may\nuse any means placed in his power for the removal of physical evils, he\nis distinctly prohibited from destroying his existence.\n\nThe interrogatory argument, if it can be so denominated, which is so\noften used in justification of suicide\u2014\u201cCannot a man do what he likes\nwith his own?\u201d\u2014is based upon an absurd and gross fallacy. Man, during\nhis residence on this earth, is but a trustee; his wealth, his talents,\nhis time, and his very life, are but trust property. He can call\nnothing truly his own; he is held accountable for the most apparently\ntrivial action he performs. Life is given to him for noble purposes;\nit is an emanation from the Deity himself; and no circumstances would\njustify us in asserting that our very existence is placed at our own\ndisposal. How truly has the noble poet observed, when alluding to the\ntenure upon which we hold everything during this life\u2014\n\n  \u201cCan despots compass aught that hails their sway,\n  Or call one solid span of earth their own,\n  Save that wherein at last they crumble bone by bone?\u201d\n\nThis life is one of privation. We are born to misery; we are led to\nexpect disappointment at every step we take; blighted expectations,\nruined hopes, pain, mental and bodily, constitute a part and parcel of\nour very existence. No man was more overwhelmed with any species of\nmisfortune than Job; he was emphatically styled \u201c_the man of grief_;\u201d\nand when, prostrated to the earth by the most poignant misery, his wife\nexhorted him to quit life,\u2014to \u201ccurse God, and die,\u201d\u2014he replied, \u201cWhat,\nshall I receive good from the hand of God, and not evil?\u201d\n\nNo suffering, however acute, could for one moment justify the\ncommission of self-murder. \u201cThe concluding scene in the life of Jesus\nChrist,\u201d says Madame de Sta\u00ebl, with a fervid eloquence which does her\nimmortal honour, \u201cseems peculiarly intended to confute those who\ncontend for the right of destroying life to escape misfortune. The\ndread of suffering seized him who had willingly devoted himself to\ndeath for the good of mankind. He prayed a long time to his Father in\nthe Mount of Olives, and his countenance was shaded by the anguish\nof death. \u2018My Father,\u2019 he cried, \u2018if it be possible, let this cup\npass from me.\u2019 Thrice with tears was this prayer repeated. All the\nsorrows of our nature had passed through his divine mind; like us, he\nfeared the violence of men; like us, perhaps, regretted those whom\nhe cherished and loved, his mother and his disciples; like us, he\nloved this earth, and the celestial pleasures resulting from active\nbenevolence, for which he incessantly thanked his Father. But, not able\nto avert the destined chalice, he cried, \u2018Oh, my Father, let thy will\nbe done,\u2019 and resigned himself into the hands of his enemies. What\nmore can be sought for in the gospel respecting resignation to grief,\nand the duty of supporting it with fortitude and patience.\u201d Poets\nand orators have entered into a chivalrous rivalry to celebrate the\ncharacter of the \u201cbold man struggling with the storms of fate.\u201d That\nadversity refines and ennobles our nature there cannot be a doubt. The\nmost beautiful features of the human mind are developed in suffering;\nthe ordeal through which we pass, however repugnant and abhorrent it\nmay be to our feelings, produces a moral regeneration in the character.\nWe come out of the \u201cfiery furnace,\u201d like gold and silver, deprived of\nmuch of our dross; and life, youthful and innocent life, again dawns\nupon us and gladdens our hearts.\n\nSuicide is an injury to our neighbour and to society. As long as life\nlasts,\u2014no matter what amount of misery a person may suffer,\u2014he has it\nin his power to contribute to the happiness of others. By mitigating\nthe distresses of others, his own will be subdued. Let a man writhing\nunder the torture of the gout be brought into contact with a person\nsuffering from the intense agony of tic doloureux, and he will have a\npractical illustration of the fact, that there are others in the world\nworse off than himself.\n\nSuicide has been defended as an act of courage. Courage, forsooth! If\never there is an act of cowardice, it is that exhibited by the person\nwho, to escape from the disappointments and vexations of the world,\nwantonly puts an end to his existence. The man of courage will defy the\nopinions and scorns of the world, when he knows himself to be in the\nright; will be above sinking under the petty misfortunes that assail\nhim; will make circumstances bow to him; will court difficulties and\ndangers, in order to shew that he is able to master them.\n\nIt was a noble sentiment which Q. Curtius put into the mouth of Darius,\nafter every ray of hope had abandoned him:\u2014\u201cI will wait,\u201d cried the\nking, addressing his attendants, \u201cthe issue of my fate. You wonder,\nperhaps, that I do not terminate my own life; but I choose rather to\ndie by another\u2019s crime than by my own.\u201d The sentiments of Cleomenes,\nking of Sparta, expressed when his fortunes appeared most desperate,\nare equally noble and magnanimous. Being much urged by a friend to\ndispatch himself, he replied\u2014\u201cBy seeking this easy and ready kind of\ndeath, you think to appear brave and courageous; but better men than\nyou and I have been oppressed by fortune, and borne down by multitudes.\nHe that sinks under toil, or yields to affliction, or is overcome by\nthe opinions and reproaches of men, gives way, in fact, to his own\neffeminacy and cowardice. A voluntary death is never to be chosen as a\nrelief from action, but as exemplary in itself, it being base to live\nor die only for ourselves. The death to which you now invite us is only\nproposed as a release from present misery, but conveys with it no signs\nof bravery or prospects of advantage.\u201d\n\nEuripides put the following words in the mouth of Hercules: \u201cI have\nconsidered, and, though oppressed with misfortunes, I have determined\nthus: Let no one depart out of life through fear of what may happen to\nhim; for he who is not able to resist evils will fly, like a coward,\nfrom the darts of the enemy.\u201d\n\nWhen Buonaparte was told of the prevalent opinion, that he ought not\nto have survived his political downfall, he calmly replied\u2014\u201cNo, no; I\nhave not enough of the Roman in me to destroy myself.\u201d After reasoning,\nwith considerable ingenuity, on the subject of suicide, he concluded\nby giving expression to this decided opinion:\u2014\u201cSuicide is a crime the\nmost revolting to my feelings; nor does any reason present itself to my\nunderstanding by which it can be justified. It certainly originates in\nthat species of fear which we denominate cowardice, (_poltronnerie_.)\nFor what claim can that man have to courage who trembles at the frowns\nof fortune? True heroism consists in becoming superior to the ills\nof life, in whatever shape they may challenge him to the combat.\u201d He\nmight have added\u2014\u201cTu ne cede malis, sed contr\u00e0 audentior ito.\u201d On\nanother occasion, when talking on the subject of suicide, Buonaparte\nobserved, \u201cIf Marius had slain himself in the marshes of Minturn\u00e6, he\nnever would have stood the seventh time for consul.\u201d After having been\nsome time at St. Helena, he one day spoke further on the subject of\nsuicide. He observed:\u2014\u201cWith respect to the English language, I have\nbeen very diligent. I now read your newspapers with ease; and must own\nthat they afford me no inconsiderable amusement. They are occasionally\ninconsistent, and sometimes abusive. In one paper I am called a\n_Lear_; in another, a _tyrant_; in a third, a _monster_; and in one of\nthem\u2014which I really did not expect\u2014I am described as a _coward_. But it\nturned out, after all, that the writer did not accuse me of avoiding\ndanger in the field of battle, or flying from an enemy, or fearing to\nlook at the menaces of fate and fortune. It did not charge me with\nwanting presence of mind in the hurry of battle, and in the suspense of\nconflicting armies; no such thing. I wanted courage, it seems, because\nI did not coolly take a dose of poison, or throw myself into the sea,\nor blow out my brains. The editor most certainly misunderstands me; I\nhave, at least, too much courage for that.\u201d[18]\n\nWe think it has decidedly been established in the preceding\nobservations that suicide is a crime clearly prohibited in the Bible;\nthat it is, in every sense of the term, self-murder; and that our duty\nto our Creator, to ourselves, and to society, loudly calls upon us to\ndenounce it, and hold it up to the scorn and reprobation of mankind.\nHow terrifically has Dryden, in his Fables, portrayed the condition of\nthe unfortunate suicide in another world:\u2014\n\n  \u201cThe slayer of himself, too, saw I there:\n  The gore, congealed, was clotted in his hair.\n  With eyes half closed, and mouth wide ope, he lay,\n  And grim as when he breathed his sullen soul away.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nON THE INFLUENCE OF CERTAIN MENTAL STATES IN INDUCING THE DISPOSITION\nTO SUICIDE.\n\n\n  Moral causes of disease\u2014Neglect of psychological\n  medicine\u2014Mental philosophy a branch of medical study\u2014Moral\n  causes of suicide\u2014Tables of Falret, &c.\u2014Influence of\n  remorse\u2014Simon Brown, Charles IX. of France\u2014Massacre of\n  St. Bartholomew\u2014Terrible death of Cardinal Beaufort, from\n  remorse\u2014The Chevalier de S\u2014\u2014. Influence of disappointed\n  love\u2014Suicide from love\u2014Two singular cases\u2014Effects of\n  jealousy\u2014Othello\u2014Suicide from this passion\u2014The French opera\n  dancer\u2014Suicide from wounded vanity\u2014False pride\u2014The remarkable\n  case of Villeneuve, as related by Buonaparte\u2014Buonaparte\u2019s\n  attempt at suicide\u2014Ambition\u2014Despair, cases of suicide from\u2014The\n  Abb\u00e9 de Ranc\u00e9\u2014Suicide from blind impulse\u2014Cases\u2014Mathews,\n  the comedian\u2014Opinion of Esquirol on the subject\u2014Ennui,\n  birth of\u2014Common cause of suicide in France\u2014Effect of\n  speculating in stocks\u2014Defective education\u2014Diffusion of\n  knowledge\u2014\u201cSocialism\u201d a cause of self-destruction\u2014Suicide\n  common in Germany\u2014Werter\u2014Go\u00ebthe\u2019s attempt at suicide\u2014Influence\n  of his writings on Hackman\u2014Suicide from reading Tom Paine\u2019s\n  \u201cAge of Reason\u201d\u2014Suicide to avoid punishment\u2014Most remarkable\n  illustrations\u2014Political excitement\u2014Nervous irritation\u2014Love\n  of notoriety\u2014Hereditary disposition\u2014Is death painful? fully\n  considered, with cases\u2014Influence of irreligion.\n\nIn our voyage through life, the passions are said to be the gales that\nswell the canvass of the mental bark; they obstruct or accelerate\nits course, and render the passage favourable or full of danger, in\nproportion as they blow steadily from a proper point, or are adverse or\ntempestuous. Like the wind itself, the passions are engines of mighty\npower and of high importance. Without them we cannot proceed, and with\nthem we may be shipwrecked and lost. Curbed in and regulated, they\nconstitute the source of our most elevated happiness; but when not\nsubdued, they drive the vessel on the rocks and quicksands of life, and\nruin us.\n\n  \u201cHow few beneath auspicious planets born\n  With swelling sails make good the promis\u2019d port,\n  With all their wishes freighted.\u201d\n\n  YOUNG.\n\n\u201cIn this country,\u201d Dr. J. Johnson justly observes, \u201cwhere man\u2019s\nrelations with the world around him are multiplied beyond all example\nin any other country, in consequence of the intensity of interest\nattached to politics, religion, amusement, literature, and the arts;\nwhere the temporal concerns of an immense proportion of the population\nare in a perpetual state of vacillation; where spiritual affairs excite\nin the minds of many great anxiety; and where speculative risks are\ndaily involving in difficulties all classes of society,\u2014the operation\nof physical causes in the production of disease dwindles into complete\ninsignificance when compared with that of anxiety and perturbation of\nmind.\u201d\n\n\u201cMens conscia recti in corpore sano,\u201d is Horace\u2019s well-known\ndescription of the happy man. Lucretius appears to have formed a\ncorrect estimate of the most important bodily and mental conditions on\nwhich our happiness depends:\u2014\n\n  \u201cO wretched mortals! race perverse and blind!\n  Through what dread, dark, what perilous pursuits\n  Pass ye this round of being! Know ye not,\n  Of all ye toil for, Nature nothing asks,\n  But for the _body_ freedom from disease,\n  And sweet unanxious quiet for the mind?\u201d\n\nLike human beings, the sciences are closely connected with, and are\nmutually dependent upon, one another. The link in the chain may not be\napparent, but it has a real and palpable existence. Medical and moral\nscience are more nearly allied than we should, _\u00e0 priori_, conclude.\nWe speak of the science of medicine, not the practice of it; for,\nlike judgment and wit, or, as the author of the School for Scandal\nironically observes, like _man and wife_, how seldom are they seen in\nhappy union. Garth feelingly alludes to this unnatural divorce:\u2014\n\n  \u201cThe healing art now, sick\u2019ning, hangs its head,\n  And, once a _science_, has become a _trade_.\u201d\n\nPsychological medicine has been sadly neglected. We recoil from the\nstudy of mental philosophy as if we were encroaching on holy ground. So\ngreat is the prejudice against this branch of science, that it has been\nobserved, that to recommend a man to study metaphysics was a delicate\nmode of suggesting the propriety of confining him in a lunatic asylum!\n\nIn order to become a useful physician, it is necessary to become a good\nmetaphysician; so says a competent authority. It was not, however,\nDr. Cullen\u2019s intention to recommend that species of philosophy which\nconfounds the mind without enlightening it, and which, like an _ignis\nfatuus_, dazzles only to lead us from the truth. To the medical man we\ncan conceive no preliminary study more productive of advantage than\nthat which tends to call into exercise the latent principle of thought,\nand to accustom the mind to close, rigid, and accurate observation.\nThe science of mind, when properly investigated, teaches us the laws\nof our mental frame, and shews us the origin of our various modes and\nhabits of thought and feeling\u2014how they operate upon one another, and\nhow they are cultivated and repressed; it disciplines us in the art of\ninduction, and guards us against the many sources of fallacy in the\npractice of making inferences; it gives precision and accuracy to our\ninvestigations, by instructing us in the nicer discriminations of truth\nand falsehood.\n\nThe value of mental philosophy as a branch of education will be\nproperly appreciated when we consider that this ennobling principle was\ngiven to us for the purpose of directing and controlling our powers and\nanimal propensities, and bringing them into that subjection whereby\nthey become beneficial to the individual and to the world at large,\nenabling him to exchange with others those results which the power\nof his own and the gigantic efforts of other minds have developed;\nmaintaining and perpetuating the most dignified and exalted state of\nhappiness, the attribute of social life; unfolding not only treasures\nwhich the concentrated powers of individuals are enabled to discover,\nbut developing those more quiet and unobtrusive characteristics of\nvirtuous life, those social affections, which are alone calculated to\nmake our present state of being happy.\n\nIndependently of the utility of the study, what a world of delight is\nopen to the mind of that man who has devoted some portion of his time\nto the investigation of his mental organization! In him we may truly\nbehold\u2014\n\n              \u201cNature, gentle, kind,\n  By culture tamed, by liberty refreshed,\n  And all the radiant fruits of truth matured.\u201d\n\nWhen we take into consideration the tremendous influence which the\ndifferent mental emotions have over the bodily functions, when we\nperceive that violent excitement of mind will not only give rise to\nserious functional disorder, but actual organic disease, leading to the\ncommission of suicide, how necessary does it appear that he to whose\ncare is entrusted the lives of his fellow-creatures, should have made\nthis department of philosophy a matter of serious consideration! It\nis no logical argument against the study of mental science, to urge\nthat we are in total ignorance of the nature or constitution of the\nhuman understanding. We know nothing of the nature of objects which are\ncognizable to sense, and which can be submitted to actual experiment,\nand yet we are not deterred from the investigation of their properties\nand mutual influences. The passions are to be considered, in a medical\npoint of view, as a part of our constitution. They stimulate or depress\nthe mind, as food and drink do the body. Employed occasionally, and in\nmoderation, both may be of use to us, and are given to us by nature for\nthis purpose; but when urged to excess, the system is thrown off its\nbalance, and disease is the result.\n\nTo the medical philosopher, nothing can be more deeply interesting than\nto trace the reciprocity of action existing between different mental\nconditions, and affections of particular organs. Thus the passion of\nfear, when excited, has a sensible influence on the action of the\nheart; and when the disease of this organ takes place independently of\nany mental agitation, the passion of fear is powerfully roused. Anger\naffects the liver and confines the bowels, and frequently gives rise\nto an attack of jaundice; and in hepatic and intestinal disease, how\nirritable the temper is!\n\nHope, or the anticipation of pleasure, affects the respiration; and\nhow often do we see patients, in the last stage of pulmonary disease,\nentertaining sanguine expectations of recovery to the very last!\n\nAs the passions exercise so despotic a tyranny over the physical\neconomy, it is natural to expect that the crime of suicide should\noften be traced to the influence of mental causes. In many cases,\nit is difficult to discover whether the brain, the seat of the\npassions, be primarily or secondarily affected. Often the cause of\nirritation is situated at some distance from the cerebral organ; but\nwhen the fountain-head of the nervous system becomes deranged, it\nwill react on the bodily functions, and produce serious disease long\nafter the original cause of excitement is removed. It is not our\nintention to attempt to explain the _modus operandi_ of mental causes\nin the production of the suicidal disposition. That such effects\nresult from an undue excitement of the mind cannot for one moment\nbe questioned. Independently of mental perturbation giving rise to\nmaniacal suicide, there are certain conditions of mind, dependent\nupon acquired or hereditary disposition, or arising from a defective\nexpansion of the intellectual faculties, which originate the desire for\nself-destruction. These states will all be alluded to in the course of\nthe present inquiry.\n\nSome idea of the influence of certain mental states on the body will\nbe obtained by an examination of the various tables which have been\npublished, in this and other countries, respecting the causes of\nsuicide, as far as they could be ascertained.\n\nThe following suicides were committed in London, between the years 1770\nand 1830:[19]\u2014\n\n  _Indication of Causes._      _Men._   _Women._\n\n  Poverty                       905      511\n  Domestic grief                728      524\n  Reverse of fortune            322      283\n  Drunkenness and misconduct    287      208\n  Gambling                      155      141\n  Dishonour and calumny         125       95\n  Disappointed ambition         122      410\n  Grief from love                97      157\n  Envy and jealousy              94       53\n  Wounded self-love              53       53\n  Remorse                        49       37\n  Fanaticism                     16        1\n  Misanthropy                     3        3\n  Causes unknown               1381      377\n                               \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014     \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\n                      Total    4337[20] 2853\n\nAccording to a table formed by Falret of the suicides which took place\nbetween 1794 and 1823, the following results appear:\u2014Of 6782 cases, 254\nwere from disappointed love, and of this number 157 were women; 92 were\nfrom jealousy; 125 from being calumniated; 49 from a desire, without\nthe means, of vindicating their characters; 122 from disappointed\nambition; 322 from reverses of fortune; 16 from wounded vanity; 155\nfrom gambling; 288 from crime and remorse; 723 from domestic distress;\n905 from poverty; 16 from fanaticism.\n\nIn preparing the present work, we have endeavoured to obtain access to\ndocuments which would throw some light on the probable origin of the\nmany cases of self-destruction which have taken place within the last\nfour or five years. In many cases we could obtain no insight into the\nmotives of the individuals; but in nine-tenths of those whose histories\nwe succeeded in making ourselves somewhat conversant with, we found\nthat mental causes played a very conspicuous part in the drama. Our\nexperience on this point accords with that of many distinguished French\nphysicians who have devoted their time and talents to the consideration\nof the subject.\n\nIn considering the influence of mental causes, we shall in the first\ninstance point out the effects of certain passions and dispositions\nof the individual on the body; then investigate the operation of\neducation, irreligion, and certain unhealthy conditions of the mind\nwhich predispose the individual to derangement and suicide.\n\nThere is no passion of the mind which so readily drives a person to\nsuicide as remorse. In these cases, there is generally a shipwreck of\nall hope. To live is horror; the infuriated sufferer feels himself an\noutcast from God and man; and though his judgment may still be correct\nupon other subjects, it is completely overpowered upon that of his\nactual distress, and all he thinks of and aims at is to withdraw with\nas much speed as possible from the present state of torture, totally\nregardless of the future.\n\n\n  \u201cI would not if I could be blest,\n   I want no other paradise but rest.\u201d\n\n\nThe most painfully interesting and melancholy cases of insanity are\nthose in which remorse has taken possession of the mind. Simon Brown,\nthe dissenting clergyman, fancied that he had been deprived by the\nAlmighty of his immortal soul, in consequence of having accidentally\ntaken away the life of a highwayman, although it was done in the act\nof resistance to his threatened violence, and in protection of his\nown person. Whilst kneeling upon the wretch whom he had succeeded in\nthrowing upon the ground, he suddenly discovered that his prostrate\nenemy was deprived of life. This unexpected circumstance produced so\nviolent an impression upon his nervous system, that he was overpowered\nby the idea of an involuntary homicide, and for this imaginary crime\nfancied himself ever afterwards condemned to one of the most dreadful\npunishments that could be inflicted upon a human being.\n\nA young lady was one morning requested by her mother to stay at home;\nnotwithstanding which, she was tempted to go out. Upon her return to\nher domestic roof, she found that the parent whom she had so recently\ndisobliged had expired in her absence. The awful spectacle of a\nmother\u2019s corpse, connected with the filial disobedience which had\nalmost immediately preceded, shook her reason from its seat, and she\nhas ever since continued in a state of mental derangement.\n\nIt is said that the solitary hours of Charles the Ninth of France were\nrendered horrible by the repetition of the shrieks and cries which had\nassailed his ears during the massacre of St. Bartholomew.[21]\n\nThe death of Cardinal Beaufort is represented as truly terrible. The\nconsciousness of having murdered the Duke of Gloucester is said to\nhave rendered Beaufort\u2019s death one of the most terrific scenes ever\nwitnessed. Despair, in its worst form, appeared to take possession of\nhis mind at the last moment. His concluding words, as recorded by\nHarpsfield,[22] were\u2014\u201cAnd must I then die? Will not all my riches save\nme? I could purchase the kingdom, if that would save my life. What! is\nthere no bribing of death? When my nephew, the Duke of Bedford, died,\nI thought my happiness and my authority greatly increased; but the\nDuke of Gloucester\u2019s death raised me in fancy to a level with kings,\nand I thought of nothing but accumulating still greater wealth, to\npurchase at last the triple crown. Alas! how are my hopes disappointed!\nWherefore, O my friends, let me earnestly beseech you to pray for me,\nand recommend my departing soul to God!\u201d A few minutes before his\ndeath, his mind appeared to be undergoing the tortures of the damned.\nHe held up his two hands, and cried\u2014\u201cAway! away!\u2014why thus do ye look at\nme?\u201d It was evident he saw some horrible spectre by his bed-side. This\nlast scene in the Cardinal\u2019s life has been most ably delineated by the\nimmortal Shakspeare:\u2014\n\n\n  SCENE\u2014_The Cardinal\u2019s Bed-chamber_.\n\n  _Enter_ KING HENRY, SALISBURY, and WARWICK.\n\n  _King Hen._ How fares my Lord? Speak, Beaufort, to thy sovereign.\n\n  _Cardinal._ If thou be\u2019st Death, I\u2019ll give thee England\u2019s treasure,\n  Enough to purchase such another island,\n  So thou wilt let me live, and feel no pain.\n\n  _King Hen._ Ah! what a sign it is of evil life\n  When death\u2019s approach is seen so terrible.\n\n  _Warwick._ Beaufort, it is thy sovereign speaks to thee.\n\n  _Cardinal._ Bring me unto my trial when you will.\n  Died he[23] not in his bed? Where should he die?\n  Can I make men live whe\u2019er they will or no?\n  O, torture me no more, I will confess\u2014\n  Alive again? then shew me where he is:\n  I\u2019ll give a thousand pound to look upon him\u2014\n  He hath no eyes, the dust hath blinded them.\u2014\n  Comb down his hair; look! look! it stands upright,\n  Like lime-twigs set to catch my winged soul.\u2014\n  Give me some drink, and bid the apothecary\n  Bring the strong poison that I bought of him.\n\n  _King Hen._ O thou eternal Mover of the Heav\u2019ns,\n  Look with a gentle eye upon this wretch.\n  O, beat away the busy meddling fiend,\n  That lays strong siege unto this wretch\u2019s soul,\n  And from his bosom purge this black despair.\n\n  _Warwick._ See how the pangs of death do make him grin!\n\n  _Salisbury._ Disturb him not; let him pass peaceably.\n\n  _King Hen._ Peace to his soul, if God\u2019s good pleasure be!\n  Lord Cardinal, if thou think\u2019st on heaven\u2019s bliss,\n  Lift up thy hand, make signal of thy hope.\u2014\n  He dies, and makes no sign\u2014O God, forgive him!\n\n  _Warwick._ So bad a death argues a monstrous life.\n\n  _King Hen._ Forbear to judge, for we are sinners all.\u2014\n  Close up his eyes, and draw the curtain close,\n  And let us all to meditation.[24]\n\nM. Guillon relates the following remarkable case:\u2014\u201cThe Chevalier de S\u2014\u2014\nhad been engaged in seventeen \u2018affairs of honour,\u2019 in each of which his\nadversary fell. But the images of his murdered rivals began to haunt\nhim night and day; and at length he fancied he heard nothing but the\nwailings and upbraidings of seventeen families\u2014one demanding a father,\nanother a son, another a brother, another a husband, &c. Harassed by\nthese imaginary followers, he incarcerated himself in the monastery of\nLa Trappe; but the French revolution threw open this asylum, and turned\nthe chevalier once more into the world. He was now no longer able to\nbear the remorse of his own conscience, or, as he imagined, the sight\nof seventeen murdered men, and therefore put himself to death. It is\nevident that insanity was the consequence of the remorse, and the cause\nof the suicide.\n\n\u201cNo disease of the imagination is so difficult to cure as that which\nis complicated with the idea of guilt: fancy and conscience then act\ninterchangeably upon us, and so often shift their places, that the\nillusions of one are not distinguished from the dictates of the other.\nIf fancy presents images not moral or religious, the mind drives them\naway when they give pain; but when melancholy notions take the form of\nduty, they lay hold on the faculties without opposition, because we are\nafraid to exclude or banish them.\u201d[25]\n\nHow accurately has the poet depicted the tortures, the sleeplessness,\nof a guilty conscience:\u2014\n\n  \u201cThough thy slumber may be deep,\n  Yet thy spirit shall not sleep;\n  There are shades which will not vanish,\n  There are thoughts thou canst not banish;\n  By a power to thee unknown,\n  Thou canst never be alone;\n  Thou art wrapt as with a shroud,\n  Thou art gathered in a cloud;\n  And for ever shalt thou dwell\n  In the spirit of this spell.\u201d\n\nA woman with her husband had been employed in a French hospital as\nservants for a considerable time. Having left their situations, the\nwife, _thirty years_ afterwards, declared she heard a voice within,\ncommanding her to repair instantly to the chief commissioner of police,\nand confess the thefts she had committed during the time she was at\nthe hospital. The fact was, that she had been guilty of appropriating\noccasionally to her own use a portion of the food supplied for the\npatients attached to the Institution. The commissioner listened to the\nwoman\u2019s story, and her demand that she should be punished, but refused\nto take any cognizance of the offence. She returned home, and for some\ntime was extremely dejected. She became so miserable that existence was\nno longer desirable; and as the legal tribunals refused to punish her,\nshe determined on suicide, which she committed at the age of fifty-one.\n\nIt is admitted, by almost universal consent, that there is no affection\nof the mind that exerts so tremendous an influence over the human race\nas that of love.\n\n  \u201cTo love, and feel ourselves beloved,\u201d\n\nis said to constitute the height of human happiness. This sacred\nsentiment, which some have debased by the term passion, when unrequited\nand irregulated, produces the most baneful influence upon the system.\n\n\u201cA youthful passion, which is conceived and cherished without any\ncertain object, may be compared to a shell thrown from a mortar by\nnight: it rises calmly in a brilliant track, and seems to mix, and\neven to dwell for a moment with the stars of heaven; but at length it\nfalls\u2014it bursts\u2014consuming and destroying all around, even as itself\nexpires.\u201d[26]\n\nFrom the constitution of woman, from the peculiar position which she\nof necessity holds in society, we should, _\u00e0 priori_, have concluded\nthat in her we should see manifested this sentiment in all its purity\nand strength. Such is the fact. A woman\u2019s life is said to be but the\nhistory of her affections. It is the soul within her soul; the pulse\nwithin her heart; the life blood along her veins, \u201cblending with every\natom of her frame.\u201d Separated from the bustle of active life\u2014isolated\nlike a sweet and rare exotic flower from the world, it is natural to\nexpect that the mind should dwell with earnestness upon that which is\nto constitute almost its very being, and apart from which it has no\nexistence.\n\n  \u201cAlas! the love of woman, it is known\n  To be a lovely and a fearful thing;\n  For all of theirs upon that die is thrown;\n  And if \u2019tis lost, life hath no more to bring\n  To them, but mockeries of the past alone.\u201d\n\n  BYRON.\n\nThe term \u201cbroken heart\u201d is not a mere poetical image. Cases are\nrecorded in which that organ has been ruptured in consequence of\ndisappointed hope. Let those who are sceptical as to the fact that\nphysical disease so often results from blighted affection, visit the\nwards of our public and private asylums. In those dreary regions of\nmisery they will have an opportunity of witnessing the wreck of many\na form that was once beauteous and happy. Ask their history, and you\nwill be told of holy and sincere affection nipped in the bud\u2014of wild\nand passionate love strangled at its birth\u2014of the death of all human\nhopes, of a severance from those about whom every fibre of the soul had\nentwined itself. Silent and sullen grief, black despair,\n\n  \u201cAnd laughter loud, amidst severest woe,\u201d\n\nare the painful images that meet the eye at every step we take through\nthese \u201chells upon earth.\u201d[27]\n\nIn this country, the great majority of the cases of insanity among\nwomen, in our establishments devoted to the reception of the insane,\ncan clearly be traced to unrequited and disappointed affection. This\nis not to be wondered at, if we consider the present artificial state\nof society. We make \u201cmerchandize of love;\u201d both men and women are\nestimated, not by their mental endowments, not by their moral worth,\nnot by their capacity of making the domestic fire-side happy, but\nby the length of their respective purses. Instead of seeking for a\nheart, we look for a dowry. Money is preferred to intellect; pure and\nunadulterated affection dwindles into nothingness when placed in the\nsame scale with titles and worldly honours,\n\n  \u201cAnd Mammon wins his way\n  Where seraphs might despair.\u201d\n\nHow little do those who ought to be influenced by more elevated motives\ncalculate the seeds of wretchedness and misery which they are sowing\nfor those who, by nature, have a right to demand that they should be\nactuated by other principles!\n\n            \u201cShall I be won\n  Because I\u2019m valued as a _money-bag_?\n  For that I bring to him who winneth me,\u201d[28]\n\nsays Catherine, in the spirit of honest indignation. It should be\nremembered that \u201cwedlock joins nothing, if it joins not hearts.\u201d\n\nHow many melancholy cases of suicide can clearly be traced to this\ncause! Death is considered preferable to a long life of unmitigated\nsorrow. When the heart is seared, when there exists no \u201cgreen spot\nin memory\u2019s dreary waste,\u201d\u2014when all hope is banished from the mind,\nand wretched loneliness and desolation take up their residence in the\nheart, need it excite surprise that the quiet and rest of the grave is\neagerly longed for! If a mind thus worked upon be not influenced by\nreligious principles, self-destruction is the idea constantly present\nto the imagination.\n\nOf all the sufferings, however, to which we are exposed during our\nsojourn below, nothing is so truly overwhelming and irreparable as\nthe death of one with whom all our early associations are inseparably\nlinked\u2014one endeared to us by the most pleasing recollections. Death\nleaves a blank in our existence; a cold shuddering shoots through the\nframe, a mist flits before our eyes, darkening the face of nature,\nwhen the heart that mingled all its feelings with ours lies, cold and\ninsensible, in the silent grave.\n\nAs long as life lasts, there is hope; but death snatches every ray\nof consolation from the mind. The only prop that supported us is\nremoved, and the mansion crumbles to the dust; the mind becomes\nutterly and hopelessly wrecked. To say that this is but the effect on\nunderstandings constitutionally weak, is to say what facts will not\nestablish. The most elevated and best cultivated minds are often the\nmost sensitively alive to such impressions.\n\nThe following case made considerable noise at Lyons, in 1770. A young\ngentleman of rank, of handsome exterior, possessing considerable mental\nendowments, and most respectably connected, fell in love with a young\nlady, who, like himself, possessed a handsome person, in union with\naccomplishments of a high order. They met; the passion was reciprocal,\nand the gentleman accordingly made an application to her parents to\nbe allowed to consummate their bliss by marriage. The parents, as\nparents sometimes do under these circumstances, refused compliance.\nThe gentleman took it greatly to heart; it preyed much upon his mind,\nand in the midst of his grief he burst a blood-vessel. His case was\ngiven over by the medical men. The young lady, on being made acquainted\nwith his condition, paid him a clandestine visit, and they then agreed\nto destroy themselves. Accordingly the lady brought with her, on her\nnext visit, two pistols and two daggers, in order that, if the pistols\nmissed, the daggers might the next moment pierce their hearts. They\nembraced each other for the last time. Rose-coloured ribbons were tied\nto the triggers of the pistols; the lover holding the ribbon of his\nmistress\u2019 pistol, while she held the ribbon of his; both fired at a\ngiven signal, and both fell at the same instant dead on the floor!\n\nThe case now about to be recorded presents some peculiarly interesting\nfeatures. An English lady, moving in the first circles of society,\nwent, in company with her friends, to the opera at Paris. In the next\nbox sat a gentleman, who appeared, from the notice he took of the\nlady, to be enamoured of her. The lady expressed herself annoyed at\nthe observation which she had attracted, and moved to another part of\nthe box. The gentleman followed the carriage home, and insisted upon\naddressing the lady, declaring that he had had the pleasure of meeting\nher elsewhere, and that one minute\u2019s conversation would convince her\nof the fact, and do away with the unfavourable impression which his\napparent rudeness might have made upon her mind. As his request did\nnot appear at the moment unreasonable, she consented to see him for\na minute by herself. In that short space of time he made a fervent\ndeclaration of his affection; acknowledged that desperation had\ncompelled him to have recourse to a _ruse_ to obtain an interview,\nand that, unless she looked favourably on his pretensions, he would\nkill her and then himself. The lady expressed her indignation at the\ndeceit he had practised, and said, with considerable firmness, that\nhe must quit the house. He did so, retired to his home, and with a\nlancet opened a vein in his arm. He collected a portion of blood in a\ncup, and with it wrote a note to the lady, telling her that his blood\nwas flowing fast from his body, and it should continue to flow until\nshe consented to listen to his proposals. The lady, on the receipt of\nthe note, sent her servant to see the gentleman, and found him, as\nhe represented, actually bleeding to death. On the entreaty of the\nlady, the arm was bound up and his life saved. On writing to the lady,\nunder the impression that she would now accept his addresses, he was\namazed on receiving a cool refusal, and a request that he would not\ntrouble her with any more letters. Again driven to desperation, he\nresolved effectually to kill himself. He accordingly loaded a pistol\nand directed his steps towards the residence of his fair amorosa,\nwhen, knocking at the door, he gained admission, and immediately\nblew out his brains. The intelligence was communicated to the lady,\nshe became dreadfully excited, and a severe attack of nervous fever\nfollowed. When the acute symptoms subsided, her mind was completely\nderanged. Her insanity took a peculiar turn. She fancied she heard a\nvoice commanding her to commit suicide, and yet she appeared to be\npossessed of sufficient reason to know that she was desirous of doing\nwhat she ought to be restrained from accomplishing. Every now and then\nshe would exclaim, \u201cTake away the pistol! I won\u2019t hang myself! I won\u2019t\ntake poison!\u201d Under the impression that she would kill herself, she\nwas carefully watched; but notwithstanding the vigilance which was\nexercised she had sufficient cunning to conceal a knife, with which,\nduring the temporary absence of the attendant, she stabbed herself in\nthe abdomen, and died in a few hours. It appears that the idea that she\nhad caused the death of another, and that she had it in her power to\nsave his life by complying with his wishes, produced the derangement\nof mind under which she was labouring at the time of her death; and\nyet she did not manifest, and it was evident to everybody that she\nhad not, the slightest affection for the gentleman who professed so\nmuch to admire her. Possessing naturally a sensitive mind, it was\neasily excited. The peculiar circumstances connected with her mental\nderangement were sufficient to account for the delusions under which\nshe laboured. Altogether the case is full of interest.\n\nFew passions tend more to distract and unsettle the mind than that\nof jealousy. Insanity and suicide often owe their origin to this\nfeeling. One of the most terrific pictures of the dire effects of this\n\u201cgreen-eyed monster\u201d on the mind is delineated in the character of\nOthello. In the Moor of Venice we witness a fearful struggle between\nfond and passionate love and this corroding mental emotion. Worked\nupon by the villainous artifices of Iago, Othello is led to doubt the\nconstancy of Desdemona\u2019s affection; the very doubt urges him almost to\nthe brink of madness; but when he feels assured of her guilt, and sees\nthe gulf into which he has been hurled, and the utter hopelessness of\nhis condition, he abandons himself to despair. Nothing which the master\nspirit of Shakspeare ever penned can equal the exquisitely touching\nand melting pathos of the speech of the Moor when he becomes perfectly\nconscious of the wreck of one around whom every tendril of his heart\nhad indissolubly interwoven itself. To be forcibly severed from one\ndearer to us than our own existence is a misfortune that requires much\nphilosophy to bear up against; to be torn from a beloved object by\ndeath, to feel that the earth encloses in its cold embrace the idol\nof our affections, freezes the heart; but to be separated from one who\nhas forfeited all claim to our affection and friendship, and who still\nlives, but lives in dishonour, must be a refinement of human misery.\nNeed we then wonder that, when influenced by such feelings, Othello\nshould thus give expression to the overflowings of his soul:\u2014\n\n                \u201cOh now, for ever,\n  Farewell the tranquil mind! farewell content!\n  Farewell the plumed troop, and the big wars,\n  That make ambition virtue! Oh, farewell!\n  Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump,\n  The spirit-stirring drum, th\u2019 ear-piercing fife,\n  The royal banner, and all quality,\n  Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!\n  And, oh, you mortal engines, whose rude throats\n  Th\u2019 immortal Jove\u2019s dread clamours counterfeit,\n  Farewell! Othello\u2019s occupation\u2019s gone!\u201d\n\nIt is under the infliction of such a concentration of misery that many\na mind is shattered, and that death is courted as the only relief\nwithin its grasp. Othello, having discovered when it was too late that\nhe had wrongly suspected Desdemona, and had sacrificed the life of the\nsweetest creature on earth, a combination of passions drives him to\ndistraction, and under their influence he plunges the dagger into his\nheart. Jealousy was not, as some have supposed, the exclusive cause of\nOthello\u2019s suicide.\n\nThe following singular case attracted considerable notice fifteen\nyears ago. A woman was subjected to much maltreatment by her husband.\nShe was jealous of his attentions to one of the servants, and she had\nfrequently declared, that if he persisted in insulting her under her\nown roof she would either cause his or her own death. On one occasion\nshe was more than usually violent, and expressed her determination to\nruin him. Fearful that she would carry her threat into execution, he\nhad her placed in a room where there was no furniture, and nothing\nthat she could use for the purpose of self-destruction. Her rage was\ngreatly increased by this barbarous treatment, and her screams were\nsufficiently loud to alarm the whole neighbourhood. As her husband\nrefused to release her from confinement, she determined no longer to\nsubmit to his brutal control, and resolved to commit suicide. Having no\ninstrument that she could use, she felt some difficulty in effecting\nher purpose. She held her breath for some time, but that did not\nsucceed. She then tried to strangle herself with her hands, but that\nmode was equally unsuccessful. Her determination was so resolutely\nfixed, that in desperation she tore her hair out by the roots. Still\ndeath did not come to her relief. In vain she searched in every corner\nof the room for something with which she might effectually take away\nher life. Just as she was beginning to give up the idea as hopeless,\nher eye caught a sight of the glass in the window; she instantly broke\na pane, and with a piece of it endeavoured to cut her throat; and yet\nshe could not succeed in effecting her horrid purpose. At last, as a\ndernier resort, she resolved to swallow a piece of the broken glass,\nhoping by this means to choke herself. She did so, and the glass stuck\nin her throat, and produced the most excruciating agony. Her groans\nbecame audible; the husband became alarmed, and opened the door, when\nhe found his wife apparently in the last struggles of death. Medical\nrelief was immediately obtained, and although everything that surgical\ningenuity could suggest was had recourse to, she died, a melancholy\nspectacle of the effects of unsubdued passion.\n\nThe two following cases shew how trifling a cause often incites to\nself-destruction:\u2014\n\nMadame N\u2014\u2014, a once famous dancer at the French opera-house, was taken\nto task by her husband for not acquitting herself so well in the ballet\nas she usually did. She exhibited indications of passion at the, as\nshe thought, unmerited reproof. When she arrived home, she resolved to\ndie, but was much puzzled to effect her purpose. The next morning, she\npurchased a potent poison, but when she returned to her home she found\nthat her husband looked suspiciously at her, and appeared to watch her\nmovements. She then made up her mind to take the fatal draught in the\nevening, as she was going in the carriage to the opera. She accordingly\ndid so; the poison did not have an immediate effect. The ballet\ncommenced, and Madame N\u2014\u2014 was led on the stage; and it was not until\nshe had commenced dancing that she began to feel the draught producing\nthe desired effect. She complained of illness, and was removed to her\ndressing-room, where she expired in the arms of her husband, confessing\nthat she had, in a fit of chagrin at his rebuke, swallowed poison!\n\nA young gentleman, of considerable promise, of high natural and\nacquired attainments, had been solicited to make a speech at a public\nmeeting, which was to take place in the town in which he resided. As\nhe had never attempted to address extemporaneously a public body,\nhe expressed himself extremely nervous as to the result, and asked\npermission to withdraw his name from the published list of speakers.\nThis wish was not, however, complied with, as it was thought that when\nthe critical moment arrived he would not be found wanting even in the\nart of public speaking. He had prepared himself with considerable care\nfor the attempt. His name was announced from the chair; when he rose\nfor the purpose of delivering his sentiments. The exordium was spoken\nwithout any hesitation; and his friends felt assured that he would\nacquit himself with great credit. He had not, however, advanced much\nbeyond his prefatory observations, when he hesitated, and found himself\nincapable of proceeding. He then sat down, evidently excessively\nmortified. In this state he retired to a room where the members of the\ncommittee had previously met, and cut his throat with his penknife. He\nwounded the carotid artery, and died in a few minutes.\n\nA case of suicide from mortified pride, somewhat similar to the last,\noccurred some years ago in London. A gentleman, whose imagination was\nmuch more active than his judgment, conceived that he was possessed of\nhistrionic powers equal to those which were exhibited by the immortal\nGarrick. A manager of a London theatre, to whom he was introduced,\nallowed him to make his d\u00e9b\u00fbt at his theatre. As is often the case,\nthe public formed a different estimate of his abilities to that which\nthe vanity of the young aspirant had induced him to form; and the\nconsequence was, that he was well hissed and hooted for his presumption\nin attempting a character for which his talents so little adapted him.\nBeing naturally sensitive, his failure preyed on his mind; and under\nthe influence of the mortification, he hung himself, leaving in his\nroom the following laconic epistle, addressed to his mother:\u2014\n\n\u201cMY DEAR MOTHER,\u2014All my hopes have been ruined. I fancied myself a man\nof genius; the reality has proved me to be a fool. I die, because life\nis no longer to be supported. Look charitably on this last action of my\nlife. Adieu!\u201d\n\nA common cause of suicide is the feeling of false pride. The only\nreason assigned for the desperate act of Elizabeth Moyes, who\nthrew herself from the Monument, was, that, owing to the reduced\ncircumstances of her father, (a baker,) it was determined that she\nshould procure a situation at a confectioner\u2019s, and support herself.\nThis she allowed to prey upon her mind, although she expressed a\nconcurrence in the propriety of the course suggested. How true it is\u2014\n\n  \u201cAbstract what others feel, what others think,\n  All pleasures sicken, and all glories sink.\u201d\n\n  POPE.\n\nOwing to the fictitious notions abroad in society, the ridiculously\nfalse views which are taken of worldly honours, the ideas which\na sickly sentimentality infuses into the mind, this feeling is\nengendered, to an alarming extent, through the different ranks of\nsociety. This constitutes one great element which is undermining and\ndisorganizing our social condition. A fictitious value is affixed to\nwealth and position in the world; it is estimated for itself alone, all\nother considerations being placed out of view.\n\n  \u201cNone think the great unhappy but the great.\u201d\n\nVatel committed suicide because he was not able to prepare as sumptuous\nan entertainment as he wished for his guests.\n\nWe cannot conceive how this evil is to be obviated, unless it be\npossible to revolutionize the ideas which are generally attached to\nfame and worldly grandeur. It is difficult to persuade such persons\nthat the end of fame is merely\n\n  \u201cTo have, when the original is dust,\n  A name, a wretched picture, and worse bust.\u201d\n\nThere is a nameless, undefinable something, that the world is taught\nto sigh after\u2014is always in search of; a moral _ignis fatuus_, which\nis dazzling to lead it from the road which points to true and\nunsophisticated happiness.\n\nPersons naturally proud are less able than others to bear up against\nthe distresses of life; they are more severely galled by the yoke of\nadversity; and hence this passion often produces mental derangement.\nSuch characters exhibit a morbid desire for praise; it acts like moral\nnourishment to their souls; it is a stimulus that is almost necessary\nto their very being, forgetting that\n\n  \u201cPraise too dearly loved, or warmly sought,\n  Enfeebles all eternal weight of thought;\n  \u2019Till the fond soul, within itself unblest,\n  _Leans for all pleasure on another\u2019s breast_.\u201d\n\nDr. Reid justly observes, that \u201che who enters most deeply into the\nmisfortunes of others, will be best able to bear his own. A practical\nbenevolence, by habitually urging us to disinterested exertion, tends\nto alienate the attention from any single train of ideas, which, if\nfavoured by indolence and self contemplation, might be in danger\nof monopolizing the mind, and occasions us to lose a sense of our\npersonal concerns in an enlarged and liberal sympathy with the general\ngood.\u201d\n\nVilleneuve, the celebrated French admiral, when he was taken prisoner\nand brought to England, was so much grieved at his defeat that he\nstudied anatomy in order to destroy himself. For this purpose he bought\nsome anatomical plates of the heart, and compared them with his own\nbody, in order to ascertain the exact situation of that organ. On\nhis arrival in France, Buonaparte ordered that he should remain at\nRennes, and not proceed to Paris. Villeneuve, afraid of being tried by\na court-martial for disobedience of orders, and consequently losing\nhis fleet, (for Napoleon had ordered him not to sail or to engage the\nEnglish,) determined to destroy himself; and accordingly took his\nplates and compared them with the position of his heart. Exactly in the\ncentre he made a mark with a large pin; then fixed it, as near as he\ncould judge, in the same spot in his own breast, and shoved it on to\nits head; it penetrated his heart, and he expired. When the room was\nopened, he was found dead, the pin through his breast, and a mark in\nthe plate corresponding with the wound.[29]\n\nIt has been said that after the death of Josephine, and when Buonaparte\nwas overwhelmed with misfortunes, he attempted suicide. Those who\nconsider Napoleon immaculate deny the accuracy of the charge. But in\norder to give the reader an opportunity of judging for himself, we lay\nbefore him Sir Walter Scott\u2019s account of the transaction referred to.\n\u201cBuonaparte,\u201d he observes, \u201cbelonged to the Roman school of philosophy;\nand it is confidently reported by Baron Fane, his secretary\u2014though not\nuniversally believed\u2014that he designed to escape from life by an act of\nsuicide. The Emperor, according to this account, had carried with him,\never since his retreat from Moscow, a packet containing a preparation\nof opium, made up in the same manner with that used by Condorcet,\nfor self-destruction. His valet-de-chambre, in the night of the 12th\nor 13th of April, heard him arise, and pour something into a glass\nof water, drink, and return to bed. In a short time afterwards the\nman\u2019s attention was called by sobs and stifled groans; an alarm took\nplace in the chateau; some of the principal persons were roused, and\nrepaired to Napoleon\u2019s chamber. Yvan, the surgeon who had procured him\nthe poison, was also summoned; but hearing the Emperor complain that\nthe operation of the potion was not quick enough, he was seized with a\npanic of terror, and fled from the palace at full gallop. Napoleon took\nthe remedies recommended, and a long fit of stupor ensued, with profuse\nperspiration. He awakened much exhausted, and surprised at finding\nhimself still alive. He said aloud, after a few moments\u2019 reflection,\n\u2018Fate will not have it so;\u2019 and afterwards appeared reconciled to\nundergo his destiny without similar attempts at personal violence.\u201d\nNapoleon\u2019s illness was, at the time, imputed to indigestion. A general\nof the highest distinction transacted business with Napoleon on the\nmorning of the 13th of April. He seemed pale and dejected, as from\nrecent and exhausting illness. His only dress was a night-gown and\nslippers; and he drank, from time to time, a quantity of ptisan, or\nsome such liquid, which was placed beside him, saying he had suffered\nseverely during the night, but that his complaint had left him.[30]\n\nWe cannot conceive a more piteous condition than that of a man of\ngreat ambition without the powers of mind which are indispensable for\nits gratification. In him a constant contest is going on between an\nintellect constitutionally weak, and a desire to distinguish himself\nin some particular department of life. How often a man so unhappily\norganized ends his career in a mad-house, or terminates his miserable\nexistence by suicide! Let men be taught to make correct estimates of\ntheir own capabilities, to curb in the imagination, to cease \u201cbuilding\ncastles in the air,\u201d if we wish to advance their mental and bodily\nhealth. \u201c_Ne sutor ultra crepidam_,\u201d said Apelles to the cobbler. A\nyoung man who \u201cpenned a stanza when he ought to engross,\u201d blew out his\nbrains because he had failed in inducing a London publisher to purchase\nan epic poem which he had written, and which he had the vanity to\nconceive was equal to Paradise Lost, forgetting that, in order to be a\npoet,\u2014\n\n        \u201cNature\u2019s kindling breath\n  Must fire the chosen genius; nature\u2019s hand\n  Must string his nerves and imp his eagle wings.\u201d\n\nThat this state of mind predisposes and often leads to the commission\nof suicide, numerous cases testify.\n\nDespair often drives men to suicide. The dread of poverty and want;\nthe hopes in which we often injudiciously place too much of our\nhappiness entirely blasted; either honest or false pride humbled by\npublic or private contempt; ambitious views suddenly and unexpectedly\ndisappointed; pains of the body, the loss of those dear and near to\nus,\u2014tend to originate this feeling, and induce the unhappy person to\nseek relief in self-murder.\n\nHow terrible is the situation of the man exposed to the influence of\nthis passion, and deprived of the cheering and elevating influence\nof hope! We had an opportunity, some years back, of witnessing the\ncase of a maniac, whose derangement of mind consisted in his having\nabandoned himself completely to despair. He laboured under no distinct\nor prominent delusion, but his mental alienation consisted in the total\nabsence of all prospect of relief. The iron had entered his very soul;\nhe appeared as if the hand of a relentless destiny had written on the\nthreshold of his door, as on the gate of the Inferno of Dante, the\nheart-rending sentence, \u201cAbandon all hope!\u201d\n\nA woman is seduced by some heartless and profligate wretch; she is in\na short time forsaken and left to her fate. Her mind recurs to the\npast; she recalls to recollection her once happy state of innocence and\npeace. Scorned by the world, shunned by her relations and friends, she\nis driven to a state of agonizing distraction. Despair, in its worst\nfeatures, takes possession of her mind, and under this feeling she puts\nan end to her existence. A man under the operation of this passion\nwrote as follows:\u2014\n\n\u201cIt has pleased the Almighty to weaken my understanding, to undermine\nmy reason, and to render me unfit for the discharge of my duty. My\nblood rolls in billows and torrents of despair. It must have vent.\nHow? I possess a place to which I am a dishonour, inasmuch as I am\nincapable of discharging it properly; I prevent some better man from\ndoing it more justice. This piece of bread which I lament is all that I\nhave to support myself and family; even this I do not merit; I eat it\nin sin, and yet I live. Killing thought! which a conscience hitherto\nuncorrupted inspires. I have a wife, also, and my child reproaches me\nwith its existence. But you do not know, my dear friends, that if my\nunhappy life is not speedily ended, my weak head will require all your\ncare, and I shall become a burthen rather than an assistance to you.\nIt is better that I yield myself a timely sacrifice to misfortune,\nthan, by permitting the delusion to continue longer, I consume the\nlast farthing of my wife\u2019s inheritance. It is a duty of every person\nto do that which his situation requires; reason commands it, religion\napproves. My life, such as it is, is a mere animal life, devoid of\nreason; in my mind, a life which stands in opposition to duty is moral\ndeath, and worse than that which is natural. In favour of the few whose\nlife I cannot render happy, it is at least my duty not to become an\noppression. I ought to relieve them from a weight which sooner or later\ncannot fail to crush them.\u201d\n\nThis unfortunate man, after penning the above account of his morbid\nfeelings, sent his wife to church on Sunday, May 13th, 1783; and\nafter writing an addition to his journal, took a pair of scissors and\nattempted, although unsuccessfully, to terminate his life by cutting\nhis throat. He then opened the arteries at the wrists, and again failed\nin destroying himself; he staggered to the window, and saw his wife\nreturning home, upon which he seized a knife used for killing deer, and\nstabbed himself in the heart. He was lying weltering in his blood when\nhis wife came in, but was not quite dead. M. le Clarc, who relates the\ncase, observes, that he was a man of understanding, and of a lively\nwit. He possessed a great deal of theoretical learning; his heart was\nincorruptibly honest. Like every calm and determined self-murderer, he\nwas proud; but his pride was not the pride of rank, of riches, or of\nlearning, but that divine pride which arises from a consciousness of\nincorruptible honesty, and of being possessed of good powers of mind.\nThe office he held was that of an assistant judge in a small college of\njustice at Insterberg. His mother had been once deranged in her mind.\n\nFew persons have given a more striking example of this passion than the\nAbb\u00e9 de Ranc\u00e9, when first touched with remorse for the enormity of his\npast life, and before the disturbed state of his mind had settled into\nthat turn for religious seclusion and mortification which produced the\nappalling austerities of La Trappe. \u201cTo a state of frantic despair,\u201d\nsays Don Lancelot, in his letter to La M\u00e8re Angelique of Port Royal,\n\u201csucceeded a black melancholy. He sent away all his friends, and shut\nhimself up in his mansion at Veret, where he would not see a creature.\nHis whole soul, nay, even his bodily wants, seemed wholly absorbed in\na deep and settled gloom. Shut up in a single room, he even forgot to\neat and drink; and when the servant reminded him that it was bed-time,\nhe started as from a deep reverie, and seemed unconscious that it\nwas not still morning. When he was better, he would often wander in\nthe woods for the entire day, wholly regardless of the weather. A\nfaithful servant, who sometimes followed him by stealth, often watched\nhim standing for hours together in one place, the snow and the rain\nbeating on his head, whilst he, unconscious of his position, was wholly\nabsorbed in painful recollections. Then, at the fall of a leaf, or the\nnoise of the deer, he would awake as from a slumber, and, wringing\nhis hands, hasten to bury himself in a thicker part of the wood, or\nelse throw himself prostrate, with his face in the snow, and groan\nbitterly.\u201d[31]\n\nHow many commit suicide from what is termed a _blind impulse_! They\nfancy that an internal voice tells them to kill themselves; and\nconsidering it impossible to resist what they term a destiny, they do\nso. A gentleman, a merchant of the city of London, had been exposed to\ngreat mental perturbation; his nervous system had received a severe\nshock. He suffered extremely from a dread of going mad. As he was\nwalking home one afternoon, he heard a voice say, \u201cKill thyself!\u201d\n\u201cCommit suicide!\u201d and from that moment he could not banish the idea\nfrom his mind. Two or three times he was on the eve of obeying the\nmandate of this internal voice; but he fortunately possessed sufficient\nresolution to resist the temptation. In this state of mind he consulted\na physician, who ordered him to be cupped in the neighbourhood of the\nhead. His bowels were attended to, and he was recommended to visit\nsome friends in the north of Scotland, and to banish from his mind all\nideas connected with business. He followed the advice of his judicious\nphysician, and in a short time he completely recovered.\n\nIn the midst of health apparently perfect and uniform, a man was\nattacked with a sudden disposition to destroy. He seized a stick,\nraised it, struck indiscriminately and broke everything that presented\nitself to him. After some seconds, the stick fell from his hands,\nand he appeared restored to himself. The man knew nothing of what he\nhad just done. He was reproached, he was shewn the remnants of the\nthings that he had broken; he thought they were ridiculing him, and\nhe was greatly irritated. He was again seized with frenzy, and killed\na person. He was taken before a court of justice, acquitted on the\nground of insanity, and placed in an hospital. This disposition to\ndestroy returned at distant intervals; it then came on more frequently;\nand finally, changed into fits of epilepsy. A person seized with\nthis morbid desire is not always unconscious of the approach of the\ndisposition; he has sometimes a presentiment of it, perceives its\ndanger, seeks to combat it, and frequently succeeds in effecting his\npurpose.\n\nA labourer, at the end of his day\u2019s work, felt himself seized with an\nirresistible desire of running; he rushed upon the quay, which goes\nfrom the Louvre to the Gr\u00e8ve: every obstacle was overcome. An attempt\nwas made to stop him, but it was not successful. At last he dexterously\nengaged one of his arms in the wheel of a carriage, which happened to\nbe within his reach. Thus withheld, he recovered his breath, became\ncalm, and appeared to have no idea of what had occurred. This feeling\nwas again manifested, and he was properly sent by his friends to an\nhospital, when it was discovered that he had a disease of the spinal\nmarrow.\n\nA man arrived upon the Pont Neuf; he rushed violently to the parapet,\nand precipitated himself into the Seine. He was seen by some of the\nbystanders, who drew him out of the water and saved his life. After\nsome days of complete restoration, his friends asked him the reason of\nhis strange conduct. He replied, \u201cI cannot give any account. I am in\nthe happiest situation in the world. I have only to play with fortune\nand with men. I have never been ill. I do not know what troubles may\ncome upon me. I can only recollect my arrival on the Pont Neuf, and my\nrecall to life.\u201d\n\nThe particulars of the following fact are recorded in Mrs. Mathews\u2019\nlife of her husband. Mathews the comedian had lived for some days a\nvapid and inactive life. His spirit had been pressed down, \u201ccabin\u2019d,\ncribb\u2019d, confin\u2019d.\u201d In this state of mind, a party of gentlemen called\nupon him, and proposed a day\u2019s excursion. Accordingly, they all mounted\ntheir horses. Mrs. Mathews says\u2014\u201cMy husband\u2019s depressed spirits were\nexhilarated by the beauty of the weather, and the prospect of a day\u2019s\npleasure (free from the restraint of a room, listening to truisms) in\nthe open air, where he would have uncontrolled power to gaze upon his\nidol, Nature, in her most beautiful form. He had not ridden out of\nthe city for some weeks, and was in a state of childish delight and\nexcitement. At this moment his eyes turned upon one of the party, a\nvery little man, who was perched on a very tall horse, and who seemed\nunusually grave and important. Mr. Mathews looked at him for a moment;\nand the next, knocked him off with a smart blow, felling him to the\nground. The whole party were struck with horror; but no one felt more\nshocked than he who had committed the outrage. He dismounted, picked up\nthe little victim to his unaccountable freak, declared himself unable\nto give any motive for the action, but that it was an impulse he could\nnot resist; and afterwards, in relating this extraordinary incident, he\ndeclared his conviction that it was done in a moment of frenzy, induced\nby the too sudden reaction from previous stagnation of all freedom and\namusement.\u201d\n\nA young woman, about twenty years of age, who had been insane but a\nshort time, and appeared to be recovering, after having assisted to\nwhitewash and clean a ward in an asylum in which she was confined, was\nsitting, in the evening, taking tea with the nurse and several other\ninmates. She took advantage of the opportunity when the nurse went to\nthe cupboard for some sugar to seize a knife with which some bread had\njust been cut; and in the presence of the whole party, in an instant,\nbefore her hand could be arrested, cut her throat in so dreadful a\nmanner that she died almost immediately.\n\nA patient in the Asylum at Wakefield, the wife of a labourer, a\nkind-hearted and clever woman, was afflicted with such a propensity\nto destroy that she was almost constantly obliged to be kept in\nconfinement; and when at liberty, she could not resist the pleasure\nof breaking anything she met with. In one instance, she saw some\ntea-cups on a table, and for some time walked backwards and forwards,\nand checked the inclination; but eventually the temptation proved too\nstrong, and she swept them at once on to the floor. She afterwards\nregretted the circumstance; but the impulse was too powerful to be\nresisted.\n\nA monomaniac (says Esquirol) heard a voice within him repeat these\nwords\u2014\u201c_Kill thyself! kill thyself!_\u201d He therefore committed suicide,\nin obedience to this superior power, whose order he dare not withstand.\n\nA man, under a religious hallucination, believed himself to be in\ncommunication with the Deity. He fancied he heard a celestial voice\nsaying\u2014\u201c_My son, come and seat thyself by my side._\u201d He opened the\nwindow to obey the invitation, fell down, and fractured his leg. When\nhe was carried to his bed, he expressed the greatest astonishment on\nfinding that he had precipitated himself from the window.\n\nA young lady of considerable beauty was accosted in the street by a\nstrange gentleman. She took no notice at first of the unwarrantable\nliberty; but on finding that he persisted in following her, she\nattempted, by quickening her pace, to escape. Being extremely timid,\nand having naturally a very nervous temperament, she was much excited.\nThe person in the garb of a gentleman followed her for nearly a mile,\nand when he saw that she was home, he suddenly turned down a street,\nand disappeared. The young lady expressed herself extremely ill soon\nafter she entered the house. A physician was sent for, who declared his\nastonishment at her severe illness from a cause so trifling. During\nthe following night she manifested indications of mental derangement,\nwith a disposition to commit suicide. A strait-waistcoat was procured,\nand all apprehensions of her succeeding in gratifying the propensity of\nself-destruction was removed. Some weeks elapsed before she recovered.\nTo all appearance she was perfectly well. She had no recollection of\nwhat had transpired, and expressed herself amazed when she was told\nthat she had wished to kill herself. Two months after she left her bed\nshe was missed. Search was made in every direction, but in vain. After\nthe lapse of two days, she was discovered floating in a pond of water\nseveral miles from her home. In her pocket was discovered a piece of\npaper, on which were written the following lines:\u2014\u201cOh, the misery and\nwretchedness I have experienced for the last month no one but myself\ncan tell. A demon haunts me\u2014life is insupportable. A voice tells me\nthat I am destined to fall by my own hands. I leave this world for\nanother, where I hope to enjoy more happiness. Adieu.\u201d\n\nWe have no doubt that in this case, although the acute symptoms of\ninsanity had subsided, she had not recovered completely her sane\nstate of mind. None but those conversant with the subject of mental\nderangement would believe that so trifling a circumstance as that of\nbeing spoken to in the street would have produced so violent an attack\nof maniacal delirium as was witnessed in the case of this poor girl.\n\nM. Esquirol states that he has never seen an unequivocal instance\nof any individual drawn to the commission of suicide by a kind of\nirresistible impulse, independently of any secret grievance, real or\nimaginary. Could the secret feelings of these suicides be accurately\nascertained, there would generally, if not always, be found some\nlurking source of discontent, real or fanciful, in the breast, which\nserve as motives to their suicidal propensity. Many instances are on\nrecord, it is true, where men have put a period to their existence\nwithout any apparent visible cause or motive; but as Rousseau has\njustly observed, \u201c_Le bonheur n\u2019a point d\u2019enseigne exterieur: pour en\njuger, il faudrait lire dans le c\u0153ur de l\u2019homme heureux_.\u201d\n\n\u201cIndividuals,\u201d says Esquirol, \u201cwho appear outwardly the residence of\nhappiness, are often inwardly the focus of chagrin, and tortured with\ndistracting passions. That man can destroy his own life, being at the\nsame time happy in his mind, is a phenomenon which human reason cannot\ncomprehend.\u201d\n\nA diseased temperament, a serious lesion of one or more of the viscera,\na gradual exhaustion of the energies of the system, may so aggravate\nthe miseries of life as to hasten the period of voluntary death. But\nhow are we to account for the irresistible propensity to suicide which\nsometimes exists, independent of any apparent mental or physical\nailments? A melancholic, whose case was published in Fourcroy\u2019s Medical\nJournal of 1792, once said, \u201cI am in prosperous circumstances; I have a\nwife and a child who constitute my happiness; I cannot complain of bad\nhealth, and still I feel a horrible propensity to throw myself into the\nSeine.\u201d His declaration was too fatally verified in the event. Crichton\nwas once consulted upon the case of a young man, twenty-four years\nof age, in full vigour and health, who was tormented by periodical\naccessions of these gloomy feelings and propensities. At those times\nhe meditated his own destruction. But on a nearer view of the fatal\nact, he shrunk back into himself, and recoiled with horror from its\nexecution. Without relinquishing his project, he never had the courage\nto accomplish it. \u201cIt is in cases like these,\u201d says Crichton, \u201cthat\nenergetic measures of coercion, and the effectual excitement of terror,\nshould lend their aid to the powers of medicine and regimen.\u201d\n\nIn many cases of suicide, the act is preceded by a long train of\nperverted reasoning. These individuals become taciturn, morose,\npusillanimous, and distrustful. The future presents itself to their\nview under the most unfavourable aspect, and despair becomes painted\non their countenances. Their eyes become hollow; they complain of\nsleeplessness, and are disturbed by frightful dreams. The bowels are\nin an inactive state; the functions of the liver become to a certain\nextent suspended. It is in this state that they contemplate the idea\nof suicide; and the diaries which some have kept of their sensations\nand thoughts disclose the various kinds of death which they have\ncontemplated and rejected, one after another, often for reasons the\nmost preposterous and ridiculous. It is singular that in these journals\nthey generally endeavour to hide their despondency and their mental\naberration, while their moral and intellectual weakness is sure to be\nbetrayed. They often accuse themselves of insanity, and bewail their\nunhappy lot; others argue most ingeniously in favour of their meditated\nsuicide. Others again, subdued as it were by the force of the moral and\nreligious principles which they have imbibed, represent to themselves\nthat the act they contemplate is contrary to the moral end for which\nman was created\u2014fatal to the welfare and happiness of their families.\nThen ensues a conflict in their breasts. If reason and religion\nprevail, the project is abandoned,\u2014sometimes abandoned altogether. If\notherwise, the suicide is committed. Falret knew the case of a woman\nwho exhibited a tendency to suicide, but who was delivered for a period\nfrom the commission of the crime by the principles of religion in which\nher mind had been educated. A long period elapsed before she could\nreconcile herself to the act of suicide, and then she argued herself\ninto it by the following piece of sophistry:\u2014\u201cThere are no general\nrules without exceptions; and I am the precise exception in this\ncase: therefore I may commit suicide without violating my religious\nprinciples.\u201d\n\nHaving once conceived the idea of suicide, the mind is often rendered\nso miserable in consequence of it, that the person rushes into the arms\nof death in order to escape from the terrible state of anticipation.\nOthers meditate on the bloody deed for years. Rousseau, after drawing\na piteous portrait of his proscribed and solitary condition, and of\nthe state of his health, adds, \u201c_Puisque mon corps n\u2019est plus pour moi\nqu\u2019un embarras, un obstacle \u00e0 mon repos, cherchons donc \u00e0 m\u2019en degager\nle plus t\u00f4t que je pourrai_.\u201d\n\n_Tedium vit\u00e6_, or _ennui_, is said to be a frequent cause of suicide.\nWe have heard of an Englishman who hanged himself in order to avoid the\ntrouble of pulling off and on his clothes. Go\u00ebthe knew a gardener, and\nthe overseer of some extensive pleasure-grounds, who once splenetically\nexclaimed, \u201cShall I see these clouds for ever passing, then, from\neast to west?\u201d So singularly developed was this weariness of life,\nthis feeling of satiety, in one of our distinguished men, that it is\nsaid of him that he viewed with dissatisfaction the return of spring,\nand wished, by way of change, that everything would, for once, be red\ninstead of green.[32]\n\n  \u201c\u2014\u2014 Within that ample nich,\n  With every quaint device of splendour rich,\n  Yon phantom, who, from vulgar eyes withdrawn,\n  Appears to stretch in one eternal yawn:\n  Of empire here he holds the tottering helm,\n  Prime-minister in Spleen\u2019s discordant realm,\n  The pillar of her spreading state, and more,\n  Her darling offspring, whom on earth she bore.\n  For, as on earth his wayward mother strayed,\n  Grandeur, with eyes of fire, her form surveyed,\n  And with strong passion starting from his throne,\n  Unloos\u2019d the sullen queen\u2019s reluctant zone.\n  From his embrace, conceived in moody joy,\n  Rose the round image of a bloated boy:\n  His nurse was, Indolence; his tutor, Pomp,\n  Who kept the child from every childish romp.\n  They rear\u2019d their nursling to the bulk you see,\n  And his proud parents called their imp\u2014_Ennui_.\u201d\n\n  _Hayley\u2019s Triumphs of Temper._\n\nIt is rare for an Englishman to commit suicide from ennui. The English\nare different in this respect from the French people. The causes which\nlead to suicide in this country, are those connected with sudden\nreverse of fortune, or grievous disappointments, which are allowed to\nprey upon the mind until the individual seeks relief in the arms of\ndeath. In great commercial communities, where men may be reduced, in a\nfew minutes, from affluence to beggary; where the hopes and aspirations\nof years are levelled in a moment to the dust, and the individual finds\nhimself exposed to the insulting pity of friends, and the searching\ncuriosity of the public, we need not feel surprise, when all these\ncircumstances rush upon a man\u2019s mind in the sudden convulsion and\nturbulence of its elements, that he should welcome the only escape from\nthe abyss into which he has been hurled.\n\nIt has been stated, by a competent authority, that the week following\nthe drawing of the last lottery in England, no less than fifty suicides\nwere committed!\n\n_M. Gase_, in a memoir read before the _Academie Royale de M\u00e9decine_,\ntraces the increase of suicide in Paris to the spirit of gambling\nwhich the Parisians so passionately indulge in. The extended system of\nspeculation in this country approximates in its pernicious effects on\nthe constitution to those which have been considered to result from\ngambling. The following case, which was communicated to a popular\njournal, by Dr. J. Johnson, forcibly illustrates how the constitution\nmay be undermined by rash, inconsiderate conduct, during the excitement\narising from temporary circumstances:\u2014\n\nOne day, on the Stock Exchange, when the rumours of failings at home\nand commotions abroad were producing such alarming vacillations in the\npublic funds that the whole property of a gentleman of high probity,\ntemperance, and respectability, was in momentary jeopardy, he found\nhimself in so terrible a state of nervous agitation that he was obliged\nto leave the scene of confusion, and apply to wine, though quite\nunaccustomed to more than a glass or two after dinner. To his utmost\nsurprise, the wine had no apparent effect, though he drank glass after\nglass, in rapid succession, until he had finished a whole bottle.\nNot the slightest inebriating influence was induced by this unusual\nquantity taken before dinner. His nervous agitation was, however,\ncalmed, and he went back to the Exchange, and transacted business with\nsteadiness, composure, and equanimity. None of the ordinary effects\nof wine were produced at the time, but a few days afterwards he was\nseized with a severe attack of indigestion, a malady by which he had\nnever been previously affected. This case shews that although mental\nagitation masks, or even prevents, the usual effects of wine, and\nother stimulants, at the time, and thus enables, and indeed induces,\nmen to take more than under ordinary circumstances, yet the ulterior\neffects are greatly worse on the constitution than if the stimulants\nhad produced the usual excitement at the moment of their reception into\nthe stomach. It is thus, we have no doubt, that the nervous system\nof thousands in this country is ruined, and, in numerous cases, the\nseeds of suicidal derangement sown, and that without the victims being\nconscious of the channel through which they have been poisoned.\n\nDefective education is a frequent cause of suicide. At the present\nday, the ornamental has taken the place of the substantial; the showy\nand specious, the situation of the solid and virtuous. The endowments\nof the mind and cultivation of the heart are forced to yield to the\nexternal accomplishments and graces of the body, and polished manners\nare too generally preferred to sound morals. The importance of fashion\nis inculcated in opposition to reason; religion is made to bow down\nbefore the shrine of honour; and the fear of the world is taught to\nsupersede the fear of God. But what superstructure can be raised\non so sandy a foundation? It can support no incumbent weight; and,\nin consequence, it cannot be deemed surprising that an inundation\nof folly and vice, like a sweeping torrent, should bear down all\nbefore it. The dignity of personal worth and character is a point\ntoo little considered. Brilliant parts supersede sound judgment;\nand disinterested virtue, integrity, and public spirit, are out of\ncharacter in a nation immersed in voluptuousness. Education of a\nlight and frivolous character leads to a vacuity of serious thoughts\nand solid principles of conduct. Luxury and profligacy, in all ages,\nhave operated injuriously on the human mind. Cato the elder observes\nthat there could be no friendship in a man whose palate had quicker\nsensations than his brain and heart. The man who has no internal\nsources of enjoyment to fly to when others fail,\u2014he whose happiness\nconsists in an indulgence in the pleasures of the senses, when these\nephemeral sources of gratification are removed, will, to avoid the\nvacuum which is made in his existence, readily terminate his own life.\n\nThere cannot be a doubt but that the general diffusion of knowledge,\nand the desire to place within the command of the humblest person\nthe advantages of education, have not a little tended to promote the\ncrime of suicide. It may be opposed to all our _\u00e0 priori_ reasoning\nto suppose that, in proportion as the intellect becomes expanded,\nknowledge and civilization diffused, the desire to commit self-murder\nwould be engendered. It is an indisputable fact, that insanity, in\nall its variations, is in a ratio to the refinement and civilization\nof a country. \u201cIt is clearly proved,\u201d says Brown, \u201cthat in Fin\u00e9stre,\nwhere the people are in a deplorable state of ignorance, and education\nis entirely neglected, only twelve in a hundred of the inhabitants\nbeing able to write or read, few suicides occur, at least only in\nthe proportion of one in 25,000. In Paris, that focus of all that is\nbrilliant and imposing in science and literature, the crime is of\ncommon occurrence. In Cor\u00e9ze, where only twelve in the hundred can\nread or write, one suicide in 47,000 occurs; and in the High Loire one\nin 163,000. On the other hand, in Oise and Lower Seine, both places\nin possession of the highest degree of general instruction, and of\nthe means of advancing in improvement, suicides occur in every 5000\nor 9000 inhabitants. In the north of France, Catholicism has been\nnearly extirpated, and there suicide and crime predominate; south\nof the Loire, on the contrary, it still retains a strong hold of the\naffections of the people, and there suicide, and its sinister crimes\nor maladies are comparatively rare. This affords a noble proof that\nthe effects of Christianity, in whatever form and under whatever\ncircumstances, are peace and joy.\u201d[33]\n\nIt is our firm belief that the increase of suicide in this country is\nto a certain extent to be traced to the atrocious doctrines promulgated\nwith such zeal by the sect of modern infidels, who falsely denominate\nthemselves _Socialists_; a class whose opinions are subversive of all\nmorality and Christianity, and which sap the foundation of society\nitself. It is natural to expect when such principles of infidelity are\ninculcated, when men are taught to believe in the non-existence of a\nGod, and to consider they are not accountable agents, and are under the\noperation of an organization over which they have no control, that they\nshould look with philosophic indifference on suicide, and consider it\nas a justifiable mode of putting an end to the misery and wretchedness\nengendered by their own opinions. Such doctrines must of necessity\nbe productive of great evil to society; and it becomes the duty of\nevery Christian and well-wisher to his fellow-men to hold them up to\nreprobation. The opinions of Owen strike at the root of all order,\nand of all virtue, social and public, and break down every barrier of\nlaw and restraint, making the passions the only standard of right and\nwrong\u2014the animal appetites the only test of virtue and vice.\n\nIn the Bishop of Exeter\u2019s able speech in the House of Lords, on\nthe subject of Socialism, he stated that cases of suicide under\ncircumstances of the most dreadful suffering had occurred, which had\nbeen brought about by Mr. Owen\u2019s pernicious doctrines. The learned\nprelate related the particulars of the following case:\u2014Mr. Parke,\na most respectable inhabitant of Wolverhampton, had an apprentice,\nwho had been in the habit of attending Socialists\u2019 meetings, and\nhearing their lectures. He purchased all their publications, and his\nmaster\u2019s shop not being of that kind to furnish them, he was obliged\nto go elsewhere to obtain them. He dined and drank tea as usual with\nMr. Parke on the Sunday, and left after tea to attend St. George\u2019s\nChurch. Not coming home at the usual hour, his master sat up for him\nuntil 12 o\u2019clock, when, as he had not returned, he concluded that his\nrelations had detained him. He was, however, found dead, in a sort of\nlumber room, the next morning. Two bottles of poison were lying by his\nside; the one which occasioned his death contained prussic acid; the\nother, nux vomica: near him were lying four letters, one addressed to\nhis father, another to Mr. Parke, a third to the jury, and a fourth\ncontaining his creed; in all of which he expressed his disbelief in the\nBible, considering it \u201cthe most dangerous book that ever was written,\u201d\nand if ever such a person as Jesus Christ lived, he was the weakest man\nhe ever heard of. In one of the letters he also stated that he had been\nnurtured in superstition, (meaning, that he had been brought up as a\nmember of the church of England,) and that when he read Owen\u2019s works\nhe \u201cshuddered at their common sense.\u201d He denied all belief in a future\nstate of retribution; and as he considered apprenticeship slavery, he\nthought it more prudent to suffer pain for a moment than to endure six\nyears\u2019 servitude. He earnestly entreated the jury not to bring in a\nverdict of insanity.\n\nIt appears from a letter to the Bishop of Exeter, written by the\nunfortunate youth\u2019s uncle, that he had been from infancy an exceedingly\nlively boy; between him and his parents the most glowing affection, as\nwell as the most boundless confidence, existed; but the fatal poison\nof Socialism changed a confiding heart into a cold concentration of\nselfishness. After the verdict of the jury, the uncle declared aloud,\nbefore a crowded room, in a most vehement manner, that, were he in the\npresence of the Queen, he would proclaim Owen as the murderer of his\nnephew.\n\nThe indifference with which self-murder is looked at in Germany is\nto be ascribed in a great measure to the popular productions of that\ncountry. We are reluctant to denounce as undoubted causes of suicide\nthe works of men of splendid talents; but in such a case it would be\nwrong, it would be criminal, to mince the matter, and plead any excuse\nfor so detestable a work as Werter, which has unhinged the minds of\nthousands, before they were aware of its impoisoned and insidious\ntendency. That it is the work of a man of genius only makes its\nblackening influence the stronger; as the fascination of the style,\nand the intense interest of the narrative, operate like an infernal\nspell to smooth the road to self-destruction. Its leading theme is,\nthat human passions, and particularly love, are immediately inspired by\nHeaven; and that it would be wrong\u2014nay, that it is impossible\u2014to resist\nthem; and consequently, if a lover meets with disappointment, his only\nvirtuous course is suicide, which is triumphantly catalogued among the\nvirtues, as it was by the heathen morality of the ancients.\n\nThis work, together with Foscolo\u2019s imitation of it, the \u201c_Ultime\nLettere di Jacopo Ortis_,\u201d and all publications of a similar character,\nought to be repudiated by every sound thinking man. Resistance to\nthe dictates of passion, when it prompts to crime and suicide, is\na most deadly sin against Werterism; whilst, obeying the passions\nto the letter, even if they incite to criminal love or self-murder,\ngives to its disciple the stamp of one of the virtuous who have\ncourageously braved the laws of good order, fearlessly dared to trample\nunder foot all the commands of God and man, and stood forth as the\nredoubted champions of human supremacy and the glorious right of\nself-destruction. Such are the principles of the miscreants who wish to\nprove that suicide is a virtue; and, with the sentiments found in the\npages of Werter, they rush headlong and unthinkingly into a deep and\nawful futurity.\n\nIt is not generally known that Go\u00ebthe, the author of the work alluded\nto, attempted suicide. He considered the death of the Emperor Otho as\nworthy of imitation. In contemplating the feelings which influenced\nthat monarch, he says he convinced himself that if he could not proceed\nas Otho had done, he was not entitled to resolve on renouncing life. He\nadds, \u201cBy this conviction, I saved myself from the purpose, or indeed,\nmore properly speaking, from the whim, of suicide. Among a considerable\ncollection of arms, I possessed a costly well-ground dagger. This I\nlaid down nightly by my side; and, before extinguishing the light,\nI tried whether I could succeed (_\u00e0 la Otho_) in sending the sharp\npoint an inch or two deep into my heart. But as I truly never could\nsucceed, I at last took to laughing at myself, threw away all these\nhypochondriacal crotchets, and determined to live.\u201d\n\nIn the melancholy case of Hackman and Miss Ray, the following is the\nsubstance of a correspondence which passed between them on the subject\nof Werter. Hackman was refused the sight of this book by Miss R.,\nwho had a copy of the French translation, because, as she expresses\nherself, she saw too great a similarity between her lover and Werter,\nnot only in point of situation, but in the impetuosity of their\ntempers. \u201cThe book you mention,\u201d says Miss R., \u201cis just the only book\nyou should never read. On my knees, I beg you never to read it! Perhaps\nyou have read it; perhaps\u2014I am distracted! Heaven only knows to whom\nI may be writing this letter.\u201d To this, Hackman, who was in Ireland,\nreplies: \u201cNonsense! to say it will make me unhappy, or that I shall\nnot be able to read it. Must I pistol myself because a thick-blooded\nGerman has been fool enough to set the example, or because a German\nnovelist has feigned such a story.\u201d Werter was read, and the effect was\nmost injurious on his mind. Whilst confined in Newgate, he wrote the\nfollowing letter:\u2014\u201cAmong my papers you will see, my friend, some lines\nI wrote on reading Go\u00ebthe\u2019s Werter, translated from German into French,\nwhich, whilst I was in Ireland, Miss R. refused to lend me. When I\nreturned to England, I made her let me read it. But I never shewed her\nthese lines, for fear they should make her uneasy. Unhappy Werter!\nstill less pretence hadst thou for suicide than I. After finally\nseeing thy Charlotte married to another\u2014marrying her thyself\u2014hadst\nthou a right over thy existence, because she was not thy wife? Yet\nwast thou less barbarous than I; for thou didst not seek to die in her\npresence,\u2014but neither didst thou doubt her love. We can neither of us\nhope for pardon!\u201d\n\nThe lines were these, supposed to be found, after Werter\u2019s death, upon\nthe ground by the pistol\u2014\n\n  \u201cIf chance some kindred spirit should relate\n  To future times unhappy Werter\u2019s fate;\n  Should in some pitying, almost pardoning age,\n  Consign my sorrows to some weeping page;\n  And should the affecting page be haply read\n  By some new Charlotte\u2014mine will then be dead.\n  (Yes; she shall die\u2014sole solace of my love!\n  And we shall meet\u2014for so she said\u2014above.)\n  O Charlotte! (Martha\u2014by whatever name,\n  Thy faithful Werter hands thee down to fame,)\n  O be thou sure thy Werter never knows\n  The fatal story of my kindred woes!\n  O do not, fair one,\u2014by my shocking end\n  I charge thee!\u2014do not let thy feeling friend\n  Shed his sad sorrows o\u2019er my tearful tale:\n  Example, spite of precept, may prevail.\u201d\n\nIt may be mentioned, as a fact corroborating the opinion, that\nproductions of an infidel character have a tendency to originate a\ndisposition to suicide by weakening the moral principles; that when\nthe celebrated and notorious Tom Paine\u2019s \u201cAge of Reason\u201d was first\npublished, the papers of the day recorded many cases of self-murder\ncommitted by persons who avowed that the idea never entered their heads\nuntil they had become familiar with the works of the above-mentioned\nwriter. An individual, zealous in the diffusion of Paine\u2019s principles,\npurchased several hundred copies of his work, which he most\nindustriously circulated, gratuitously, in quarters where he knew the\ndoctrines of Christianity had already obtained a footing. A copy of the\n\u201cAge of Reason,\u201d elegantly bound, was received by a young lady who was\nacting in the capacity of a governess in the family of a gentleman of\ngreat respectability. The lady had no conception from whom the present\ncame, and having heard of the book, she felt a curiosity to become\nacquainted with the doctrines which it inculcated. The circumstance of\nher having received the book was not mentioned to any member of the\nfamily with whom she resided; and in the evening, when she retired to\nher own room, she read it with great attention. The family noticed,\nin a few weeks, a perceptible alteration in the appearance of the\nyoung lady. She became extremely thoughtful and contemplative. Her\nhealth also appeared sensibly affected. The mother of the children\nwhom she was instructing took advantage of the first opportunity of\nspeaking to her on the subject. She expressed herself very unhappy in\nher mind, but refused to disclose the cause of her mental uneasiness.\nIt was thought she had formed an attachment, and was suffering from\nthe effects of disappointed affection. She was questioned on these\npoints, but persisted in concealing the circumstances which had\nbeen operating so injuriously on her mind. The mental dejection\nincreased, and the result was, an alarming attack of nervous fever, of\nwhich she was cured by an able physician with much difficulty. When\nconvalescent, she was noticed one day busily employed in writing, and\nwhen interrupted, shewed great anxiety to secrete the piece of paper\non which she had been transcribing her thoughts. In the course of the\nevening of the same day, a deep groan was heard to issue from her\nroom. The servant immediately entered, when, to her great horror, she\nsaw the governess on the floor with a terrible gash in her throat.\nAssistance was directly obtained, but, alas! not in time to save the\nlife of the poor unfortunate girl. On searching her desk, a sheet of\npaper was discovered, on which she had disclosed her reasons for the\nrash act. She said, that from the moment she read the \u201cAge of Reason,\u201d\nher mind became unsettled. Her previous religious impressions were\nundermined; in proportion as she was induced to imbibe the doctrines\nof Tom Paine, so she became miserable and wretched. From one error\nshe fell into another, until she actually believed that death was\nannihilation; and although she appeared firmly rooted in this belief,\nshe expressed herself horrified beyond all expression at the bare idea\nof dissolution. For some time prior to her illness, she had felt an\nimpulse to sacrifice her life, but had not the courage to perform the\nact. After her recovery, she felt the impulse renewed with increased\nstrength, until, with a hope of escaping from an accumulation of misery\nwhich was weighing her to the earth, she determined to commit suicide.\nShe also, in the document referred to, asked her friends to forgive\nher, and to take warning from her fate.\n\nThat many rush into suicide in order to escape the just and legal\npunishment of their crimes cannot be a matter of doubt. Many under such\ncircumstances are influenced by a fear of public exposure, and prefer\ndeath to the idea of being compelled to undergo the ordeal of a trial\nin a court of justice. The following case is but the type of many that\ncould be related:\u2014\n\nA young man of family, the Hon. Mr. \u2014\u2014, staying at an inn in Portsmouth,\npreviously to sailing for India, where he was going out as an\naide-de-camp to General\u2014\u2014, with a party of friends, also officers,\njoined company at supper one evening with Mr. Bradbury, the clown of\nCovent Garden Theatre, a person of very gentlemanlike exterior and\nmanners, and ambitious of the society of gentlemen. He was in the habit\nof using a very magnificent and curious snuff-box, and on this occasion\nit was much admired by the party, and handed round for inspection from\none to the other. Mr. Bradbury soon after left the inn, and retired\nto his lodging, when he missed his box, and immediately returned to\ninquire for it. The gentlemen with whom he had spent the evening had\nall retired to bed; but he left word with the porter to mention to the\nofficers early the next day that he had left the box, and to request\nthem to restore it to him when found.\n\nThe next morning, Mr. Bradbury again hastened to the inn, anxious\nto recover his property, and met on his way the Hon. Mr. \u2014\u2014, and\ncommunicated his loss to him; when he was informed by that gentleman\nthat a similar circumstance had occurred to himself, his bed-room\nhaving been robbed the night before of his gold watch, chain, and\nseals, &c., and that he was on his way to a Jew in the town to apprize\nhim of the robbery, in order that if such articles should be offered\nfor sale, he might stop them and detain the person who presented them.\nThis was very extraordinary! Mr. Bradbury then met the other gentlemen\nof the party, and was told by them that their rooms had also been\nrobbed, one of bank notes to a great amount, another of a gold watch,\n&c.\n\nThe Hon. Mr. \u2014\u2014 was violently infuriated by his loss; and as he was\nbound to sail from Portsmouth when the ship was ready, he naturally\ndreaded being compelled to depart without his property. He hinted,\ntoo, that he had certain suspicions of certain people. An officer\nwas sent for from London. This man came down promptly, to the great\nsatisfaction of the Hon. Mr. \u2014\u2014; and after searching the house and\ntheir trunks, Rivett (the officer) addressed the gentlemen, observing,\nthat there was yet a duty unperformed, and which was a painful one to\nhim\u2014he must search the _persons_ of all present, and as the Hon.\nMr. \u2014\u2014\u2019s trunks had been the first to be inspected, perhaps he would\nallow him to examine him at once. To this he agreed; but the next moment0\nhe was observed to look very ill. Rivett was proceeding to search\nhim, as a matter of course, when he requested that everybody would\nleave the room, except the officer and Mr. Bradbury, which request\nwas immediately complied with. He then fell upon his knees, entreated\nfor mercy, and placed Mr. Bradbury\u2019s box in his hand, begging him to\nforgive him and spare his life. Rivett upon this proceeded to search\nhim, but he resisted; the object was effected by force, and the\ngreater part of the property found that had been stolen in the house.\nThe officer, conceiving that he had not got the whole of the bank\nnotes, inquired of Mr. \u2014\u2014 where the remainder was; when he pointed to\na pocket-book which was under the foot of the bed; and while Rivett\nrelaxed his hold of him, and was in the act of stooping to pick up\nthe book, Mr. \u2014\u2014 caught up a razor and cut his throat. Rivett and Mr.\nBradbury seized an arm each, and forced the razor from him; but he\nwas so determined on self-destruction, that he twisted his head about\nviolently in different ways, in order to make the wound larger and\nmore fatal. To prevent him from continuing this, he was braced up with\nlinen round his neck so tightly that he could not move it. A surgeon\nof the town, with two assistants, came, and after seeing the wound,\ngave it as their opinion that it was possible for him to recover, and\nby the assistance of some powerful soldiers holding him, they dressed\nthe wound. His clothes were then cut off, and he was carried down\nstairs into another room. During this operation he coughed violently;\nbut whether naturally or by design, to make his wound worse, was not\nascertained. It had, however, the effect of setting his wound bleeding\nagain, and the dressing was obliged to be repeated.\n\nThe sequel of this distressing case was of an equally melancholy\ncharacter.\n\nPoor Mr. Bradbury was standing close to the unfortunate young man when\nhe committed the sudden attempt upon his own life. The horror of the\nact, and the shocking appearance of his lacerated throat, the blood\nfrom which flowed out upon Mr. Bradbury, in short, this heart-rending\nresult of the previous agitation and discovery, acted upon the\nsensibility of Mr. Bradbury to such an extent as to deprive him of\nreason. This fact was noticeable two days after the above scene, by\nhis entering a church, and after the service was ended, going into the\nvestry, and requesting the clergyman to pray for him, as he intended\nto cut his throat! This distemper of mind was not too great at first\nto admit of partial control; but it daily increased, and ultimately\ncaused him to be placed under restraint.[34]\n\nA woman, about thirty-six years of age, who had been well educated,\nbut whose conduct had not been exempt from some irregularities, in\nconsequence of intemperance and manifold disappointments, became\naffected with madness. She was by turns furious and melancholic, and\nconceived she had murdered one of her children, for which she ought to\nsuffer death. She detailed the manner in which she had destroyed the\nchild, and the motives which actuated her, so circumstantially, and\nwith so much plausibility and feeling, that if it had not been known\nthat her child was living, the physician under whose care she was\nplaced might have been deceived. By her own hands she had repeatedly\nendeavoured to terminate her existence, but was prevented by constant\nvigilance and due restraint. Her disposition to suicide was afterwards\nrelinquished; but she still persisted that for the murder of the child\nshe ought to suffer death, and requested to be sent to Newgate, in\norder to be tried, and undergo the sentence of the law; indeed, she\nappeared to derive consolation from the hope of becoming a public\nexample, and expiating her supposed crime on the scaffold. While in\nthis state, and with a hope of convincing her of its safety, the child\nwas brought to visit her. When she beheld it, there was a temporary\nburst of maternal affection; she kissed it, and for a few moments\nappeared to be delighted: but a look of suspicion quickly succeeded,\nand this was shortly followed by a frown of indignation, which rendered\nthe removal of the child a measure of wholesome necessity. Perhaps\nin no instance was the buoyancy of madness more conspicuous over\nreason, recollection, and feeling. She insisted they had attempted to\nimpose on her a strange child, which bore a faint resemblance to her\nown; however, by such subterfuges she was not to be deceived; she\nhad strangled the child until life had totally departed, and it was\nnot in the order of nature that it should exist again. The effect of\nthis interview was an exasperation of her disorder: she became more\ncunning and malignant, and her desire for an ignominious death was\naugmented. To render this more certain, and accelerate her projected\nhappiness, she enticed into her apartment a young female patient to\nwhom she appeared to be attached, and having previously platted some\nthreads of her bed-quilt into a cord, she fixed it round the neck of\nthe young woman, and proceeded to strangle her. Fortunately, some\nperson entered the room and unloosed the cord in time to save her.\nWhen this unhappy maniac was questioned concerning the motive which\ninduced her to attempt the destruction of a person for whom she had\nmanifested kindness, she very calmly replied, that as the murder of her\nown child was disbelieved, she wished to exhibit a convincing proof\nof the ferocity of her nature, that she might instantly be conveyed\nto Newgate and hanged, which she desired as the greatest blessing.\nWith considerable satisfaction, we may add, that in a few months,\nnotwithstanding her derangement had been of three years\u2019 duration, this\nwoman perfectly recovered, and for a considerable time performed the\nduties of an important and respectable office.[35]\n\nThe great increase of the crime of suicide has been referred by many\nable physicians of the present day to the political excitement to which\nthe minds of the people have been exposed of late years. In despotic\ncountries, suicide and insanity are seldom heard of: the passions\nare checked by the nature of the government; the imagination is not\nelevated to an unhealthy standard; every man is compelled to follow the\ncalling in life to which he is born, and for which he has capacity;\nand on this account the evil and corrupt dispositions of the mind are,\nto a certain extent, kept in abeyance. In republican governments, the\ngreatest latitude is allowed to the turbulent passions; all mankind\nare theoretically placed on an equality; the man whose \u201ctalk is of\nbullocks\u201d considers himself as fit to carry on the complicated business\nof government as he whose education, associations, and experience tend\nto qualify him for the duties of a legislator.\n\nIn proportion as men are exposed to the influence of causes which\nexcite the passions, so will they become predisposed to mental\nderangement in all its forms. The French and American revolutions\nincreased considerably the crime of suicide. It has been said that\nduring the \u201creign of terror\u201d statistical evidence does not shew that\nself-murder was more common than at any other period. Perhaps the\nalleged unfrequency of suicide may be attributed to the circumstance\nof the French people having been so busy in killing others that they\nhad no time to think of killing themselves. More than the average\nnumber of suicides may not have really occurred during the crisis of\nthe Revolution, but it is an undisputed fact that, both before and\nafter that political convulsion, self-destruction prevailed to an\nalarming extent. Disappointed hopes, wounded pride and vanity, blighted\nambition, loss of property, death of friends, disgust of life, all\ncame into active operation after the turbulence and bloodshed of the\nRevolution had somewhat subsided: these passions, working upon minds\neasily excited, and not under the benign influence of religion, it was\nalmost natural to expect that great recklessness of life should be\nexhibited. Such facts demonstrate to us the folly of uselessly exciting\nthe passions of the people, and raising in their minds exaggerated\nexpectations from political changes.\n\nThe tendency of refined sensibility to become wound up in a paroxysm,\nterminating in suicidal attempts, is strikingly illustrated in a case\nreported by Dr. Burrows:\u2014\n\n\u201cA gentleman of a family of rank, and distinguished for talent, married\nearly in life the object of his most ardent affections. He possessed\nextreme sensibility, with a most highly cultivated and refined mind.\nIt may be remarked, as a constitutional peculiarity, that his natural\npulse did not exceed forty beats in a minute. When anything suddenly\noccurred to agitate him, it produced an attack of fever, and his pulse\nwas accelerated in an astonishing degree. Though in ordinary affairs\nhe was a man of firm resolution and great spirit, yet when this fit\nhappened, he was seized with such a panic, or impulse, that he knew\nnot what he did, and he was unnerved for days. His lady being well\nacquainted with the infirmities of his constitution, rendered him,\nby her good sense and soothing, a happier man than he had previously\nbeen. Most unfortunately, she died in the first year of her marriage.\nHis grief at her loss was excessive; and even when time had abated\nits poignancy, he continued very miserable. His thoughts were always\nreverting to the virtues of her whom he had lost, and the comparative\nhappiness he had enjoyed in her society. He tried everything to divert\nhis melancholy; but these impulses would follow reflection; and then\nhis ideas adverted to self-destruction. He reasoned with himself\nupon the subject till, he confessed, he had become an infidel in\nreligion, and could no longer view the act as wicked. I had,\u201d said\nDr. Burrows, \u201can opportunity of knowing the exact state of his mind\nduring this struggle, from perusing some notes which he had written,\ndescribing it. He expressed himself with the utmost tenderness and\naffection with respect to his departed wife, and of his intention of\nsoon joining her by a voluntary death; not, however, in heaven, but\nin Elysium. One night, after having been occupied in reading to some\ndear relations, and apparently much enjoying the subject, he retired\nto his chamber. He undressed, and dismissed his valet. His gloomy\nreflections recurred. One of these strange impulses came over him.\nHe seized a pistol, and discharged it: it failed of effect. He fired\nanother: he wounded himself severely, but not mortally; neither was\nthe effusion of blood great. He then called for assistance. Little\nconstitutional disturbance followed, and the wound readily healed. It\nwas during the time he was confined from the effects of this wound\nthat Dr. Burrows was consulted. He could not detect the slightest\naberration of the mind, nor was there a trait in his countenance of\na propensity to commit suicide. He freely conversed on his past and\npresent situation and opinions; was perfectly ready to submit to any\nsupervision Dr. Burrows might advise, or plan that might be suggested,\nto bring him into a better and happier state of mind. By degrees, he\nacquired more composure. He afterwards travelled for a year and a\nhalf on the Continent. Upon his return, he seemed much improved in\ngeneral appearance. Nothing, however, conquered his constitutional\nsusceptibility.\u201d\n\nThat the LOVE OF NOTORIETY often impels to suicide there cannot be\na doubt. The man who was killed by attaching himself to a rocket,\nand he who threw himself into the crater of Mount Vesuvius, were, no\ndoubt, stimulated by a desire for posthumous fame. Shortly after the\nsuicide at the Monument, a boy made an unsuccessful endeavour to poison\nhimself; and on being questioned as to his motives, he said, \u201cI wished\nto be talked of, like the woman who killed herself at the Monument!\u201d\nHow strange and anomalous are the motives which influence human actions!\n\nMany are induced to think of suicide from the circumstance of their\nbeing conscious that they labour under an hereditary disposition to\ninsanity. We know the case of a lady whose mind has been dwelling upon\nthe subject of suicide for some time, and she has told her friends\nrepeatedly that she feels assured she shall commit some rash act. \u201cThe\ndisposition to suicide and insanity is in the family, and how can I\nfight against my physical organization?\u201d Such is the mode of reasoning\nshe adopts whenever urgently persuaded to banish from her mind the\nhorrid sensations which are embittering her life.\n\nA gentleman, in full possession of his reasoning faculties, and a\nman of considerable powers of intellect, said to us one day, in a\nconversation we had with him on the subject of suicide, \u201cYou may\nprobably smile when I tell you that, happy and contented as I appear\nto be in my mind at this moment, I feel assured I shall fall by my\nown hands.\u201d Upon our asking him why he thought so, he replied, that a\nrelation of his had killed himself some years previously, and that he\nlaboured under an hereditary predisposition which nothing would subdue.\n\nA woman, thirty-five years of age, placed herself, in 1821, under the\ncare of M. Falret, for symptoms of phthisis. When nineteen years old,\nthe death of an uncle, by his own hands, made a deep impression on her\nmind. She heard that insanity was hereditary, and the idea pursued\nher that she should one day fall into this melancholy condition. She\nconfessed her apprehensions only to the priests, who endeavoured to\ndissipate the mournful impression. In this state she continued for two\nyears, when the death of her reputed father, also by suicide, riveted\nthe conviction on her mind that her own doom was sealed. She was\nconvinced that _her blood was corrupted_; and this idea appeared to be\nconfirmed by other circumstances. Tortured by this notion, she resolved\nto drown herself. After leaving a letter in her chamber, apprising her\nfriends of the manner of her meditated death, she plunged into the\nriver; but being immediately taken out, she was restored to life. The\nnight following this attempt, she was harassed with a pain in her head,\nand after a short sleep, awoke, incapable of recognising any of the\nfriends about her. She was evidently delirious, but made no allusion\nto her former melancholy impressions. Although previously religious\nand well-behaved, she uttered nothing but obscenities. This delirious\nexcitement continued three days, and was succeeded by melancholy and a\ndisposition to suicide. Headache again came on, with nausea and bilious\nvomitings, which, however, soon subsided. She became considerably\nemaciated after this, and looked the picture of despair; in fact, she\ncould not look into the glass at herself without terror. Once more she\nwished the aid of religion, which afforded her some consolation, but\nwas insufficient to dissipate entirely her sufferings. Meanwhile, her\nmother revealed to her the secret that her real father was still alive;\nand, after considerable scepticism on the point, she consented to an\ninterview with him. The physical resemblance was so striking, that\nall doubt was instantly removed from her mind. From that moment all\nidea of suicide vanished; her spirits and health became progressively\nre-established. Fourteen years, says Falret, have now elapsed since the\nattempt at self-destruction. She is the mother of three children, and,\nduring her married state, has been reduced to the greatest penury and\ndistress; but has never, since the period alluded to, entertained the\nremotest idea of suicide; on the contrary, she has proved an exemplary\nwife and affectionate parent, having the full possession of her\nintellectual faculties.[36]\n\nEverything that tends to throw the mind off its healthy balance will,\nof course, predispose to suicide. Excessive devotion of the attention\nto any particular branch of study, or to business, often originates\ncerebral disease and suicidal mania. In alluding to the injurious\neffects of excessive study, Marcilius Ficinus, as quoted by Burton,\njustly observes\u2014\u201cOther men look to their tools: a painter will wash\nhis pencils; a smith will look to his hammer, anvil, and forge; a\nhusbandman will mend his plough-irons and grind his hatchet, if it\nbe dull; a falconer or huntsman will have an especial care of his\nhawks, hounds, horses, and dogs; a musician will string and unstring\nhis lute,\u2014only scholars neglect that instrument (their _brain_ and\n_spirit_, I mean) which they daily use, and by which they range over\nall the world, and which by much study is consumed.\u201d\n\nThe melancholy case of William Eyton Tooke, Esq., who committed\nsuicide some years ago, will illustrate the operation of the cause\nreferred to.\n\n\u201cThis gentleman,\u201d says a relative, in a letter to the _Times_\nnewspaper, explanatory of the causes of Mr. T.\u2019s death, \u201cfrom a very\nearly period of life, devoted himself to the most abstruse inquiries\ninto moral and political philosophy, and has thus fallen a victim\nto the absorbing and exclusive nature of the pursuit.\u201d One of the\nwitnesses who was examined at the inquest stated, that the deceased\nwas of an exceedingly studious turn, and had for many months past been\ndirecting his attention particularly to commercial subjects. This\nsubject was his constant study, and the theme of his conversation. It\nseemed to engross the whole of his attention, and his health, both\nbodily and mentally, was evidently impaired by it. A short period\nbefore his death, he was heard frequently to say, placing his hand upon\nhis head, \u201cThis subject is too much for me; my head is distracted!\u201d It\nwas under the influence of this over-excited state of brain that he\ncommitted suicide.\n\nIt has been observed, in another part of this work, that many commit\nsuicide from the notion that death from natural causes is attended\nwith considerable agony.[37] This is the generally received notion,\nbut it is an erroneous one. Those who have often witnessed the act of\ndying allow that it is not a painful process. In some delicate and\nirritable persons, a kind of struggle is indeed sometimes excited when\nrespiration becomes difficult; but more frequently the dying obviously\nsuffer nothing, and express no uneasiness. Dr. Ferriar says, \u201cIn those\nwho die of chronic diseases, the gradation is slow and distinct.\nConsumptive patients are sometimes in a dying state for several\ndays; they appear at such times to suffer little, but to languish for\ncomplete dissolution; nay, I have known them express great uneasiness\nwhen they have been recalled from the commencement of insensibility,\nby the cries of their friends, or the efforts of the attendants to\nalleviate pain. In observing persons in this situation, I have always\nbeen impressed with an idea that the approach of natural death produces\na sensation similar to that of falling asleep. The disturbance of\nrespiration is the only apparent source of uneasiness to the dying; and\nsensibility seems to be impaired just in proportion to the decrease of\nthat function. Besides, both the impressions of present objects and\nthose recalled by memory are influenced by the extreme debility of the\npatient, whose wish is for absolute rest. I could never see the close\nof life under these circumstances without recollecting those beautiful\nlines of Spencer\u2014\n\n  \u201cSleep after toil, port after stormy seas,\n  Ease after war, death after life, doth greatly please.\u201d\n\nProfessor Hufeland, on the subject of death, observes, \u201cthat many fear\ndeath less than the operation of dying.\u201d People, he continues, \u201cform\nthe most singular conceptions of the last struggle\u2014the separation\nof the soul from the body, and the like; but this is all void of\nfoundation. No man certainly ever felt what death is; and insensibly\nas we enter life, equally insensibly do we leave it. The beginning\nand the end are here united. My proofs are as follows:\u2014First, man can\nhave no sensation of dying; for to die means nothing more than to lose\nthe vital powers; and it is the vital power which is the medium of\ncommunication between the soul and the body. In proportion as the vital\npower decreases, we lose the power of sensation and consciousness; and\nwe cannot lose life without, at the same time, or rather before, losing\nour vital sensation, which requires the assistance of the tenderest\norgans. We are taught also by experience that all those who ever\npassed through the first stage of death, and were again brought to\nlife, unanimously asserted that they felt nothing of dying, but sunk at\nonce into a state of insensibility.[38]\n\n\u201cLet us not be led into a mistake by the convulsive throbs, the\nrattling in the throat, and the apparent pangs of death, which are\nexhibited by many persons when in a dying state. These symptoms are\npainful only to the spectators, and not to the dying, who are not\nsensible of them. The case here is the same as if one, from the\ndreadful contortions of a person in an epileptic fit, should form a\nconclusion respecting his internal feelings: from what affects us so\nmuch, he suffers nothing.\n\n\u201cLet one always consider life, as it really is, a mean state, which\nis not an object itself, but a medium for obtaining an object, as the\nmultifarious imperfections of it sufficiently prove: as a period of\ntrial and preparation, a fragment of existence, through which we are to\nbe fitted for, and transmitted to, other periods. Can the idea, then,\nof really making this transition\u2014of ascending to another from this mean\nstate, this doubtful, problematical existence, which never affords\ncomplete satisfaction\u2014ever excite terror? With courage and confidence\nwe may, therefore, resign ourselves to the will of that Supreme Being\nwho, without our consent, placed us in this sublunary theatre, and give\nup to his management the future direction of our fate.\n\n\u201cRemembrance of the past, of that circle of friends who were nearest,\nand always will be dearest to our hearts, and who, as it were, now\nsmile upon us with a friendly look of invitation from that distant\ncountry beyond the grave, will also tend very much to allay the fear of\ndeath.\u201d\n\nWe recollect attending the case of a young lady labouring under a\ndisease which produced extreme mental and physical suffering, who\nexhibited, a short period before her death, some singular phenomena.\nThis lady had not been seen to smile, or to shew any indication of\nfreedom from pain, for some weeks prior to dissolution. Two hours\nbefore she died, the symptoms became suddenly altered in character.\nEvery sign of pain vanished; her limbs, from being subject to violent\nspasmodic contractions, became natural in their appearance; her face,\nwhich had been distorted, was calm and tranquil. All her friends\nsupposed that the crisis of the disease had arrived, and that it had\ntaken a favourable turn, and delight and joy were manifested by all\nwho were allowed access to her chamber, and who were made acquainted\nwith the change which had taken place. She conversed most freely,\nand smiled as if in a happy condition. We must confess that the case\npuzzled us, and that we were for a short time induced to entertain\nsanguine hopes of her ultimate recovery. But, alas! how fragile are\nall our best hopes! For two hours we sat by the bed, watching the\npatient\u2019s countenance with great anxiety. Every unfavourable indication\nhad vanished; her face was illuminated by the sweetest smile that ever\nplayed on the human countenance. During the conversation we had with\nher, she gave a slight start, and said, in a tone of great earnestness,\n\u201cDid you see that?\u201d Her face became suddenly altered; an expression\nof deep anguish fixed itself upon her features, and her eyes became\nmore than ordinarily brilliant. We replied, \u201cWhat?\u201d She answered, \u201cOh!\nyou must have seen it. How terrible it looked as it glided over the\nbed. Again I see it,\u201d she vociferated, with an unearthly scream, \u201cI am\nready!\u201d and, without a groan, her spirit took its flight!\n\nDr. Symonds recollects to have heard a young man, who had been but\nlittle conversant with any but civic scenes, discourse most eloquently,\na short period before his death, of sylvan glen and bosky dells,\npurling streams and happy valleys, as if his spirit had been already\nluxuriating itself in the gardens of Elysium. Nothing more frequently\nprognosticates the approach of death than the appearance of a spectre\nat the bed-side of the patient. In some cases, the mind, when in a happy\nframe, dwells with delight on the contemplation of the last struggle,\nand has a foretaste of that heavenly joy which is the reward of a\nwell-spent life. The spirits of good men and of angels are said to\nhover round the departing soul of the Christian, as if waiting to bear\nit to the mansions of bliss:\u2014\n\n  \u201cSaw you not even now a blessed troop\n  Invite me to a banquet, whose bright faces\n  Cast thousand beams upon me, like the sun?\n  They promised me eternal happiness;\n  And brought me garlands, Griffith, which I feel\n  I am not worthy yet to wear.\u201d\n\n  KING HENRY VIII.\n\nMany have, under the notion that the fear of death is beneficial to the\nmind, done their best to keep the idea constantly before them.\n\n  \u201cIf I must die, I\u2019ll snatch at anything\n  That may but mind me of my latest breath;\n  Death\u2019s-heads, graves, knells, blacks, tombs, all these shall bring\n  Into my soul such useful thoughts of death,\n  That this sable king of fears\n  Shall not catch me unawares.\u201d\n\nYoung raised about him an artificial idea of death; he darkened his\nsepulchral study, placing a skull on his table by lamp-light. At the\nend of an avenue in his garden was placed on a seat an admirable\nchiaro-oscuro, which when approached presented only a painted surface,\nwith an inscription, alluding to the deception of the things of this\nworld.\n\nDr. J. Donne, the celebrated English divine and poet, is said to have\nlonged for the hour of dissolution. Previous to his death, he gave\ninstructions for a monument, which his friends had declared their\nintention to erect to his memory. A carver made him in wood the figure\nof an urn, and having secured the services of a painter, the Doctor\nordered the urn to be brought into his chamber. Having taken off his\nclothes, he procured a white sheet, which was put on him, and tied with\nknots at his hands and feet. In this state he stood upon the urn, with\nhis eyes closed, and a portion of the sheet turned aside in order to\nshew his lean, pale, and death-like face. In this posture, the painter\nsketched him; and when the monument was finished, it was placed by his\nbed-side, and was hourly the source of contemplation until his death.\n\nThe \u201clightening up before death,\u201d so often perceptible, is but the\nresult of venous blood being sent to the brain. When respiration\nbecomes imperfect, the blood does not undergo the proper chemical\nchange in the lungs (arterialization), and its effect on the sentient\norgan is such as is occasionally witnessed prior to dissolution.\nAbernethy considers the sensations of the dying similar to those\nexperienced by persons labouring under delirium. He relates the case\nof a man who appeared, during his delirious state, to meet with old\nacquaintances. The companions of his youthful days flocked once more\naround him\u2014old associations were revived. \u201cHow are you, my dear\nfellow?\u201d he exclaimed. \u201cIt is long since we met. Give us your fist, my\nhearty. Now, that is a good joke; I never heard a better. Ah! ah! ah!\u201d\n\nWe had once the painful duty of watching the expiring struggles of\na man whose life had been one long career of vice and debauchery.\nHis death was truly appalling. It was evident, from the expressions\nwhich escaped him when dying, that his mind had a vivid conception\nof the scenes in which he had played so conspicuous a part. \u201cNow for\nthe dice!\u201d he exclaimed, with the fury of a maniac. \u201cThat\u2019s mine! No!\nall, all is gone! More wine, d\u2014\u2014 you; more wine! Oh! how they rattle!\nFiends, fiends, assail me! I say, you cheat! the cards are marked! Now\nthe chains rattle! O death! O death!\u201d and with a terrific groan he\nbreathed his last.\n\nAmong the causes which operate in producing the disposition to commit\nsuicide, we must not omit to mention those connected with erroneous\nreligious notions. M. Falret justly remarks, that the religious system\nof the Druids, Odin, and Mahomet, by inspiring a contempt for death,\nhave made many suicides. The man who believes that death is an eternal\nsleep, scorns to hold up against calamity, and prefers annihilation.\nThe sceptic also often frees himself by self-destruction from the agony\nof doubting. The maxim of the Stoics, that man should live only so long\nas he ought, not so long as he is able, is, we may observe, the very\nparent of suicide. The Brahmin, looking on death as the very entrance\ninto life, and thinking a natural death dishonourable, is eager at all\ntimes to get rid of life. The Epicureans and Peripatetics ridiculed\nsuicide, as being death caused by fear of death. M. Falret, however,\ngoes perhaps too far when he asserts that the noble manner in which the\ngladiators died in public, not only familiarized the Romans with death,\nbut rendered the thoughts of it rather agreeable than otherwise.\n\nMisinterpretations of passages of scripture will sometimes lead those\nwho are piously inclined to commit suicide. M. Gillet hung himself\nat the age of seventy-five, having left in his own handwriting the\nfollowing apology:\u2014\u201cJesus Christ has said, that when a tree is old and\ncan no longer bear fruit, it is good that it should be destroyed.\u201d\n(He had more than once attempted his life before the fatal act.) Dr.\nBurrows attended a nobleman who, for fear of being poisoned, though\nhe pretended it was in imitation of our Saviour\u2019s fast, took nothing\nbut strawberries and water for three weeks, and these in very moderate\nquantities. He never voluntarily abandoned his resolution. He was at\nlength compelled to take some nutriment, but not until inanition had\ngone too far; and he died completely attenuated. When sound religious\nprinciples produce a struggle in the mind which is beginning to\naberrate, the contest generally ends in suicide.\n\nSome murder themselves to get rid of the horrid thoughts of suicide;\nwhilst others brood over them like Rousseau, for months and for years,\nand at length perpetrate the very action which they dread. A countryman\nof Rousseau\u2019s, who advocated suicide as a duty, and who spent the\ngreater part of a long life in writing a large folio volume to prove\nthe soundness of his doctrine, thought it his duty, after he had\ncompleted his work, to give a practical illustration of his principles,\nand, accordingly, at the age of seventy, threw himself into the Lake of\nGeneva, and was drowned.\n\nIt may appear strange that religion, the greatest blessing bestowed\nby Heaven on man, should ever prove a cause of one of his severest\ncalamities. But perhaps it would be more accurate to impute such\nunhappy effects to fanaticism, or to the total want of religion.\n\nInstances very frequently occur in practice in which patients have\nappeared, some suddenly, and others gradually, to be seized with\na species of religious horror, despairing of salvation, asserting\nthat they had committed sins which never could be forgiven, who had\nnever previously appeared to be under religious impressions. Some of\nthese have been visited by divines of various denominations, and been\ninduced to hear sermons and read books well calculated to dispel gloomy\napprehensions, and excite religious hope and confidence. With some\nthis has succeeded, especially when conjoined with medical aid; but\nit has been observed, that in the cases of those who have recovered,\nthe patients have _emerged_ precisely as they _immerged_; for as they\nbefore were unconcerned about religious matters, so they remained\nafter their recovery; thus the indisposition has been very erroneously\nimputed to religion when it has no kind of affinity to, or concern\nwith it. Such cases almost invariably exhibit the same symptoms, which\ngenerally turn on these points\u2014despair of temporal support, or despair\nof final salvation. But the medical practitioner, and not the divine,\nis the proper person to be consulted in such cases; and, however the\nmind may be affected in them, the patient is to be relieved by means\nof medicine. It may be added, that the agonies of mind under which\nsome persons labour who are called fanatically mad arise from a sense\nof moral turpitude, independent of any peculiar religious tenets or\nopinions.\n\nThe true doctrines of Christianity, when properly inculcated, never\nexcite a gloomy state of mind. \u201cTo be religious,\u201d says South, \u201cit is\nnot necessary to be dull.\u201d Cowper (perhaps, however, the most miserable\nand melancholy of men) beautifully says\u2014\n\n  \u201cTrue piety is cheerful as the day,\n  Will weep indeed, and heave a pitying groan,\n  For others\u2019 woes, but smile upon her own.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nIMITATIVE, OR EPIDEMIC SUICIDE.\n\n\n  Persons who act from impulse liable to be influenced\u2014Principle\n  of imitation, a natural instinct\u2014Cases related by Cabanis and\n  Tissot\u2014The suicidal barbers\u2014Epidemic suicide at the H\u00f4tel\n  des Invalides\u2014Sydenham\u2019s epidemic\u2014The ladies of Miletus\u2014Dr.\n  Parrish\u2019s case\u2014Are insanity and suicide contagious?\n\nThe most singular feature connected with the subject of suicide is,\nthat the disposition to sacrifice life has, at different periods,\nbeen known to prevail epidemically, from a perversion, as it has been\nsupposed, of the natural instinct of imitation. This is not only the\ncase with reference to suicide, but is witnessed also in cases of\nmurder. The atrocities of the French Revolution are, to a certain\nextent, to be traced to the influence of this imitative principle.\nPersons whose feelings are not thoroughly under their command, who act\nfrom impulse and not from reflection, are very prone to be operated\nupon by the cause referred to. Man has been defined an imitative\nanimal; and in many instances we witness this propensity controlling\nalmost irresistibly the actions of the individual. Tissot relates the\ncase of a young woman in whom this faculty was so strongly developed\nthat she could not avoid doing everything she saw others do. Cabanis\ngives the account of a man in whom the tendency to imitate was so\nstrongly marked, and active, from disease, that \u201che experienced\ninsupportable suffering\u201d when he was prevented from yielding to its\nimpulses. A woman, in the ward of an hospital, will be seized with an\nepileptic fit; in the course of a short period, other cases will occur\nin the same ward. A child was brought into one of our metropolitan\nhospitals, labouring under a violent attack of convulsions. She had not\nbeen in the house five minutes before three children who were present\nwere seized with spasmodic convulsions of a similar character. The\ncommission of a great and extraordinary crime produces not unfrequently\nthe mania of imitation in the district in which it happened. A criminal\nwas executed at Paris, not many years ago, for murder. A few weeks\nafterwards, another murder was perpetrated; and when the young man was\nasked to assign a reason for taking away the life of a fellow-creature,\nhe replied, that he was not instigated by any feeling of malice, but,\nafter having witnessed the execution, he felt a desire, over which he\nhad no control, to commit a similar crime, and had no rest until he had\ngratified his feelings. It is only on the same principle that we can\naccount for the following singular case of suicide. It is related by\nSir Charles Bell, in his \u201cInstitutes of Surgery.\u201d The surgeon of the\nMiddlesex Hospital who preceded Sir Charles Bell went into a barber\u2019s\nshop, in the neighbourhood of the institution, to be shaved. As the\nbarber was operating upon his chin, the conversation turned upon the\ncase of a man who had been admitted the previous day into the hospital,\nand who had attempted, unsuccessfully, to kill himself, by cutting his\nthroat. \u201cHe could easily have managed it,\u201d said the surgeon, in rather\na jocular strain, \u201chad he been acquainted with the situation of the\ncarotid artery. He did not cut in the proper place.\u201d \u201cWhere should\nhe have cut?\u201d asked the barber, quietly. The surgeon, not suspecting\nwhat was passing through the barber\u2019s mind, gave a popular lecture on\nthe anatomy of the neck\u2014pointed out the exact position of the large\nvessels, and shewed where they could easily be wounded. After the\nconversation, the barber made some excuse for leaving the room; and,\nnot returning as soon as was expected, the surgeon went to look for\nhim, when he was discovered in the yard, behind the house, with his\nhead nearly severed from his body!\n\nThe following case is, perhaps, more strange and inexplicable than\nthe one just related. The brother of a hairdresser and barber had\nkilled himself by blowing out his brains. The circumstance appeared to\naffect seriously the mind of his relative. He left his business for a\nfew days; and then returned, apparently more tranquil in his mind. In\nthe morning, several persons came in to be shaved; and, all at once,\nhe felt a strong, and almost overwhelming, inclination to cut some\none\u2019s throat. He fought manfully, however, against this horrid desire.\nDuring the whole of the earlier part of the day, he had been able to\nresist the gratification of the feeling. Every time he placed the razor\nin contact with the throat, he fancied he heard a voice within him\nexclaim, \u201cKill him! kill him!\u201d In the afternoon, an elderly gentleman\ncame into the shop to be shaved; and when the barber had nearly\nconcluded the operation, he was again seized with the desire; and,\nbefore he could summon courage enough to suppress it, he gave the man\u2019s\nthroat a tremendous gash; fortunately, however, the wound was not fatal.\n\nGall informs us of a man who, on reading in the newspapers the\nparticulars of a case of murder, perpetrated under circumstances of\npeculiar atrocity, was instantly seized with a desire to murder his\nservant, and would have done so, had he not given his intended victim\ntimely warning to escape.\n\nSome years ago, a man hung himself on the threshold of one of the doors\nof the corridor at the _H\u00f4tel des Invalides_. No suicide had occurred\nin the establishment for two years previously; but in the succeeding\nfortnight, five invalids hung themselves on the same cross bar, and the\ngovernor was obliged to shut up the passage.\n\nSydenham informs us that, at Mansfield, in a particular year, in the\nmonth of June, suicide prevailed to an alarming degree, from a cause\nwholly unaccountable. The same thing happened at Rouen, in 1806;\nat Stuttgard, in the summer of 1811; and at a village of St. Pierre\nMontjean, in the Valais, in the year 1813. One of the most remarkable\nepidemics of the kind was that which prevailed at Versailles in the\nyear 1793. The number of suicides within the year was 1300\u2014a number out\nof all proportion to the population of the town.\n\nIn the olden time, the ladies of Miletus, in a fit of melancholy for\nthe absence of their husbands and lovers, resolved to hang themselves,\nand vied with each other in the alacrity with which they did the\ndeed. In the time of the Ptolemies, a stoic philosopher pleaded so\neloquently, one day, to an Alexandrian audience on the advantages of\nsuicide, that he inspired his hearers with his principles, and a great\nnumber voluntarily sacrificed their lives.\n\nA clergyman, master of a very large and popular school, the locality\nof which, for obvious reasons, it would not do to specify, recently\ninformed one of his friends that he had discovered a new pupil in the\nact of practising a disgraceful vice. \u201cSend him home to his parents,\nand say nothing about it,\u201d was the friend\u2019s judicious recommendation.\nThe schoolmaster, however, placed great confidence in his own eloquence\nand the corrective powers of the birch. He assembled his boys, made an\nexcellent harangue on the guilt of the delinquent, and gave him a sound\nflogging. The example of crime proved more influential than the example\nof punishment, and the vice spread so rapidly that the whole school was\nbroken up in consequence.[39]\n\nThe particulars of the following case are recorded in the \u201cAmerican\nJournal of the Medical Sciences,\u201d by Dr. Parrish. He says, \u201cI was\ncalled to visit a child in the family of J. S., a respectable gentleman\nresiding in my neighbourhood. On my arrival, at 3 P.M., I found,\non going into the chamber of my patient, that death had occurred.\nThe patient was a girl in her fifteenth year, who had been carefully\nbrought up by a family with whom she had lived between seven and eight\nyears. She had generally enjoyed good health, with the exception of\noccasional attacks of sickness of the stomach, and headache. She had\njust passed the age of puberty, and possessed a docile disposition. Her\nsituation in life, as far as could be ascertained, was in every respect\nagreeable, and congenial to her wishes.\n\n\u201cOn the morning of the day of her death, she was engaged as usual in\nthe domestic concerns of the family until eight o\u2019clock, when she was\nobserved in the yard vomiting. Upon inquiring into the history of the\ncase, I found that early in the morning on which the patient died, she\nhad held a conversation with a little girl residing in the next house,\nin which she mentioned having lately read in a newspaper of a man who\nhad been unfortunate in his business, and had taken arsenic to destroy\nhimself; she also spoke of an apothecary\u2019s shop near by, and said she\nfrequently went there.\n\n\u201cThe narration of this conversation afforded strong suspicion to my\nmind that she had committed suicide; a suspicion which was strengthened\nby the fact, that a few months previous I had been called upon to visit\na person residing in the same house, who had suffered for some years\nunder mental derangement, and had recently been discharged from the\ninsane hospital near Frankford; he had taken laudanum, with the intent\nof destroying himself.\n\n\u201cThis circumstance would naturally produce a strong impression upon the\nmind of the child, which was increased, no doubt, by the reading of\nthe case detailed in the newspaper. In this way the desire to commit a\nsimilar act was kindled up in the mind of the deluded girl, and thus,\nby that inexplicable connexion which, in some instances at least,\nappears to exist between the knowledge of such a horrible act and the\ndesire to perform it, she was almost irresistibly impelled to the deed.\n\n\u201cThis case is stated as affording strong testimony in favour of a\nprinciple which is now beginning to attract the attention of medical\nmen\u2014viz., that the publicity which is given to cases of suicide,\nin the newspapers and by other means, forms one of the strongest\nincentives to the commission of the act, in those who have a secret\ndisposition to destroy themselves.\n\n\u201cIf this be the fact, a high responsibility rests upon physicians, so\nto influence public opinion, and more especially editors, as to prevent\nthe narration of the circumstances connected with the death of this\nunfortunate class. No good can certainly arise (to the public) from\nthe exposure of facts which ought to remain concealed in the bosom\nof distressed families; while there is reason to believe the list of\nvictims to suicide is annually very much swelled from the course which\nis now so generally pursued.\u201d[40]\n\nIt has been noticed that certain atmospherical phenomena have attended\nor preceded the suicidal epidemics that have prevailed at various\nperiods. Whether these electrical conditions of the air are in any\nway connected with this peculiar form of contagious malady is a point\nnot easily to be decided. A certain degree of atmospherical moisture\nappears to favour the spread of the suicidal disposition; but this may\nresult from the well known influence of moist air on the disposition\nof the mind, and may operate by causing a degree of mental despondency\nand lassitude, very favourable to the development of the suicidal\nmania, particularly after the occurrence of any very remarkable case\nof self-destruction. It is notorious that nothing is so likely to\nunsettle the mind, especially if an hereditary disposition be present,\nthan constantly associating with lunatics, and allowing the mind to\ndwell for any length of time on the subject of insanity. If actual\nmental derangement does not result from an exposure to the causes\nreferred to, a certain degree of eccentricity bordering on the confines\nof aberration is generally perceptible. With our present amount of\nknowledge of the subtle principle of contagion, it is difficult to\nsay whether an effluvium may not be generated in such cases which,\nunder certain conditions of the system, may communicate disease. We\ncannot possibly say that this is not the case. If we are justified,\nwhich we by no means are willing to admit, in the opinion that the\ndisposition to suicide and insanity may be propagated by contagion,\nusing this term in its usual acceptation, it is a great consolation to\nthe mind to think that only occasionally does the disease exhibit the\nslightest approach to virulence, and that, unlike many of the admitted\ncontagious maladies, we may approach the patient without much fear or\napprehension.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nSUICIDE FROM FASCINATION.\n\n\n  Singular motives for committing suicide\u2014A man who delighted\n  in torturing himself\u2014A dangerous experiment\u2014Pleasures of\n  carnage\u2014Disposition to leap from precipices\u2014Lord Byron\u2019s\n  allusion to the influence of fascination\u2014Miss Moyes and\n  the Monument\u2014A man who could not trust himself with a\n  razor\u2014Esquirol\u2019s opinion of such cases\u2014Danger of ascending\n  elevated places.\n\nHow strange, extraordinary, and inexplicable are the motives which\noften lead to the commission of suicide! Many have been induced to rush\ninto the arms of death in order to avoid the pain which they fancy\naccompanies dissolution. \u201c_Hic, rogo, non furor est, ne moriare mori?_\u201d\nOthers have been apparently led to the perpetration of the crime by a\ndesire to ascertain what sensations attended the act of dying; whilst\nsome have been influenced by a feeling of fascination, and have stated\nthat they experienced ecstatic delight at the idea of self-immolation.\n\nThe case of a man is recorded who felt the most exquisite delight in\ntorturing himself. He had often expressed a wish to be hanged, from\nthe notion that this Newgate mode of terminating life must give rise\nto sensations of great pleasure. The idea occurred to him one day of\ntrying the experiment. He procured a piece of cord, attached it to\nthe ceiling, and suspended himself from it; fortunately for the poor\ninfatuated man, the servant entered the room a few minutes afterwards,\nand cut him down. Life was not extinct. The man expressed that he felt,\nduring the few moments that he was hanging, a thrilling delight, which\nno language that he could use could convey anything like an adequate\nexpression of. There was no doubt that this man laboured under an\nabnormal condition of the mind, which, if not amounting to insanity,\ncertainly approached very nearly the confines of that disease.[41]\n\nA woman was admitted some years back into one of our metropolitan\nhospitals who had a propensity to cut her person with every sharp\ninstrument that she could procure. It was not her intention to kill\nherself; and when reasoned with on the folly of her actions, she\nobserved that she was impelled by no other motive than the fascinating\npleasure she experienced whenever she succeeded in drawing blood.\n\nA lady, a passenger on board of a ship bound for the East Indies,\nwas frequently heard to express a wish to know what feeling a person\nexperienced in the act of being drowned. She fancied the sensations\nmust be of a pleasurable character. Her fellow-passengers laughed\nat her whenever she alluded to the matter. Having introduced the\nsubject again during dinner, she observed, \u201cWell, I intend to try the\nexperiment to-morrow morning.\u201d The threat only excited the merriment\nof those who heard it. In the morning, whilst the passengers were on\ndeck, the lady plunged into the sea, to the astonishment of everybody.\nLuckily for her, the ship was becalmed, and her life was saved.\n\nAn extraordinary young man, who lived at Paris, and who was\npassionately fond of mechanics, shut himself up one evening in his\napartment, and bound not only his chest and stomach, but also his\narms, legs, and thighs, with ropes full of knots, the ends of which he\nfastened to hooks in the wall. After having passed a considerable part\nof the night in this situation, he wished to disengage himself, but\nattempted it in vain. Some neighbouring females, who were up, heard\nhis cries, and, calling for assistance, they forced open the door of\nhis room, when they found him swinging in the air, with only one arm\nextricated. He was immediately carried to the lieutenant-general of the\npolice for examination, when he declared that he had often put similar\ntrials into execution, as he experienced _indescribable pleasure in\nthem_. He confessed that at first he felt pain, but that after the\ncords became tight to a certain degree, he was soon rewarded by the\nmost exquisite sensations of pleasure.[42]\n\n\u201cAs the chill dews of evening were surrounding our bivouac,\u201d says the\nauthor of the \u201cRecollections of the Peninsula,\u201d \u201ca staff officer, with\na courier, came galloping into it, and alighted at the quarters of our\ngeneral. It was soon known amongst us that a severe and sanguinary\naction had been fought by our brother soldiers at Talavera. Disjointed\nrumours spoke of a dear-bought field, a heavy loss, and a subsequent\nretreat. I well remember how we all gathered round our fires to listen,\nto conjecture, and to talk about this glorious, but bloody event. We\nregretted that we had borne no share in the honours of such a day; and\n_we talked with an undefined pleasure about the carnage_. Yes! strange\nas it may appear, soldiers, and not they alone, talk of the danger of\nbattle fields with a sensation which partakes of pleasure.\u201d\n\nA watchmaker of Aberdeen, who had been looking over the precipices of\nLoch-na-Gair, suddenly felt a desire to precipitate himself from the\nheight, and having first taken a step or two back for the purpose, he\nflung himself off.\n\nA gentleman travelling through Switzerland, with his wife, came to an\neminence commanding an extensive and beautiful view of the surrounding\ncountry. He went, accompanied by his wife, to the edge of a mountainous\ncliff, and, turning round to his lady, he observed\u2014\u201cI have lived long\nenough!\u201d and in a moment threw himself down the precipice.\n\nIt was a notion of this kind which induced Lord Byron to observe that\nhe believed no man ever took a razor into his hand who did not at the\nsame time think how easily he might sever the silver cord of life. The\nnoble poet evidently alludes, in the following stanzas, to the strange\nand unaccountable influence of fascination in exciting the mind to\ncommit suicide:\u2014\n\n  \u201cA sleep without dreams, after a rough day\n  Of toil, is what we covet most, and yet\n  How clay shrinks back from more quiescent clay!\n  The very suicide that pays his debts\n  At once, without instalments, (an old way\n  Of paying debts, which creditors regret,)\n  Lets out impatiently his rushing breath,\n  Less from disgust of life than dread of death.\n\n  \u2019Tis round him, near him, there, everywhere;\n  And there\u2019s a courage which grows out of fear,\n  Perhaps of all most desperate, which will dare\n  The _worst_ to know it:\u2014when the mountains rear\n  Their peaks beneath your human foot, and there\n  You look down o\u2019er the precipice, and drear\n  The gulf of rock yawns,\u2014you can\u2019t gaze a minute\n  Without an awful wish to plunge within it!\n\n  \u2019Tis true, you don\u2019t\u2014but, pale and struck with terror,\n  Retire: but look into your past impression!\n  And you will find, though shuddering at the mirror\n  Of your own thoughts, in all their self-confession,\n  The lurking bias, be it truth or error,\n  To the _unknown_; a secret prepossession,\n  To plunge with all your fears\u2014but where? You know not,\n  And that\u2019s the reason why you do\u2014or do not.\u201d\n\nA gentleman with whom we are acquainted, informed us that, a few\ndays after Miss Moyes had thrown herself from the Monument, a friend\nof his had the curiosity to visit the spot, and on looking down the\nawful height from which this poor unfortunate girl had precipitated\nherself, he felt suddenly an attack of giddiness, which was succeeded\nin a moment by one of the most pleasurable sensations he had ever\nexperienced, accompanied with a desire to jump off. He was not\ninfluenced, apparently, by any other motive than that of a wish to\ngratify a feeling of ecstasy which for a minute suspended all the\noperations of the mind. A gentleman who was by him asked him a question\nwith reference to the height of the Monument, and this circumstance\nrecalling him to the exercise of his reasoning faculties, he\nimmediately left the spot, shuddering at the recollection of the idea\nwhich had momentarily flashed across his mind.\n\nThe case is related of a man who had this feeling so strongly\nmanifested that he never dared trust himself with a razor. He was\nnot devoid of religious feeling, and was most happy in his domestic\nrelations. On occasions which required the exercise of moral\nresolution, he was never found wanting. He declared his life would\nnot be safe for a day if he were permitted to shave himself. Such\ninstances are by no means uncommon, and require much ingenuity to\naccount satisfactorily for them, unless they be referred to the effect\nof fascination.\n\nAndral observes, \u201cthat there are many men perfectly rational, and\ncompletely undisturbed by care or pain, who, singular to state,\nhave been suddenly seized by a headlong, groundless inclination to\ndestroy themselves. There are hundreds who cannot approach the brink\nof a cliff, or ascend a lofty tower, without experiencing an almost\ninvincible desire to precipitate themselves to the bottom, from which\nfate they only save themselves by an instantaneous effort to retire\nfrom the temptation. I knew a gentleman who, while shaving himself\none day, alone, was three times so vehemently urged to plunge the\nrazor into his throat, that he was at length compelled to throw the\ninstrument from him, in absolute horror and dismay. In rational men,\nhowever, these trying and dangerous moments are but of very short\nduration.\u201d\n\nA sailor informed us that he had often, when at the top of the\nmast, felt disposed to precipitate himself from the giddy eminence,\ninfluenced by no other motive than that of pleasure.\n\nIn such cases, what course is the medical man to pursue? It is\ndifficult to give any instructions for the treatment of such cases\nof mental idiosyncrasy. Persons who are subject to feelings of this\ncharacter should be advised to avoid ascending elevated places.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nOF THE ENTHUSIASM AND MENTAL IRRITABILITY WHICH, IF ENCOURAGED, WOULD\nLEAD TO SUICIDE.\n\n\n  Connexion between genius and insanity\u2014Authors of fiction\n  often feel what they write\u2014Metastasio in tears\u2014The enthusiasm\n  of Pope, Alfieri, Dryden\u2014Effects of the first reading of\n  Telemachus and Tasso on Madame Roland\u2019s mind\u2014Raffaelle and\n  his celebrated picture of the Transfiguration\u2014The convulsions\n  of Malbranche\u2014Beattie\u2019s Essay on Truth\u2014Influence of intense\n  study on Boerrhave\u2019s mind\u2014The demon of Spinello and\n  Luther\u2014Bourdaloue and his violin\u2014Byron\u2019s sensitiveness\u2014Men do\n  not always practise what they preach\u2014Cases of Smollett, La\n  Fontaine, Sir Thomas More, Zimmerman\u2014Tasso\u2019s spectre\u2014Johnson\u2019s\n  superstition\u2014Concluding remarks.\n\nIt has been observed that the act of suicide may often originate in a\nfeeling analogous to the enthusiasm exhibited by men of great genius\nand sensibility. This mental idiosyncrasy, which borders so closely on\nthe confines of insanity, has been compared to the narrow bridge of\nAl Sirat, which leads the followers of Mahomet from earth to heaven,\nbut by so narrow a path that the passenger is in momentary danger of\nfalling into the dismal gulf which yawns beneath him. This abnormal\ncondition of the nervous system is, to a certain extent, dependent on\nnatural organic structure, aided materially by an unhealthy exercise\nof the imaginative faculty. Fielding spoke but the history of his own\nsensations when he declared that he \u201chad no doubt but the most pathetic\nscenes had been writ with tears.\u201d Metastasio was found weeping over\nhis Olympiad. He says: \u201cWhen I apply with attention, the nerves of my\nsensorium are put into a violent tumult; I grow as red as a drunkard,\nand am obliged to quit my work.\u201d Pope could not proceed with certain\npassages of his translation of Homer without shedding tears. Alfieri\ndeclares that he frequently penned the most tender passages in his\nplays \u201cunder a paroxysm of enthusiasm, and whilst shedding tears.\u201d\nDryden was seized with violent tremors during the composition of his\ncelebrated ode. Rousseau, in conceiving the first idea of his Essay on\nthe Arts, became almost delirious with enthusiasm.\n\nMadame Roland has thus powerfully described the ideal presence in\nher first readings of Telemachus and Tasso:\u2014\u201cMy respiration rose,\nI felt a rapid fire colouring my face, and my voice changing had\nbetrayed my agitation. I was Eucharis for Telemachus, and Emenia for\nTancred. Having my reason during this perfect transformation, I did\nnot yet think that I myself was anything for any one: the whole had\nno connexion with myself. I sought for nothing around me; I was they;\nI saw only the objects which existed for them; it was a dream without\nbeing awakened.\u201d\n\nRaffaelle says, alluding to his celebrated picture, the\nTransfiguration\u2014\u201cWhen I have stood looking at that picture, from figure\nto figure, the eagerness, the spirit, the close unaffected attention of\neach figure to the principal action, my thoughts have carried me away,\nthat I have forgot myself, and for that time might be looked upon as\nan enthusiastic madman; for I could really fancy the whole action was\npassing before my eyes.\u201d\n\nMalbranche was seized with violent palpitations of the heart when\nreading Descartes\u2019s Treatise on Man:\u2014\n\n  \u201cWith curious art, the brain too finely wrought\n  Preys on itself, and is destroyed by thought;\n  Constant attention wears the active mind,\n  Blots out her powers, and leaves a blank behind.\u201d\n\nIntense occupation of mind to any particular branch of study, often\nbrings the mind on the verge of madness. \u201cSince the \u2018Essay on Truth\u2019\nwas printed in quarto,\u201d says Dr. Beattie, \u201cI have never _dared_ to read\nit over. I durst not even read the sheets to see whether there were any\nerrors in the print, and was obliged to get a friend to do that office\nfor me. These studies came, in time, to have dreadful effects upon\nmy nervous system; and I cannot read what I then wrote without some\ndegree of horror, because it recalls to my mind the horrors that I have\nsometimes felt after passing a long evening in these severe studies.\u201d\n\nBoerrhave has related of himself that, having imprudently indulged in\nintense thought on a particular subject, he did not close his eyes for\nsix weeks afterwards.\n\nSpinello, having painted the fall of the rebellious angels, had so\nstrongly imagined the illusion, and more particularly the terrible\nfeatures of Lucifer, that he was himself struck with such horror as\nto have been long afflicted with the presence of the demon to which\nhis genius had given birth. Swedenburg saw a terrestrial heaven in the\nglittering streets of his New Jerusalem.\n\nMalbranche declared he heard the voice of God distinctly within him.\nPascal often was seen to rush suddenly from his chair at the appearance\nof a fiery gulf by his side. Luther maintained that during his\nconfinement the devil used to visit him.\n\nHudibras says\u2014\n\n  \u201cDid not the devil appear to Martin\n  Luther, in Germany, for certain?\u201d\n\nHe declares that he had many a contest with his satanic majesty, and\nthat he had always the best of the argument. At one time, the devil so\nenraged Luther that he threw the ink-stand at him, an action which the\nGerman commentators greatly applaud, from a conviction that there is\nnothing which the devil abhors more than ink.\n\nDescartes, after long confinement, was followed by an invisible person,\ncalling upon him to pursue the search of truth.\n\nMozart\u2019s sensibility to music was connected with so susceptible a\nnervous system that, in his childhood, the sound of a trumpet would\nturn him pale, and almost induce convulsions. Dr. Conolly relates an\namusing anecdote of the celebrated Bourdaloue. It is said that the\ncomposition of his eloquent sermons so excited his mind that he was\nunable to deliver them until he discovered some mode of allaying his\nexcitement. \u201cHis attendants one day were both scandalized and alarmed,\non proceeding to his apartment, for the purpose of accompanying him to\nthe cathedral, by hearing the sound of a fiddle, on which was played\na very lively tune. After their first consternation, they ventured to\nlook through the keyhole, and were still more shocked to behold the\ngreat divine dancing about, without his gown and canonicals, to his own\ninspiring music. Of course, they concluded him to be mad. But, when\nthey knocked, the music ceased; and after a short and anxious interval,\nhe met them with a composed dress and manner; and, observing some signs\nof astonishment in the party, explained to them that without his music\nand his exercise he should have been unable to undertake the duties of\nthe day.\u201d\n\nIn the character of Lord Byron we have an apt illustration of the kind\nof mental irritability and morbid sensitiveness of feeling that so\noften incites to acts of desperation. It has been said that the noble\npoet was the child of passion, born in bitterness and \u201cnurtured in\nconvulsion.\u201d The true state of his mind can best be divined from the\ndelineation of his own sensations as given in Childe Harold:\u2014\n\n                      \u201cI have thought\n  Too long and darkly, till my brain became\n  In its own eddy boiling, and orwrought\n  A whirling gulf of phantasy and flame:\n  And thus untaught in youth my heart to tame,\n  My springs of life were poisoned.\u201d\n\nByron was subject to attacks of epilepsy; and perhaps this fact may\naccount for much of the spleen and irritability which he manifested\nthrough life, and which made him so many enemies. It also teaches us\nan important lesson. We are too apt to form our estimate of character\nwithout taking into consideration all those circumstances which are\nknown materially to influence human thought and actions. The state\nof the organization and the health ought to be maturely weighed\nbefore we pronounce authoritatively as to the motives of individuals,\nor denounce them for not acting or thinking according to what our\npreconceived opinions have taught us to consider as orthodox. Byron\u2019s\nmind was morbidly alive to impressions. The most trifling circumstance\nwould cause him to swoon. At Bologna, in 1819, he describes one of\nhis convulsive attacks:\u2014\u201cLast night I went to the representation of\nAlfieri\u2019s Myrrha, the last two acts of which threw me into convulsions;\nI don\u2019t mean by that word lady\u2019s hysterics, but an agony of reluctant\ntears, and the choking shudder which I do not often undergo for\nfiction.\u201d He was seized in a similar manner at seeing Kean in Sir Giles\nOverreach; he was carried out of the theatre in convulsions. From early\nlife, Byron exhibited this abnormal excitability. There can be no doubt\nthat it was but the natural effect of a peculiar condition of nervous\nfunction; but, instead of endeavouring to subdue the feeling, he did\nhis best to encourage it, and to fan the fire into a flame. He appears\nto have been tortured by horrid dreams. He says in his Journal\u2014\u201cI awoke\nfrom a dream: well, have not others dreamed? Such a dream! But she did\nnot overtake me! I wish the dead would rest for ever. Ugh! how my blood\nis chilled! I do not like this dream; I hate its foregone conclusion.\u201d\n\nThe \u201cBride of Abydos\u201d was written to distract the poet\u2019s mind from his\ndreams. He was in such a nervous state at this period, that he says if\nhe had not done something, he must have gone mad, or have eat his own\nheart.\n\nStendhal, alluding to Byron\u2019s apparent remorse, asks, \u201cIs it not\npossible that Byron might have had some guilty stain on his conscience,\nsimilar to that which wrecked Othello\u2019s fame? Can it be, have we\nsometimes exclaimed, that, in a frenzy of pride or jealousy, he\nhad shortened the days of some fair Grecian slave, faithless to her\nvows?\u201d[43]\n\nIt is not just to form our opinions of the character of men by their\nwritings or actions. In the mass, we are ready to admit that we have no\nother criteria by which to be guided; but we may charitably consider\nthat Byron was not himself the \u201cdark original he drew.\u201d\n\n  \u201cO memory! torture me no more:\n    The present\u2019s all o\u2019ercast\u2014\n  My hopes of future bliss are o\u2019er;\n    In mercy, veil the past.\u201d\n\nSuch were his feelings at the age of seventeen.\n\nLa Fontaine penned tales fertile in intrigues, and yet he was never\nknown, says D\u2019Israeli, to have been engaged in a single amour. Smollett\nwas anything but what his writings would lead us to expect. Cowley\nboasted of his mistresses, and wanted the courage to address one.\nBurton declaimed against melancholy, and yet he was the most miserable\nof men. Sir Thomas More preached in favour of toleration, yet in\npractice was a fierce persecutor. Zimmerman, whilst he was inculcating\nbeautiful lessons of benevolence, was by his tyranny driving his son\ninto madness, and leaving his daughter an outcast from home. Go\u00ebthe\nsays, \u201cZimmerman\u2019s harshness towards his children was the effect of\nhypochondria, a sort of madness or moral assassination, to which he\nhimself fell a victim after sacrificing his offspring.\u201d\n\nByron occasionally fancied he was visited by a spectre, which he\nconfesses was but the effect of an overstimulated brain.\n\nTasso, whose fine imagination the passions of hopeless love, and\nof grief occasioned by ill treatment, disordered, was in daily\ncommunication with a spirit. This circumstance is alluded to in the\nfollowing anecdote of him, prefixed to Hoole\u2019s translation of his \u201c_La\nGierusalemme Liberata_.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn this place (at Bisaccio, near Naples) Manso had an opportunity\nof examining the singular effects of Tasso\u2019s melancholy, and often\ndisputed with him concerning a familiar spirit, with which he pretended\nto converse. Manso endeavoured in vain to persuade his friend that\nthe whole was the illusion of a disturbed imagination; but the latter\nwas strenuous in maintaining the reality of what he asserted; and to\nconvince Manso, desired him to be present at one of these mysterious\nconversations. Manso had the complaisance to meet him next day; and\nwhile they were engaged in discourse, on a sudden he observed that\nTasso kept his eyes fixed upon a window, and remained in a manner\nimmovable. He called him by his name several times, but received no\nanswer. At last Tasso cried out, \u2018There is the friendly spirit, who\nis come to converse with me. Look, and you will be convinced of the\ntruth of all that I have said.\u2019 Manso heard him with surprise; he\nlooked, but saw nothing except the sunbeams darting through the window:\nhe cast his eyes all over the room, but could perceive nothing, and\nwas just going to ask where the pretended spirit was, when he heard\nTasso speak with great earnestness, sometimes putting questions to the\nspirit, and sometimes giving answers, delivering the whole in such a\npleasing manner, and with such elevated expressions, that he listened\nwith admiration, and had not the least inclination to interrupt him.\nAt last the uncommon conversation ended with the departure of the\nspirit, as appeared by Tasso\u2019s words, who, turning to Manso, asked him\nif his doubts were removed? Manso was more amazed than ever; he scarce\nknew what to think of his friend\u2019s situation, and waved any further\nconversation on the subject.\u201d\n\nBoswell says, Dr. Johnson mentioned a thing as not unfrequent, of\nwhich he (Boswell) had never heard before,\u2014being called, that is,\nhearing one\u2019s name pronounced, by the voice of a known person at a\ngreat distance, far beyond the possibility of being reached by any\nsound, uttered by human organs. An acquaintance, on whose veracity\nBoswell says he could place every dependence, told him that, walking\nhome one evening to Kilmarnock, he heard himself called from a wood,\nby the voice of a brother who had gone to America, and the next packet\nbrought the account of that brother\u2019s death. Macbean asserted that this\ninexplicable _calling_ was a thing very well known. Dr. Johnson said,\nthat one day at Oxford, as he was turning the key of his chambers, he\nheard distinctly his mother call _Sam!_ She was then at Lichfield; but\nnothing ensued.\n\nSir Joshua Reynolds gives an amusing instance of Dr. Johnson\u2019s\neccentricity. He says, \u201cWhen he and I took a journey into the west, we\nvisited the late Mr. Banks, of Dorsetshire. The conversation turning\nupon pictures, which Johnson could not well see, he retired to a corner\nof the room, stretching out his right leg as far as he could reach\nbefore him, then bringing up his left leg, and stretching his right\nstill further on. The old gentleman observing him, went up to him, and\nin a very courteous manner assured him that, though it was not a new\nhouse, the flooring was perfectly safe. The Doctor started from his\nreverie, like a person waked out of a sleep, but spoke not a word.\u201d\n\nDr. Johnson had one peculiarity, says Boswell, of which none of his\nfriends dared to ask an explanation. This was an anxious care to go out\nor in at a door or passage by a certain number of steps from a certain\npoint, so that either his right or left foot should constantly make\nthe first actual movement. Thus, upon innumerable occasions, Boswell\nhas seen him suddenly stop, and then seem to count his steps with\ndeep earnestness; and when he had neglected, or gone wrong in this\nsort of magical movement, he has been noticed to go back again, put\nhimself in a proper posture to recommence the ceremony, and having gone\nthrough it, break from his abstraction, briskly walk on, and join his\ncompanions.\n\nAn inordinate cultivation of any one faculty of the mind, but more\nparticularly the imagination, will tend to produce the peculiarities\nwhich have been illustrated in this chapter. A person who accustoms\nhimself to live in a world created by his own fancy\u2014who surrounds\nhimself with flimsy idealities\u2014will, in the course of time, cease\nto sympathize with the gross realities of life. The imaginary\nintelligences which his own morbid mind has called into existence will\nexercise a terrific influence over him. A German poet commenced writing\na poem on the Deity. He allowed his mind to dwell so intensely on the\nsubject, that he fancied he was commanded to \u201cflee from a world of\nsin and iniquity;\u201d to effect which, he cut his throat, and was found\ndead in bed, with the razor in one hand and a portion of his poem in\nthe other. The apparitions which the monomaniac fancies to haunt him\nare as real and sensible existences to him, as objects are to persons\nwho have a healthy use of the media through which ideas obtain access\nto the mind. Mr. Calcraft, the late member of parliament, committed\nsuicide. He imagined that a strange unearthly-looking being sat night\nand day perched at the top of his bed, watching with earnestness his\nevery movement. This, which to all around him was an hallucination, to\nhim _was_ a reality. It is possible for a person of vivid imagination\nto conjure into apparent existence the most grotesque images of the\nfancy, by allowing the mind to dwell with intenseness on a particular\ntrain of thought, and by perfectly abstracting the attention from all\nmateriality.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nPHYSICAL CAUSES OF SUICIDE.\n\n\n  Influence of climate\u2014The foggy climate of England does not\n  increase the number of suicides\u2014Average number of suicides in\n  each month, from 1817 to 1826\u2014Influence of seasons\u2014Suicides\n  at Rouen\u2014The English not a suicidal people\u2014Philip Mordaunt\u2019s\n  singular reasons for self-destruction\u2014Causes of French\n  suicides\u2014Influence of physical pain\u2014Unnatural vices\u2014Suicide\n  the effect of intoxication\u2014Influence of hepatic disease\n  on the mind\u2014Melancholy and hypochondriasis, Burton\u2019s\n  account of\u2014Cowper\u2019s case of suicide\u2014Particulars of his\n  extreme depression of spirits\u2014Byron and Burns\u2019s melancholy\n  from stomach and liver derangement\u2014Influence of bodily\n  disease on the mind\u2014Importance of paying attention to it\u2014A\n  case of insanity from gastric irritation\u2014Dr. Johnson\u2019s\n  hypochondria\u2014Hereditary suicide, illustrated by cases\u2014Suicide\n  from blows on the head, and from moral shocks communicated to\n  the brain\u2014Dr. G. Mantell\u2019s valuable observations and cases\n  demonstrative of the point\u2014Concluding remarks.\n\nThe following are the physical causes which are commonly found to\noperate in producing the suicidal disposition\u2014viz., climate, seasons,\nhereditary predisposition, cerebral injuries, physical suffering,\ndisease of the stomach and liver complicated with melancholia and\nhypochondriasis, insanity, suppressed secretions, intoxication,\nunnatural vices, and derangement of the _prim\u00e6 vi\u00e6_. These causes can\nonly act by influencing sympathetically the brain and nervous system,\nand in that way interfering with the healthy operations of the mind.\nMuch will, of course, depend upon the physical conformation of the\nindividual exposed to such agents. Should he labour under an hereditary\npredisposition to insanity, or to suicidal delirium, a very trifling\ncorporeal derangement may call into existence the self-destructive\npropensity, and _vice versa_. It will be our object to consider\n_seriatim_ all the physical agents just enumerated.\n\nAmong the causes of suicide, the foggy climate of England has been\nbrought prominently forward. The specious and inaccurate conclusions\nof Montesquieu on this point have misled the public mind. The climate\nof Holland is much more gloomy than that of England, and yet in that\ncountry suicide is by no means common. The reader will perceive from\nthe following tabular statement that the popular notion of the month of\nNovember being the \u201csuicide\u2019s month\u201d is founded on erroneous _data_.\n\nThe average number of suicides in each month, from 1817 to 1826, was as\nfollows:\u2014\n\n  January    213\n  February   218\n  March      275\n  April      374\n  May        328\n  June       336\n  July       301\n  August     296\n  September  246\n  October    198\n  November   131\n  December   217\n            \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\n            3133\n\n\nIt has been clearly established that in all the European capitals,\nwhen anything approaching to correct statistical evidence can be\nprocured, the _maximum_ of suicide is in the months of June and July;\nthe _minimum_ in October and November. Temperature appears to exercise\na much more decided influence than the circumstances of moisture and\ndryness, storms or serenity. M. Villeneuve has observed a warm, humid,\nand cloudy atmosphere to produce a marked bad effect at Paris; and\nthat so long as the barometer indicated stormy weather, this effect\ncontinued.[44] Contrary, however, to the opinion of Villeneuve, it\nappears that by far the fewer number of suicides occur in the autumn\nand winter at Paris, than in the spring and summer.\n\n_Number of suicides for seven years._\n\n  In Spring  997\n  In Summer  933\n  In Autumn  627\n  In Winter  648\n\nWhen the thermometer of Fahrenheit ranges from 80\u00b0 to 90\u00b0 suicide is\nmost prevalent.\n\nThe English have been accused by foreigners of being the _beau-ideal_\nof a suicidal people. The charge is almost too ridiculous to merit\nserious refutation. It has clearly been established that where there is\none suicide in London, there are five in Paris. In the year 1810, the\nnumber of suicides committed in London amounted to 188; the population\nof Paris being near 400,000 less than that of London. From the year\n1827 to 1830, no less than 6900 suicides occurred; that is, an average\nof nearly 1800 per annum. Out of 120,000 persons who ensured their\nlives in the London Equitable Insurance Company, the number of suicides\nin twenty years was only fifteen; so much for the English being _par\nexcellence_ disposed to suicide.\n\nThe causes which frequently lead to self-destruction in France are,\ndefective religious education, _ennui_, and loss at dice or cards.\nIn considering the circumstances which produce this disparity in the\nnumber of voluntary deaths in the two countries, we must bear in mind\nthe moral and religious habits of the people. When Christianity is not\nacknowledged as a matter of vital importance in the affairs of man;\nwhen morality is considered only as a conventional term, conveying\nno definite idea to the mind, it is natural that there should exist,\nco-relative with this tone of feeling, a marked recklessness of human\nlife. Some notion may be formed of the state of religious feeling in\nParis, when our readers are informed of the existence in the French\nmetropolis of a \u201csociety for the mutual encouragement of suicide,\u201d all\nthe members of which, on joining it, swear to terminate their existence\nby their own hands, when life becomes insupportable.\n\nDr. Schlegel dwells at much length on the abandoned state of Paris, and\nafter giving us some important statistical evidence, he alludes to the\ngross immorality of the people, and denounces the French capital as \u201ca\nsuffocating boiling cauldron, in which, as in the stew of Macbeth\u2019s\nwitches, there simmer, with a modicum of virtue, all kinds of passions,\nvices, and crimes.\u201d\n\nAlluding to the peculiarities of the French people, particularly their\nindifference to human life, an eminent writer observes, speaking of\ntheir notions of suicide, that a Frenchman asks you to see him \u201cgo\noff,\u201d as if death were a place in the _malle poste_. \u201cWill you dine\nwith me to-day?\u201d said a Frenchman to a friend. \u201cWith the greatest\npleasure;\u2014yet, now I think of it, I am particularly engaged to shoot\nmyself; one cannot get off _such_ an engagement.\u201d This is not the\nsuicide _\u00e0 la mode_ with us. We ape at no such extra civilization\nand refinement. We can be romantic without blowing out our brains.\nEnglish lovers do not, when \u201cthe course of true love\u201d does not run\nsmooth, retire to some sequestered spot, and rush into the next world\nby a brace of pistols tied with cherry-coloured ribbons. When we do\nshoot ourselves, it is done with true English gravity. It is no joke\nwith us. We have no inherent predilection for the act; no \u201chereditary\nimperfection of the nervous juices,\u201d as Montesquieu, with all the\nimpudence and gravity of a philosopher, asserts, forcing us to commit\nsuicide. \u201cLife,\u201d said a man who had exhausted all his external sources\nof enjoyment, and had no internal ones to fly to, \u201chas given me a\nheadache; and I want a good sleep in the churchyard to set me to\nrights,\u201d to procure which, he deliberately shot himself.[45]\n\nA late French writer thus attempts to account for the prevalence\nof suicide in France:\u2014\u201cThe external circumstances which tend to\nsuggest the idea of suicide are very numerous, at the present day, in\nFrance; but more particularly so in the capital. The high development\nof civilization and refinement which prevails here\u2014the clash of\ninterests\u2014the repeated political changes\u2014all contribute to keep the\nmoral feelings in a perpetual state of tension. Life does not roll\non among us in a peaceful and steady current; it rushes forward with\nthe force and precipitation of a torrent. In the terrible _m\u00eal\u00e9e_,\nit often happens that the little minority, which has obtained a\nfooting high above the multitude for a time, falls down as suddenly as\nthey have risen. The struggles of life are full of miscalculations,\ndisappointments, despair, and disgust. Hence the general source of\nour frequent suicides. But there are other causes in operation; and\nnot the least, the strange turn that plays and spectacles have lately\ntaken. The public taste has undergone a complete revolution in this\nrespect. Nothing is more patronized now at the theatre than the display\nof crime unpunished, human misery unconsoled, and a low literature,\nimpregnated by a spurious philosophy, declaiming against society,\nagainst domestic life, against virtue itself; applauding the vengeance\nof the assassin, and recognising genius only as it is seen in company\nwith spleen, poison, and pistols. We appeal to all who read the novels\nof the present day, and who visit the theatres, whether what we say is\nnot the fact.\u201d\n\nIt has been questioned whether physical suffering often originates\nthe desire for suicide. Too many lamentable cases are on record to\nprevent us from coming to an opposite conclusion. Esquirol has justly\nobserved, that \u201cHe who has no intervals of ease from corporeal pain;\nwho sees no prospects of relief from his cruel malady, fails at length\nin resignation, and destroys his life in order to put a period to his\nsufferings. He calculates that the pain of dying is but momentary, and\ncommits the act in a cool and meditated despair. It is the same in\nrespect to _moral_ condition, that drives the hypochondriac to suicide,\nwho is firmly persuaded that his sufferings are beyond imagining; that\nthey are irremediable, either from some fatal peculiarity in his own\nconstitution, or the ignorance of his physicians. It is a remarkable\nfeature in hypochondriasis, and in no other disease, that there is\nsuch a fear of death and a desire to die combined. Both fears proceed\nfrom the same pusillanimity. Finally, it may be remarked that the\nhypochondriac talks most of death; often wishes his attendants to\nperform the friendly office; even makes attempts on his own life,\nbut rarely accomplishes the act. The most trifling motive, the most\nfrivolous pretext, is a sufficient excuse for procrastinating, from day\nto day, the threatened catastrophe.\u201d\n\nThe following case occurred in a provincial mad-house, in France. An\napothecary who was confined there was haunted with _ennui_, and was\nalways begging his companions to put him to death. At length, an insane\npatient was admitted, who instantly complied with the apothecary\u2019s\nrequest. They both watched an opportunity, got out of a window in the\nback yard, and from thence into the kitchen. They pitched upon the\ncook\u2019s chopper, and the apothecary laying his head on a block, his\ncompanion deliberately and effectually severed it from his body. He was\nseized, and examined before a tribunal, where he candidly confessed\nthe whole transaction, and observed that he would again perform the\nsame friendly office for any unhappy wretch who was tired of his\nexistence![46]\n\nLucinius C\u00e6cinius, the pr\u00e6tor, subdued by the pain and _ennui_ of a\ntedious disease, swallowed opium. Dr. Haslam relates the case of a\ngentleman who destroyed himself to avoid the tortures of the gout.\nIt is recorded that the pain of the same disease drove Servius the\ngrammarian to take poison. Pliny informs us that one of his friends,\nCorellius Rufus, having in vain sought relief from the pangs of a\ndisease under which he was labouring, starved himself to death at\nthe age of sixty-seven. It is related of Pomponius Atticus and the\nphilosopher Cleanthes, that they both starved themselves to death in\norder to get rid of physical pain. In the course of these attempts,\nthe corporeal sufferings were removed\u2014probably in consequence of the\ngreat exhaustion and attenuation; but both individuals persevered till\ndeath took place, observing that as this final ordeal must one day\nbe undergone, they would not now retrace their steps or give up the\nundertaking.\n\nFew, perhaps, are aware how frequently suicide results from the habit\nof indulging, in early youth, in a certain secret vice which, we are\nafraid, is practised to an enormous extent in our public schools. A\nfeeling of false delicacy has operated with medical men in inducing\nthem to refrain from dwelling upon the destructive consequences of\nthis habit, both to the moral and physical constitution, as openly and\nhonestly as the importance of the subject imperatively demands.\n\nMedical men are, in the most enlarged acceptation of the term,\nguardians of the public health; and no fastidious desire to avoid\nsaying what might possibly offend the taste of some, ought to keep\nthem from discharging what may be termed a sacred duty. The physical\ndisease, particularly that connected with the nervous system,\nengendered by the pernicious practice alluded to, frequently leads\nto the act of self-destruction. We have before us the cases of many\nsuicides in whom the disposition may clearly be traced to this cause.\nThis habit most seriously affects the brain and nervous system; and\ninsanity, hypochondriasis, and melancholia, in their worst forms, are\nfrequently the baneful consequences.\n\nIf disease, structural or functional, of the abdominal viscera gives\nrise to the disposition to commit suicide, it will not require much\ningenuity to establish the fact that the habitual indulgence in\nintoxicating liquors may originate a similar feeling.\n\nIt has been already established by statistical evidence, that, in\na very large proportion of the cases of insanity admitted into the\nasylums and hospitals devoted to the reception of this unhappy class\nof patients, the mental impairment can clearly be traced to habits of\nintemperance.\n\nThe brain and nervous system become materially affected in those who\nindulge frequently in \u201cpotations pottle deep.\u201d Delirium tremens,\nsoftening of the cerebral substance, palsy, epilepsy, extreme\nhypochondriasis, are daily witnessed as the melancholy effects of\nintoxication.\n\nM. Falret knew the case of a man who always felt disposed to cut his\nthroat when under the influence of spirits. No reasoning could induce\nhim to abstain from his favourite draught. The inevitable consequences\nwere pointed out to him; he was reasoned with, and threatened with\nconfinement in a mad-house; but nothing had the desired effect. One\nSunday evening, after having drunk several glasses of spirits, although\nnot sufficient to produce complete inebriation, he stabbed himself to\nthe heart, and died in a few minutes.\n\nIncurable indigestion and organic disease of the liver are very\ncommonly met with in habitual drunkards. In such persons, the\nconstitution of the mind appears to undergo a complete change. At first\nit may not be perceptible, and the patient may not be conscious of it\nhimself, but the mental disease will, sooner or later, unequivocally\nevince itself.\n\nIn such cases, the medical man has fearful odds to contend against.\n\nA young man, who had become insane in consequence of long continued\nintoxication, made violent efforts to maim himself, and especially to\npull out his right eye, which appeared to give him great offence. Rest,\ntemperance, seclusion, the application of half a dozen leeches to the\ntemple, and a few doses of opening medicine, restored him, in about a\nfortnight, to the full possession of his faculties.\n\nMany cases of suicide, in those who have a natural predisposition to\nit, arise from the brain sympathizing with the liver; nor can this\nbe a matter of surprise to any one who has felt the depression of\nspirits incident to disease of that organ. So many cases have occurred\nfrom this cause, that some writers, from not finding, on subsequent\ndissection, any organic lesion of the brain, have referred it to\ndiseased viscera only. But as we find that the insanity ceases when the\nliver is restored to health, there is no reason for supposing that the\nmental alienation is, in these instances, any other than the effect of\ndisease of the brain.\n\nJ. C., about fifty years of age, was insane for two years. He was\nformerly in respectable circumstances, and employed in the situation of\nwriter in an office. He made several attempts on his life. He had been\nin the habit of drinking spirits very freely, and had a disease of the\nliver which appeared of some standing. At the time of his admission\ninto Hanwell asylum, under the care of Sir W. Ellis, he was in a most\nemaciated state; his legs scarcely able to support him. His face and\nbody also were covered with an eruption; tongue furred; his stools\nvery dark: he was much depressed, and always moaning most piteously;\ncomplained of heat and numbness in his head, and pain in all his limbs.\nLeeches and cold lotions were applied to his head, his bowels opened\nby calomel and colocynth, and he went into the warm bath every other\nday. He was much relieved by these means. He still continued, however,\nto moan as before. His tongue remained furred, and stools unhealthy.\nHe took five grains of blue pill every alternate night for some time.\nThese were then left off awhile; no improvement taking place, he began\nthe pills again, and continued them for two months, with evident\nadvantage. His tongue was clean; he was less depressed; became strong,\nand gained flesh; the biliary secretions were much improved. He is now\noccupied in the office; and every day, as the action of the liver seems\nto improve, his mind makes a corresponding advance.\n\nThere is no more frequent cause of suicide than visceral derangement,\nleading to melancholia and hypochondriasis. It has been a matter of\ndispute with medical men whether hypochondriacal affections have their\norigin in the mental or physical portion of the economy. Many maintain\nthat the mind is the seat of the disease; others, that the liver and\nstomach are primarily affected, and the brain only secondarily. In\nthis disputed point, as in most others, truth will generally be found\nto lie between the two extremities. That cases of hypochondria and\nmelancholia can clearly be traced to purely mental irritation cannot\nfor one moment be disputed; and that there are many instances in\nwhich the derangement appears to have commenced in one of the gastric\norgans, is as equally self-evident. Whatever may be the origin of these\naffections, there can be no doubt of their producing most disastrous\nconsequences. Burton\u2019s account of the horrors of hypochondria is truly\ngraphic. \u201cAs the rain,\u201d says Austin, \u201cpenetrates the stone, so does\nthis passion of melancholy penetrate the mind. It commonly accompanies\nmen to their graves. Physicians may ease, but they cannot cure it; it\nmay lie hid for a time, but it will return again, as violent as ever,\non slight occasions, as well as on casual excesses. Its humour is like\nMercury\u2019s weather-beaten statue, which had once been gilt; the surface\nwas clean and uniform, but in the chinks there was still a remnant of\ngold: and in the purest bodies, if once tainted by hypochondria, there\nwill be some relics of melancholy still left, not so easily to be\nrooted out. Seldom does this disease produce death, except (which is\nthe most grievous calamity of all) when these patients make away with\nthemselves\u2014a thing familiar enough amongst them, when they are driven\nto do violence to themselves to escape from present insufferable pain.\nThey can take no rest in the night, or, if they slumber, fearful dreams\nastonish them. Their soul abhorreth all meat, and they are brought to\ndeath\u2019s door, being bound in misery and in iron. Like Job, they curse\ntheir stars, for Job was melancholy to despair, and almost to madness.\nThey are weary of the sun, and yet afraid to die, _vivere nolunt et\nmori nesciunt_. And then, like \u00c6sop\u2019s fishes, they leap from the frying\npan into the fire, when they hope to be cured by means of physic\u2014a\nmiserable end to the disease; when ultimately left to their fate by a\njury of physicians, are furiously disposed; and there remains no more\nto such persons, if that heavenly physician, by his grace and mercy,\n(whose aid alone avails,) do not heal and help them. One day of such\ngrief as theirs is as a hundred years: it is a plague of the sense, a\nconvulsion of the soul, an epitome of hell; and if there be a hell upon\nearth, it is to be found in a melancholy man\u2019s heart. No bodily torture\nis like unto it; all other griefs are swallowed up in this great\nEuripus. I say the melancholy man then is the cream and quintessence\nof human adversity. All other diseases are trifles to hypochondria;\nit is the pith and marrow of them all! A melancholy man is the true\nPrometheus, bound to Caucasus; the true Tityrus, whose bowels are still\ndevoured by a vulture.\u201d\n\n  \u201cDull melancholy\u2014\u2014\n  She\u2019ll make you start at ev\u2019ry noise you hear,\n  And visions strange shall to your eyes appear.\n  Her voice is low, and gives a hollow sound;\n  She hates the light, and is in darkness found;\n  Or sits by blinking lamps, or taper small,\n  Which various shadows make against the wall.\n  She loves nought else but noise which discord makes,\n  As croaking frogs whose dwelling is in lakes;\n  The raven hoarse, the mandrake\u2019s hollow groan,\n  And shrieking owls, that fly i\u2019th\u2019 night alone;\n  The tolling bell, which for the dead rings out,\n  A mill, where rushing waters run about.\n  She loves to walk in the still moonshine light,\n  And in a thick dark grove she takes delight;\n  In hollow caves, thatch\u2019d houses, and low cells,\n  She loves to live, and there alone she dwells.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere are individuals who, from various physical or moral causes,\u201d\nsays Esquirol, \u201cfall into a state of corporeal torpor and mental\ndepression. They complain of want of appetite, dull pain in the head,\nsense of heat in the stomach and viscera, borborygmi, and constipation\nof the bowels; while they exhibit little or no indication of disease.\nIn the female sex, the natural secretions become suspended. As the\ncomplaint advances, the features alter, and the countenance exhibits\nanxiety; the complexion becomes pale or sallow; there is a sense of\ntightness, or even pain, in the epigastrium; a kind of compression\nin the head, which prevents them from fixing their attention, or\narranging their thoughts; a general torpor or lassitude, which keeps\nthem inactive. They dislike to move out, and love to loll about on a\nsofa; they are irritated if you advise them to take exercise; they\nabandon their ordinary avocations, neglect their domestic concerns,\nbecome indifferent to their nearest connexions; in short, they will\nneither converse, nor study, nor read, nor write, shunning society, and\nbeing impatient of the inquiries and importunities of friends. In this\nstate they become filled with gloomy ideas (_id\u00e9es noires_), despair\nof ever being better, desire or even invoke death, and sometimes\ndestroy themselves, from a conviction that they are no longer capable\nof fulfilling their duties in society. These people are perfectly\nsane on all subjects of conversation; their impulse to suicide being\nstrong in proportion to the activity of their former avocations, and\nthe importance of their former duties. I have seen their disease (for\nit is a disease) continue for months, and even years. I have seen it\nalternate with mania and with perfect health. I have seen patients who\nwould be six months of the year maniacal or in sound health, and the\nother six months tormented with these gloomy ideas and impulses to\nsuicide.\u201d\n\nIn confirmation of this view of Esquirol\u2019s, the following cases are\nrelated:[47]\u2014A gentleman of apparently sound constitution, aged 32, was\nmarried to a woman whom he affectionately loved. His affairs became\nderanged a few years after his marriage, which greatly discouraged\nhim, and rendered him inactive, but without apparently affecting his\nhealth. He now embarked in a speculation which promised much advantage,\nand at first applied himself to business with unremitting assiduity.\nIn the course of a month he encountered some difficulties, which\ndepressed him beyond measure. He considered himself ruined, refused to\nquit his bed, and would not superintend his workmen, from a conviction\nthat he was no longer capable of directing their operations. He\ncomplained of headache, heat in his stomach, &c. His affection for\nhis wife and children, his pecuniary interests, all failed to rouse\nhim from this moral and physical prostration. He reasoned sanely on\nthe critical state of his affairs, and yet made no effort to rescue\nhimself from his difficulties. Eight days passed in this way, when\nall at once he sprung from his bed in perfect integrity of mind and\nbody. He resumed instantaneously all his activity for business, all\nhis affection for his family. The same state, however, recurred ten\nor twelve times since, at irregular intervals, caused in general by\ntrifling contrarieties of business, which, under other circumstances,\nwould be considered as nothing. During several of these paroxysms he\nhad impulses to suicide; but this dreaded catastrophe has not yet taken\nplace.\n\nA female was admitted into the Salpetriere on the 23d of September,\n1819, in the 34th year of her age, and fourteen years after marriage.\nAt the age of 21 she had a child, after which she was affected with\nan ulcer in the foot, which was healed in six months. From this time\nshe was troubled with cardialgia, at first slight, but afterwards\nwith intense pain and vomiting of her food. At the age of 33 she\nbecame irresolute in her ideas and actions. She expressed an aversion\nfor those things which she had been previously pleased with, and was\noccasionally incoherent. After suffering from other derangements\nof her general health, she abandoned her household affairs, became\nquite despondent, and tried more than once to commit suicide. In this\nstate she was admitted into the hospital, and was put upon diluents,\nlow diet, &c. As she shewed indications of having recovered, she was\nallowed to return to her family; but in a short period she was harassed\nwith gloomy ideas, despaired of recovery, and expressed a desire to\nquit life, the duties of which she said she was no longer able to\nfulfil.\n\nIn the case of Cowper, we have a melancholy instance of hypochondriasis\nleading to suicidal mental derangement. That the poet\u2019s mind was\nunsound when he attempted to kill himself, must be evident to those who\nare conversant with the history of his life. He never appears to have\nbeen free from hypochondriacal disorder. In a letter to Lady Hesketh,\nhe says, \u201cCould I be translated to paradise, unless I could leave my\nbody behind me, my melancholy would cleave to me there.\u201d A friend\nprocured him the situation of reading clerk to the House of Lords,\nforgetting that the nervous shyness which made a public exhibition of\nhimself \u201cmortal poison,\u201d would render it impossible for him ever to\ndischarge the duties of his office. This difficulty presented itself\nto the mind of the poet, and gloom instantly enveloped his faculties.\nAt his request, his situation was changed to that of clerk of the\njournals; but even before he could be installed into office he was\nthreatened with a public examination before the House. This made him\ncompletely wretched; he had not resolution to decline what he had not\nstrength to do: the interest of his friend, and his own reputation\nand want of support, pressed him forward to an attempt which he knew\nfrom the first could never succeed. In this miserable state, like\nGoldsmith\u2019s traveller,\n\n  \u201cTo stop too fearful, and too faint to go,\u201d\n\nhe attended every day for six months at the office where he was to\nexamine the journals in preparation for his trust. His feelings were\nlike those of a man at the place of execution, every time he entered\nthe office door; and he only gazed mechanically at the books, without\ndrawing from them the least portion of information he wanted. As the\ntime of his examination approached, his agony became more and more\nintense; he hoped and believed that madness would come to relieve him;\nhe attempted also to make up his mind to suicide, though his conscience\nbore stern testimony against it; he could not by any argument persuade\nhimself that it was right; but his desperation prevailed, and he\nprocured from an apothecary the means of self-destruction. On the day\nbefore his public appearance was to be made, he happened to notice a\nletter in the newspaper, which to his disordered mind seemed like a\nmalignant libel on himself. He immediately threw down the paper, and\nrushed into the fields, determined to die in a ditch; but the thought\nstruck him that he might escape from the country. With the same\nviolence he proceeded to make hasty preparations for his flight; but\nwhile he was engaged in packing his portmanteau his mind changed, and\nhe threw himself into a coach, ordering the man to drive to the Tower\nwharf, intending to throw himself into the river, and not reflecting\nthat it would be impossible to accomplish his purpose, in that public\nspot, unobserved. On approaching the water, he found a porter seated\nupon some goods; he then returned to the coach, and drove home to\nhis lodgings in the Temple. On the way, he attempted to drink the\nlaudanum, but as often as he raised it, a convulsive agitation of his\nframe prevented its reaching his lips; and thus, regretting the loss\nof the opportunity, but unable to avail himself of it, he arrived half\ndead with anguish at his apartments. He then closed the door and threw\nhimself on the bed, with the laudanum near him, trying to lash himself\nup to the deed; but a voice within seemed constantly to forbid it;\nand as often as he extended his hand to the poison, his fingers were\ncontracted, and held back by spasms. At this time some of the inmates\nof the place came in, but he concealed his agitation; and as soon as\nhe was left alone, a change came over him, and so detestable did the\ndeed appear, that he threw away the laudanum, and dashed the phial to\npieces. The rest of the day was spent in heavy insensibility, and at\nnight he slept as usual; but on waking at three in the morning, _he\ntook his penknife and laid with his weight upon it, the point being\ndirected towards his heart_. It was broken, and would not penetrate. At\nday-break he rose, and passing a strong garter round his neck, fastened\nit to the frame of his bed. This gave way with his weight; but on\nsecuring it to the door, he was more successful, and remained suspended\nuntil he had lost all consciousness of existence. After a time, the\ngarter broke, and he fell to the floor, so that his life was saved; but\nthe conflict had been greater than his reason could endure. He felt\na contempt for himself not to be expressed or imagined. Whenever he\nwent into the street, it seemed as if every eye flashed upon him with\nindignation and scorn. He felt as if he had offended God so deeply that\nhis guilt could never be forgiven, and his whole heart was filled with\npangs of tumultuous despair.[48]\n\nWhen Cowper had once admitted the thought of self-destruction, he could\nnot go into the street without meeting with something to tempt or drive\nhim to the act. It seemed to him as if the whole world had conspired\nto make death by his own hand inevitable. When he ventured into the\nstreets, after the failure of all his efforts, a ghastly shame and\nalarmed suspicion were his torments; and perhaps nothing in Cowper\u2019s\nautobiography goes deeper into the heart than the following description\nof his sufferings.\n\n\u201cI never went into the street but I thought the people stood and\nlaughed at me, and held me in contempt; and could hardly persuade\nmyself but that the voice of conscience was loud enough for any one\nto hear it. They who knew me, appeared to avoid me, and if they spoke\nto me, seemed to do it in scorn. I bought a ballad of one who was\nsinging it in the street, because I thought it was written on me. I\ndined alone, either at a tavern, where I went in the dark, or at the\nchop-house, where I always took care to hide myself in the darkest\ncorner of the room. I slept generally an hour in the evening, but it\nwas only to be terrified in dreams; and when I awoke, it was some time\nbefore I could steadily walk through the passage into the dining-room.\nI reeled and staggered like a drunken man. The eyes of man I did not\nfear; but when I thought that the eyes of God were upon me, (which I\nfelt assured of,) it gave me the most intolerable anguish. If, for a\nmoment, a book or a companion stole away my attention from myself, a\nflash from hell seemed to be thrown into my mind immediately; and I\nsaid within myself, \u2018What are these things to me, who am damned?\u2019\u201d\n\nCowper is not the only instance, however, of a man of exquisite taste\nand genius whose life has been rendered miserable by hypochondria.\nWe have alluded elsewhere to Byron\u2019s morbid sensitiveness, and the\nreader\u2019s attention is now called to the influence of hypochondriasis\non the poet\u2019s mind. He says in his journal, \u201cWhat can be the reason\nI awake every morning in actual despair and despondency?\u201d He had a\ngreat apprehension of insanity. In order to overcome his melancholy,\nconsidering that his diet had much to do with it, he put himself under\na strict regimen, avoiding most scrupulously all animal food. He states\nthat his diet for a week consisted of tea and six dry biscuits per\ndiem. After having indulged in an ordinary dinner, he writes, \u201cI wish\nto God I had not dined now; it kills me with heaviness; and yet it\nwas but a pint of bucellas, and fish. Oh, my head! how it aches!\u2014the\nhorrors of indigestion!\u201d Again he says, \u201cThis head was given me to ache\nwith.\u201d After a severe fit of indigestion, he writes, \u201cI\u2019ve no more\ncharity than a vinegar cruet. Would that I were an ostrich, and dieted\non fire-irons! O fool! I shall go mad!\u201d\n\nBurns suffered much from indigestion, producing hypochondria. Writing\nto his friend, Mr. Cunningham, he says, \u201cCanst thou not minister to\na mind diseased? Canst thou speak peace and rest to a soul tost on a\nsea of troubles, without one friendly star to guide her course, and\ndreading that the next surge may overwhelm her? Canst thou give to\na frame tremblingly alive to the tortures of suspense the stability\nand hardihood of a rock that braves the blast? If thou canst not do\nthe least of these, why wouldst thou disturb me in my miseries with\nthy inquiries after me?\u201d From early life, the poet was subject to a\ndisordered stomach, a disposition to headache, and irregular action of\nthe heart.\n\nHe describes, in one of his letters, the horrors of his complaint:\u2014\u201cI\nhave been for some time pining under secret wretchedness. The pang\nof disappointment, the sting of pride, and some wandering stabs of\nremorse, settle on my life like vultures, when my attention is not\ncalled away by the claims of society, or the vagaries of the muse. Even\nin the hour of social mirth my gaiety is the madness of an intoxicated\ncriminal under the hands of an executioner. My constitution was\nblasted _ab origine_ with a deep incurable taint of melancholy that\npoisoned my existence.\u201d\n\nNothing can be more interesting to a physician who is endowed with\nonly a moderate share of the spirit of observation than to watch the\nprogress of hypochondriasis in a number of patients, especially in\nregard to its effect on the mind. They always struggle, more or less in\nthe beginning, with the lowness and dejection which affect them; and\nit is not until many a severe contest has taken place between their\nnatural good sense and the involuntary suggestions which arise from\nthe obscure and painful feelings of the diseased nerves, that a firm\nbelief in the reality of such thoughts gains a full conquest over their\njudgment. A firm belief in any one perception never takes place until\nit has acquired a certain degree of force; and as all impressions which\narise from the viscera of the abdomen are naturally obscure, we see\nthe reason why these must continue for a great length of time, or be\noften repeated, before they can withdraw a person\u2019s attention from the\nordinary impression of external objects, which are clear and distinct,\nand before they acquire such a degree of vividness as to destroy the\noperations of reason.\n\nWe meet every day with hypochondriacs in whom the disease is\njust beginning to be formed, and who, being possessed of a good\nunderstanding, seem unwilling to tell, even to their medical friends,\nthe singular, and often melancholy, thoughts with which they are\ntormented. They acknowledge them to be unreasonable, and yet insist\nthat they cannot help believing in them. A very curious display of this\nkind of struggle between the habitudes of reason and the approach of\ndelirium is to be found in the diary of an hypochondriac, from which we\nmake the following extract:\u2014\n\n\u201cOn the 14th of November, the idea that some person intended to kill\nme sprung up suddenly and involuntarily in my mind, and yet, I must\nconfess, there was no reason why I should have harboured this thought,\nfor I am convinced that no one ever formed such a cruel design against\nme. People who had a stick in their hands I looked on as murderers.\nAs I was walking out of town, a countryman happened to follow me, and\nI was instantly filled with the greatest apprehension, and stood still\nto let him pass. I asked the fellow in a threatening voice, and with\na view of intimidating him from his purpose, what was the name of the\ntown before us. The man answered my question and walked on, and I found\ngreat relief, because he was no longer behind me.\n\n\u201cIn the evening, I observed some water in the glass out of which I\ncommonly drink, and I instantly believed it was poisoned. I therefore\nwashed it carefully out, and yet I knew, at the same time, that I\nmyself had left the water in it.\n\n\u201c18th November.\u2014At particular periods I believe all mankind have\nconspired to murder me. I think I am deprived of my office; that I am\ndoomed to die of hunger; and, to add to all this, I am tormented with\nhorrid doubts concerning futurity, and these thoughts persecute me like\nfuries. Those whom I used to love most, I now hate. I avoid my best\nfriends, and my dear wife appears to me a much worse kind of woman than\nshe really is.\n\n\u201cI cannot describe the exertion it requires to conquer in society the\naversion I feel to my fellow-creatures, and to prevent my ill-humour\nfrom breaking out against the most innocent people. When it really does\nso, I spare no one. I am sorry for it afterwards, but then I am too\nproud to acknowledge my error.\n\n\u201cI find myself so enraged on seeing a stupid, vacant countenance, that\nI have almost an irresistible inclination to box the person\u2019s ears to\nwhom it belongs: the refraining from it is a severe effort.\n\n\u201c20th November.\u2014A boy with a face like a satyr met me, and occasioned\nme the greatest uneasiness. Although he did nothing to displease me, I\nwas forced to go to him, and tell him that I was sure he would die on\nthe gallows.\n\n\u201c23rd November.\u2014My sensibility is often extreme, and then my best\nfriends become insupportable to me. To their expressions of regard\nI am either purposely cold or else I answer by rude and offensive\nspeeches. I can seldom explain to myself the reason of this too great\nsensibility. If two people whisper to each other in my presence, I grow\nuneasy, and lose all command of mind, because I think they are speaking\nill of me; and I often assume a satirical manner in company, in order\nto frighten them. Anxiety, dreadful anxiety, seizes me, if a person\noverlooks my hand at cards, or if a person sits down beside me when I\nam playing the harpsichord.\u201d\n\n\u201cFrom numerous facts which have come within my own observation,\u201d says a\ndistinguished living medical authority,[49] \u201cI am convinced that many\nstrange antipathies, disgusts, caprices of temper, and eccentricities\nwhich are considered solely as obliquities of intellect, have their\nsource in corporeal disorder.\n\n\u201cThe great majority of these complaints, which are considered as purely\nmental, such as irascibility, melancholy, timidity, and irresolution,\nmight be greatly remedied, if not entirely removed, by a proper system\nof temperance, and with very little medicine. There is no accounting\nfor the magic-like spell which annihilates for a time the whole energy\nof the mind, and renders the victim of dyspepsia afraid of his own\nshadow, or of things, if possible, more unsubstantial than shadows.\n\n\u201cIt is not likely that the great men of the earth should be exempt\nfrom these visitations any more than the little; and if so, we may\nreasonably conclude, that there are other things beside \u2018conscience\u2019\nwhich \u2018make cowards of us all,\u2019 and that, by a temporary gastric\nirritation, many an \u2018enterprise of vast pith and moment\u2019 has had \u2018its\ncurrent turned away,\u2019 and \u2018lost the name of action.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe philosopher and the metaphysician, who know but little of these\nreciprocities of mind and matter, have drawn many a false conclusion\nfrom, and erected many a baseless hypothesis on, the actions of men.\nMany a happy thought has sprung from an empty stomach; many a terrible\nand merciless edict has gone forth in consequence of an irritated\ngastric nerve. Thus health may make the same man a hero in the field\nwhom dyspepsia may render imbecile in the cabinet.\u201d\n\nThe following case will shew how powerfully indigestion may affect the\nmind\u2019s operations:\u2014\n\nA young lady, after eating some heavy paste, was attacked by a\nsensation of burning heat at the pit of the stomach, which increased\ntill the whole of the upper part of the body, both externally and\ninternally, appeared to her to be all in flames. She rose up suddenly,\nleft the dinner table, and ran into the street, from which she was\nimmediately brought back. She soon came to herself, and thus described\nher horrible ideas. She declared that she had been very wicked, and had\nbeen dragged into the flames of hell. She continued in a precarious\nsituation for some time. Whenever she experienced the burning sensation\nof which she first complained, the same dreadful thoughts occurred to\nher mind. She seized hold of whatever was nearest to prevent her from\nbeing forced away; and such was her alarm that she dreaded to be alone.\nThis lady had long been distressed by family concerns, and harassed by\nrestless and sleepless nights, which greatly affected her health.\n\nDr. Johnson used to declare that he inherited \u201ca vile melancholy\u201d from\nhis father, which made him \u201cmad all his life, or, at least, not sober.\u201d\nInsanity was his constant terror. Boswell says that, at the period when\nthis great philosopher was giving to the world proofs of no ordinary\nvigour of understanding, he actually fancied himself insane, or in a\nstate as nearly as possible approaching to it.\n\nMurphy says, \u201cFor many years before Johnson\u2019s death, so terrible was\nthe prospect of final dissolution that when he was not disposed to\nenter into the conversation which was going forward, he sat in his\nchair, repeating the well-known lines of Shakspeare\u2014\n\n  \u201cTo die, and go we know not where.\u201d\n\nLike Metastasio, he would not, if he could help it, permit the word\ndeath to be pronounced in his presence. Boswell once introduced\nthe topic in the course of conversation, which made Johnson highly\nindignant. He observed, that he never had a moment in which it was not\nterrible to him.\n\nThree or four days before he died, he declared that he would give one\nof his legs for a year more of life. The ruling passion was exhibited\nstrong in death. At Dr. Johnson\u2019s own suggestion, the surgeon was\nmaking slight punctures in the legs, with the hope of relieving his\ndropsical affection, when he cried out, \u201cDeeper! deeper! _I want length\nof life_, and you are afraid of giving me pain, which I do not value.\u201d\nIf we had not a thorough conviction that this fear of death was but the\nresult of physical disease, which no moral and religious principles\ncould subdue, Dr. Johnson\u2019s conduct towards the end of his life would\nexcite a feeling in our mind towards him very opposite to that of\nrespect.\n\nWith reference to suicide, there is no fact that has been more clearly\nestablished than that of its hereditary character. Of all diseases to\nwhich the various organs are subject, there are none more generally\ntransmitted from one generation to another than affections of the\nbrain. It is not necessary that the disposition to suicide should\nmanifest itself in every generation; it often passes over one, and\nappears in the next, like insanity unattended with this propensity. But\nif the members of the family so predisposed are carefully examined, it\nwill be found that the various shades and gradations of the malady will\nbe easily perceptible. Some are distinguished for their flightiness of\nmanner, others for their strange eccentricity, likings and dislikings,\nirregularity of their passions, capricious and excitable temperament,\nhypochondriasis and melancholia. These are often but the minute shades\nand variations of an hereditary disposition to suicidal madness. A\ngentleman suddenly, and without any apparent reason, cut his throat.\nThe father had always been a man of strong passions, easily roused, and\nwhen so, was extremely violent. The brother was a man of impulse; he\nalways acted by fits and starts, and therefore never could be depended\nupon. The sister had a strange, unnatural, and superstitious horror\nof particular colours and odours. A yellow dress caused a feeling\napproaching to syncope, and the smell of hay produced great nervous\nexcitement. The grandfather had been convicted of homicide, and had\nbeen confined for two years in a mad-house.\n\nAndral relates the case of a father who died from the effects of\ndisease of the brain; the mother died sane. They had six children,\nthree boys and three girls. Of the boys, the eldest was a man of\noriginal mind; the second was very extravagant in his habits, and was\nultimately confined in a mad-house; the third was extremely violent in\nhis temper. Of the girls, one had fits of apoplexy, and became insane;\nthe other died at her accouchement, with symptoms of derangement; the\nthird died of cholera, not, however, until she exhibited indications of\nmental aberration.\n\nA case more singular than the last is recorded. All the members of a\nparticular family, being hereditarily disposed, exhibited, when they\narrived at a certain age, a desire to commit self-destruction. It\nrequired no exciting cause to develope the fatal disposition. No wish\nwas expressed, or attempt made, to overpower the suicidal inclination,\nand the greatest industry and ingenuity were exercised by the parties\nin order to effect their purpose. In two cases, the propensity was\nsubdued by proper medical and moral treatment; but, just in proportion\nto its being suppressed, did the idea of suicide appear to fix itself\nresolutely in the mind. The desire came upon the individuals like the\nattacks of intermittent fever.\n\nA. K., a man aged 57, was twice married. He was a shoe-maker by trade;\nbut not having received any education, his wife was compelled to attend\nto all his accounts. He had experienced, when young, a blow on the\nhead, which occasionally gave him pain. He became very intemperate in\nhis habits, and at particular intervals he exhibited an uncontrollable\ntemper, quarrelled with everybody, neglected his business, abused his\nwife, and became extravagant and melancholy. During the paroxysm he\nwould exclaim\u2014\u201c_Oh, my unlucky head! I am again a lost man!_\u201d When the\nattack subsided, he returned to his business, was affectionate to his\nwife and family, most humbly begged her pardon for having ill-treated\nher, and expressed the greatest contrition for his conduct. These\nattacks came on at regular intervals. He procured a piece of rope for\nthe purpose of hanging himself, and for some months carried it about\nwith him in his pocket for that purpose. During one of his fits he\neffected his object. His grandfather had strangled himself, and his\nbrother and sister had attempted suicide.\n\nDr. Gall knew several families in which the suicidal propensity\nprevailed through several generations. Among the cases he mentions\nis the following very remarkable one:\u2014\u201cThe Sieur Ganthier, the owner\nof various houses built without the barriers of Paris, to be used as\n_entrep\u00f4ts_ of goods, left seven children, and a fortune of about two\nmillions of francs to be divided among them. All remained at Paris,\nor in the neighbourhood, and preserved their patrimony; some even\nincreased it by commercial speculations. None of them met with any real\nmisfortunes, but all enjoyed good health, a competency, and general\nesteem. All, however, were possessed with a rage for suicide, and all\nseven succumbed to it within the space of thirty or forty years. Some\nhanged, some drowned themselves, and others blew out their brains.\nOne of the first two had invited sixteen persons to dine with him one\nSunday. The company collected, the dinner was served, and the guests\nwere at the table. The master of the house was called, but did not\nanswer; he was found hanging in the garret. Scarcely an hour before,\nhe was quietly giving orders to the servants, and chattering with\nhis friends. The last, the owner of a house in the Rue de Richelieu,\nhaving raised his house two stories, became frightened at the expense,\nimagined himself ruined, and was anxious to kill himself. Thrice they\nprevented him; but soon after, he was found dead, having shot himself.\nThe estate, after all the debts were paid, amounted to three hundred\nthousand francs, and he might have been forty-five years old at the\ntime of his death.\u201d\n\nFalret, whose researches have thrown much light on this affection,\nbelieves that it is more disposed to be hereditary than any other kind\nof insanity. He saw a mother and her daughter attacked with suicidal\nmelancholy, and the grandmother of the latter was at Charenton for\nthe same cause. An individual, he says, committed suicide in Paris.\nHis brother, who came to attend the funeral, cried out on seeing the\nbody\u2014\u201cWhat fatality! My father and uncle both destroyed themselves; my\nbrother has imitated their example; and twenty times during my journey\nhither I thought of throwing myself into the Seine!\u201d\n\nGall also relates the case of a dyer, of a very taciturn humour, who\nhad five sons and a daughter. The eldest son, after being settled in\na prosperous business with a family around him, succeeded, after many\nattempts, in killing himself by jumping from the third story of his\nhouse. The second son, who was rather taciturn, had some domestic\ntroubles, lost part of his fortune at play, and strangled himself at\nthe age of thirty-five. The third threw himself from the window into\nhis garden, but did not hurt himself; he pretended he was trying to\nfly. The fourth tried one day to fire a pistol down his throat, but was\nprevented. The fifth was of a bilious, melancholic temperament, quiet,\nand devoted to business; he and his sister shewed no signs of being\naffected with their brothers\u2019 malady. One of their cousins committed\nsuicide.\n\nAmong the physical causes of self-destruction, insidious affections\nof the brain must stand prominently forward. It is not often that the\nphysician is permitted to examine after death the state of this organ;\nbut there can be no doubt that, in the great majority of instances, the\nbrain will be found to have undergone a serious structural alteration.\n\u201cDuring the last twenty-five years,\u201d says Dr. G. Mantell, \u201cmany cases\nof suicide have come under my notice in which the mental hallucination\nwhich led to self-destruction has depended on lesions of the brain,\noccasioned by slight or neglected injuries of the head, to which\nneither the patient nor his friends attached any importance. In several\ninstances of self-destruction, without any assignable moral cause, and\nin which no previous signs of fatuity or insanity were manifested,\nI have found, upon a post mortem examination, either circumscribed\ninduration or softening of the brain, or thickening and adhesions of\nsome portions of its membranes. The conviction was forced upon my\nmind that very many of the _so called_ nervous or hypochondriacal\naffections, which are generally considered as imaginary and dependent\non mental emotions, are ascribable to physical causes, and frequently\noriginate from slight lesions of the brain.\u201d\n\nThe learned doctor relates the following cases in illustration of his\nviews:\u2014\n\n\u201cA respectable tradesman, between fifty and sixty years of age, of\ntemperate habits, was knocked down during an electioneering contest,\nand struck his head on the ground. He was stunned for a few minutes by\nthe shock, and slightly bruised above the right temple, but experienced\nno further inconvenience, and the circumstance was considered of no\nconsequence.\n\n\u201cAbout six months after the event, he was seized, one evening, with\nrigors and a pain over the right brow; a smart reaction took place,\nwhich terminated in perspiration, and the following morning, the\nsymptoms disappeared. A similar paroxysm came on daily for five or six\ndays; the attack was considered intermittent, and, I believe, bark was\nfreely administered. At the end of a week, the patient was well. After\nthis period, he was subject to occasional pain over the right brow,\naccompanied with great mental despondency, the prevailing apprehension\nbeing that of eternal damnation. This state would continue for an\nuncertain time, the duration varying from a few days to three weeks;\nand by slow degrees he would lose all trace of disease, regain his\naccustomed cheerfulness, and be able to transact the affairs of an\nextensive business.\n\n\u201cAbout two years from the occurrence of the accident, I saw him, at the\nrequest of his friends, while he was labouring under great despondency,\nwhich his relations assured me arose from some religious opinions\nhe had imbibed; and I found that the medical treatment had been in\naccordance with such a notion. My inquiries led to the detection of the\ninjury he had received two years previously, but neither the patient\nnor his friends would allow that there was any connexion between the\nblow and the symptoms under which he now suffered. Both general and\nlocal bleeding appeared to me necessary; a strict regimen was adopted,\nand he regained his usual flow of spirits, and expressed himself much\nbetter than he had been for years. The occasional use of leeches, and\na rigid abstinence from fermented liquors, spirits, and stimuli of all\nkinds, maintained this favourable condition for a considerable time;\nbut his occupation led him to occasional excess in diet, and a moderate\nquantity of wine or beer invariably brought on despondency and its\naccompanying hallucination; in other words, when the system was kept in\na tranquil state, the cerebral functions were not impaired; but when\nexcited, the morbid manifestations of the mind were produced.\n\n\u201cDuring one of these attacks he cut his throat, and expired in the\ncourse of a few hours. A short time previous to his death, when greatly\nexhausted by the loss of blood from his wound, his intellect was\nunclouded, and he expressed to me his astonishment at what he had done,\nand assured me he had no reason for acting thus; but it was an impulse\nwhich he could not resist.\n\n\u201cThe only abnormal appearance upon inspecting the body after death was,\na circumscribed adhesion of the dura mater to the pia mater, to the\nextent of about two inches in diameter, over the upper and anterior\nportion of the right hemisphere of the brain, opposite to the spot\nwhere the blow of the head had been inflicted some years previously.\n\n\u201cI will not presume to offer any comment on a case which I am well\naware presents nothing unusual, my only object being that of calling\nparticular attention to those slight injuries of the head which,\nalthough unmarked by any striking symptoms at the moment of their\noccurrence, may give rise to the most distressing results years after\ntheir infliction, and when the original cause of disordered action\nis forgotten, and can no longer be detected; and of pointing out the\npossibility that many cases of suicide, apparently referrible to moral\ncauses only, may be found to result solely from physical derangement\nof the organ through which the manifestations of the mind must be\ndisplayed. It is under circumstances of this kind that the medical\nphilosopher, in his painful duty of exploring the relics of mortality,\nmay have the high gratification of protecting the memory of an\nunfortunate individual from the censure of a world but too apt to judge\nharshly, and thus afford a lasting consolation to those by whom that\nmemory will be cherished and revered.\u201d\n\nNo complaints can be more insidious than those connected with the\nbrain. An apparently slight blow on the head in early life has been\nknown, if not to give rise at the time to actual disease of the\nsentient organ, to predispose the person to attacks of cerebral\nderangement when exposed to the influence of causes so trivial as to be\nincapable, under any other circumstances, of producing any effect. The\nfollowing case will demonstrate that moral irritation may derange the\nstructure of the brain as effectually as any physical injury:\u2014\n\nA gentleman in early life was exposed for a few weeks to an amount\nof mental excitement almost sufficient to bring on a severe maniacal\nattack. He complained for some time of a sensation in his head as if\nsome person was hammering on his brain. In the course of a few years he\napparently recovered. During a tour through Italy, he had a renewal\nof his old sensation, and became liable to head-aches, giddiness,\nand severe attacks of indigestion. He placed himself under the care\nof an Italian physician of eminence, who did his best to restore him\nto health. Instead of improving, the symptoms of his disease became\nmore apparent; and one morning he was found dead on the floor of\nhis dressing-room, having with a penknife effectually divided the\ncarotid artery. On examining the brain, extensive _ramollissement_ was\ndiscovered. In this case the structural disease originated in a _moral\nshock_, the effects of which remained suspended for some years, and\nthen gave rise to the train of symptoms that drove the unfortunate man\nto terminate his life. It is one of the most important facts connected\nwith this subject, that mental excitement may produce as extensive and\nserious organic disease as that which so commonly follows the receipt\nof physical injury. With a knowledge of this fact, how cautious we\nought to be in pronouncing an opinion as to the absence of disease of\nthe brain in cases of suicide resulting from an apparently trifling\ndeparture from mental quietude, without being intimate with the\nprevious history of the individual.\n\n\u201cThe English,\u201d says Montesquieu, \u201cfrequently destroy themselves\nwithout any apparent cause to determine them to such an act, and even\nin the midst of prosperity. Among the Romans, suicide was the effect\nof education; it depended upon their customs and manner of thinking:\nwith the English, it is the effect of disease, and depending upon\nthe physical condition of the system.\u201d A young man, twenty-two years\nof age, was intended by his parents for the church. He disliked the\nprofession exceedingly, and absolutely refused to take orders. For\nthis act, at once of integrity and disobedience, he was forced to\nquit his father\u2019s house, and to exert his inexperienced energies for\na precarious subsistence. He turned his thoughts to several different\nemployments; and, at length, he went to reside with a family, where\nhe was treated with great kindness, and where he appeared to enjoy\na degree of tranquillity. His enjoyment, however, was not of long\ncontinuance, for his imagination was assailed by gloomy and distressing\nreflections. His life became more and more burdensome to him, and\nhe considered by what method he should put an end to it. He one day\nformed the resolution of precipitating himself from the top of the\nhouse, but his courage failed him, and the execution of the project was\npostponed. Some days after, he took up a pistol with the same design\nof self-destruction. His perplexities and terrors returned. A friend\nof this unhappy youth called upon Pinel one day to inform him of the\nprojected tragedy. Every means of prevention were adopted that prudence\ncould suggest, but the most pressing solicitations and friendly\nremonstrances were in vain. The propensity to suicide unceasingly\nhaunted him, and he precipitately quitted the family from whom he had\nexperienced so many proofs of friendship and attachment. Financial\nconsiderations prohibited the suggestion of a distant voyage or a\nchange of climate. He was therefore advised, as the best substitute,\nsome constant and laborious employment. The young melancholic,\nsensibly alive to the horror of his situation, entered fully into\nPinel\u2019s views, and procured an engagement at Bled Harbour, where he\nmingled with the other labourers with a full determination to deserve\nhis stipulated wages. But, completely fatigued and exhausted by the\nexertion of the first two days of his engagement, he was obliged to\nhave recourse to some other expedient. He entered into the employment\nof a master-mason, in the neighbourhood of Paris, to whom his services\nwere peculiarly acceptable, as he devoted his leisure hours to the\ninstruction of an only son. No situation, apparently, could have been\nmore suitable to his case than one of this kind, admitting of alternate\nmental and bodily exercise. Wholesome food, comfortable lodgings, and\nevery attention due to misfortune, seemed rather to aggravate than to\ndivert his gloomy propensities. After the expiration of a fortnight,\nhe returned to his friend, and, with tears in his eyes, acquainted\nhim with the internal struggles which he felt, and the insuperable\ndisgust of life, which bore him irresistibly to self-destruction. The\nreproaches of his friend affected him exceedingly, and, in a state\nof the utmost anxiety and despair, he silently withdrew, probably to\nterminate a hated existence by throwing himself into the Seine.\n\nWhen laying down rules for the physical treatment of suicide, we have\ndeveloped our view as to the influence of derangement of the _prim\u00e6\nvi\u00e6_, suppressed secretions, &c., on the healthy state of the mind;\nand we have only to refer the reader to that portion of the work for\ninformation on these points. In discussing the important question\nwhether suicide invariably results from mental derangement, numerous\ninstances have been brought forward that may be undoubtedly traced to\nthat cause, therefore it will not be necessary to recapitulate in this\nchapter what has been there advanced.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nMORAL TREATMENT OF SUICIDAL MANIA.\n\n\n  Diseases of the brain not dissimilar to affections of other\n  organs\u2014Early symptoms of insanity\u2014The good effects of\n  having plenty to do\u2014Occupation\u2014Dr. Johnson\u2019s opinion on the\n  subject\u2014The pleasure derived from cultivating a taste for\n  the beauties of nature\u2014Effect of volition on diseases of\n  the mind\u2014Silent grief injurious to mental health\u2014Treatment\n  of _ennui_\u2014The time of danger, not the time of disease\u2014The\n  Walcheren expedition\u2014The retreat of the ten thousand Greeks\n  under Xenophon\u2014Influence of music on the mind in the cure of\n  disease\u2014Cure of epidemic suicide\u2014Buonaparte\u2019s remedy\u2014How the\n  women of Myletus were cured of the disposition to suicide, and\n  other illustrations\u2014Cases shewing how easily the disposition\n  to suicide may be diverted\u2014On the cure of insanity by\n  stratagems\u2014On the importance of removing the suicidal patient\n  from his own home\u2014On the regulation of the passions.\n\nIn treating this most important class of affections, we must dismiss\nfrom our minds all those pre-conceived notions which we have been\nled to form of what constitutes mental derangement. We must view the\nsubject as medical philosophers in the most liberal acceptation of the\nterm, and not as _nisi prius_ barristers; we must consider ourselves\nat the bed-side of a suffering patient, demanding from our skill that\nrelief which he is led to believe we have in our power to afford, and\nnot as in a court of justice, undergoing an examination at the hands\nof a lawyer anxious to establish his case; and, above all, we must\napply to the disease of the brain and its disordered manifestations\nthose pathological principles which guide us in the elucidation of\nthe affections of other organs. If we consider insanity not as a\nspecific disease invariably exhibiting the same phenomena, but as\nit really is, the effect of a disordered condition of the sentient\norgan, having an incipient, as well as an advanced stage, we may, by\na judicious application of the principles of therapeutics, succeed\nin many cases in crushing the disposition to suicide before it has\ntaken a formidable hold of the constitution. In the great majority of\ncases the premonitory indications are well marked and unequivocal. The\nexperienced physician and accurate observer will be able to detect,\nbefore the mental alienation becomes apparent to others, the early\ndawnings of derangement. He knows that it is frequently manifested\nby some change in the person\u2019s usual healthy habits of thinking and\nacting,\u2014by the exhibition of odd fancies and whims. Although surrounded\nby everything calculated to contribute to his happiness, he is the most\nmiserable of human beings. Trifles annoy and irritate him; he sees in\nhis dearest friends his deadliest enemies; talks of conspiracies, of\nplots, and stratagems; becomes suspicious of everything and everybody;\nhis former objects of pleasure afford him no delight; he avoids\nsociety, and is occasionally heard muttering strange things to himself.\nIn the majority of cases these are the early dawnings of cerebral\ndisease leading to unequivocal insanity, and yet so tied down are we to\ndefinitions, arbitrary standards and poetical tests, that we will not\nadmit derangement of mind to be present until the symptoms are so self*\nevident and glaring that the condition of the mind becomes apparent to\nthe most superficial observer. When this view of insanity is recognised\nas orthodox, and moral treatment adopted in the early stages of the\ndisease, much good may be expected to result.\n\nHow often do we see in society, and during the intercourse of private\nfriendship, individuals complaining of the severest mental sufferings,\nthe effect of morbid alterations of feeling almost in every respect\nsimilar to insanity, dependent upon the same causes, manifesting the\nsame symptoms, and removed by the same remedial agents. How are these\nmental ailments treated? The poor sufferer is perhaps smiled at; he\nis considered to be fanciful, and no regard is paid to the cerebral\naffection. The disease is allowed to advance until other faculties of\nthe mind are implicated, and then the mental alienation exhibits itself\nso unequivocally that no one doubts its existence.\n\nThe success of the mental treatment of suicide will be mainly\ndependent on our paying strict attention to those apparently trifling\nalterations of temper and disposition, those deviations from the usual\nmode of thinking and acting, which so often predicate the presence\nof the incipient stage of insanity. An invincible love of solitude\nexhibited in a patient considered as labouring under an hypochondriacal\naffection, and who, when induced to converse, complains of being\nconstantly pestered with one or two trains of ideas from which he\ncannot for a moment escape, although his efforts are great and\nunremitting, let his friends beware. These changes are, however, but\nrarely noticed, until some alarming event causes every friend to lament\nthe want of timely attention.\n\nOccupation is an infallible specific for many of the imaginary and real\nills of life. In cases where the mind is sinking under the influence\nof its own weight, and the fancy is allowed to dwell uninterruptedly\non the ideas of its own creation, until the individual believes\nhimself to stand apart from all the world, the very personification\nof human misery and wretchedness, the physician can recommend no\nbetter remedy than constant and steady occupation for the mind and\nbody. Burton concludes his able work on Melancholy with this valuable\npiece of advice:\u2014\u201cBe not solitary; be not idle.\u201d Dr. Reid recommended\na patient, labouring under great mental depression, to engage in the\ncomposition of a novel, which, during the time he was occupied in the\ntask, effected much good. By interesting himself in the distresses of\nfictitious beings, he diverted his attention from sufferings which were\nno less the offspring of the imagination.\n\nIt has been suggested with great truth that the habit of gaming,\nprevalent as it is among persons in the upper ranks of life, is not\nto be attributed exclusively to a feeling of avarice. The man who\nis surrounded by everything to make his condition in life happy, as\nfar as wealth is concerned, does not fly to dice for the purpose of\naggrandisement, but he does so to seek refuge from the miseries of\nindolence and vacuity; from the gnawings of his own mind; from an eager\ndesire to expose himself to that mental agitation which nature tells\nhim is so necessary to make life supportable. \u201cA woman is happier than\na man,\u201d says Dr. Johnson, \u201cbecause she can hem a pocket-handkerchief.\u201d\n\nOur faculties, like the vulture of Prometheus, devour our souls,\nif they have no action beyond ourselves. \u201cReal lassitude is always\nmingled with grief,\u201d says an eminent female genius; and Madame de Sta\u00ebl\nconsiders the observation a profound one.\n\n\u201cThe man in the Spectator who hanged himself to avoid the intolerable\nannoyance of having to tie his garters every day of his life, is but a\nsatire on the misery of many who, having no useful occupation, find the\nflight of time marked only by the swift repetition of petty troubles.\n\n\u201cThe restlessness of Rousseau, his discontented and morbidly irritable\ndisposition, was closely allied to insanity; and the painful struggles\nof Lord Byron, when \u2018came the fit again,\u2019 are detailed in words which\nshew too plainly how they disturbed and threatened the integrity of\nhis judgment. In such natures, every strong emotion, or the occurrence\nof disease, may destroy the delicate balance, and make a ruin of a\nmind which even in ruins continues to excite a mournful admiration.\nThe diversion of social intercourse, which to other men is necessary\nto prevent mental torpor, becomes to them a source of irritation by\nimpeding the workings of their imagination: they find that, when alone,\nall the nobler aspirations of the soul are free, and images of beauty,\nand virtue, and wisdom, occupy the mind. Society transforms them into\na being they despise, deprives them of all their high and valued\nthoughts, and it enables them to feel what slight circumstances, acting\non the man without, may affect the man within. But the pleasures of\nsolitude are transient; their train is followed by baseless fancies,\nby fears undefined, by griefs unexpressed, and black despondency,\nfrom which society can alone relieve. We learn, from observing such\neffects, arising from such causes, the advantage of mixed and varied\noccupations, suited to a being not made solely for contemplation or\nfor action; and we may gather rules from these observations, the\napplication of which to minds in a morbid state is very direct.\u201d[50]\n\nWith no less beauty than truth has the author of Rasselas depicted the\ninsanity of the astronomer as gradually declining under the sanative\ninfluence of society and mental gratification. The sage confesses, that\nsince he has mixed in the gay scenes of life, and divided his hours\nby a succession of amusements, he found the notion of his influence\nover the skies gradually fade away, and began to trust less to an\nopinion which he could never prove to others, and which he now found\nsubject to variations from causes in which reason had no part. \u201cIf,\u201d\nsays he, \u201cI am accidentally left alone for a few hours, my inveterate\npersuasion rushes upon my soul, and my thoughts are chained down by\nan uncontrollable violence; but they are soon disentangled by the\nprince\u2019s conversation, and are instantaneously released by the entrance\nof Pekuah. I am like a man habitually afraid of spectres, who is set\nat ease by a lamp, and wonders at the dread which harassed him in the\ndark.\u201d\n\nIt is difficult to lay down general rules for the treatment of\nparticular cases of melancholia with a tendency to suicide. Travelling,\nagreeable society, works of light literature, should be had recourse\nto, in order to dispel all gloomy apprehensions from the mind.\n\nIn persons predisposed to insanity, or who manifest some slight\nindication of disease, how important it is to endeavour to call into\nexercise the higher faculties of the mind,\u2014the judgment and reasoning\npowers,\u2014and thus preserve the intellectual faculties in a healthy state\nof equilibrium. There is much wisdom in Lord Bacon\u2019s advice, that\n\u201cif a man\u2019s wits be wandering, he should study the mathematics.\u201d The\npatient should be taught to derive a pleasure from the contemplation\nof those objects that afford variety, and that are always within\nhis reach. A beneficent Creator has wisely placed around us endless\nsources of the purest and most elevating enjoyments. In a ratio to our\nintellectual attainments, so are we enabled to derive pleasure from\ncircumstances that appear trifling and foolish to others. Mungo Park\ncould, in the solitude of an African desert, when exposed to the most\ndistressing circumstances, derive a most exquisite pleasure from the\nsight of a small flower. How fully can we enter into the feelings of\nthe man who, after being prostrated to the earth by an accumulation of\nworldly disappointments, yet spoke in a tone of noble triumph at his\nhaving retained, amidst the wreck of all his hopes, a perception of the\nbeauties of nature!\n\n  \u201cI care not, Fortune, what you me deny;\u2014\n    You cannot rob me of free Nature\u2019s grace;\n  You cannot shut the windows of the sky,\n    Through which Aurora shews her bright\u2019ning face;\n    You cannot bar my constant feet to trace\n  The woods and lawns by living stream at eve:\n    Let health my nerves and finer fibres brace,\n  And I these toys to the great children leave:\n  Of fancy, reason, virtue, nought can me bereave.\u201d\n\nA devotion to the common pleasures of sense is better than a state of\nabsolute indifference; for even if these give no kind of pleasure,\nwhilst all higher pursuits are neglected, there is danger lest a man\nbecome of the same opinion as Dr. Darwin\u2019s patient, \u201cthat all which\nlife affords is a ride out in the morning, and a warm parlour and\na pack of cards in the afternoon;\u201d and, like him, finding these\npleasures not inexhaustible, should shoot himself because he has\nnothing better to do!\n\nThe miserable man should endeavour to make himself practically\nacquainted with the distresses of others. However desperate the\ncircumstances of a person may be, he may still have it in his power\nto whisper a word of consolation to one whose situation may be more\nhumiliating than his own.\n\nHuman nature is accused of much more selfishness than it has any just\nclaim to; a thousand kindly emotions break in upon and redeem our daily\nand interested life.\n\n              \u201cThe poorest poor\n  Long for a moment in a weary life\n  When they can know and feel that they have been\n  Themselves the fathers and the dealers out\n  Of some small blessings; have been kind to such\n  As needed kindness; for this single cause,\n  That we have all one human heart.\u201d[51]\n\nHow few have anything like a proper conception of the power which the\nwill can be made to exercise over the physical and mental ailments.[52]\nThe stimuli which we all more or less have at command, if properly\ndirected, will often subdue the early dawnings of disease, which, if\npermitted to take its own course, would have assumed a most formidable\ncharacter. It is our duty to combat with the first menace of disordered\nfeeling. Once the enemy is allowed to take up a favourable position, it\nwill be fruitless to enter single-handed into the contest. \u201cI will be\ngood,\u201d says the child, when he sees the rod ready to direct the will\ninto the way of goodness; and \u201cI will be cheerful,\u201d ought the dull\nand dyspeptic to say, who observes a cloud of hypochondriacal fancies\nready to burst upon his head. It may be said it is useless to struggle\nagainst the natural tendencies of the mind and body, or to declare war\nwith habits which have become firmly rooted in the constitution. In\nreply to this we would say, let not the patient yield to the influence\nof those causes which have formed the habit; let him not hug to his\nbosom the viper which is preying upon his mind; let him not exclaim to\ngloom, \u201cHenceforth be thou my god.\u201d\n\nThe hypochondriac may say, when advised to rouse himself from his state\nof mental despondency, and to exhibit the attributes of a free agent\u2014\n\n  \u201cGo, you may call it madness, folly;\n    You shall not chase my gloom away:\n  There\u2019s such a charm in melancholy,\n    I would not, if I could, be gay.\u201d\n\nBut it is exercising a _conscientious duty_ to resist the encroachments\nof those ideal pleasures which sap the foundation of our moral\nconstitution.\n\nI am inclined to concur in the opinion expressed by the late Dr. Uwins,\nthat when melancholy is stripped of all its ornamental and poetical\naccompaniments, it will be found to be based in a great measure\nupon pride, selfishness, and indolence. This benevolent physician\nobserves\u2014\u201cI cannot conceive a more delightful spectacle than that of an\nindividual, whose constitutional cast is melancholy, warring against\nhis temperament, and determining to enter with hilarity into the scenes\nand circumstances of social life.\u201d\n\nDr. Haindorft, in his German translation of Dr. Reid\u2019s \u201cEssay on\nHypochondriasis,\u201d in alluding to the possibility of the patient\nlabouring under hypochondria being able, by an exercise of the power\nof volition, to control his morbid sensations, justly observes\u2014\u201cWe\nshould have fewer disorders of the mind if we could acquire more power\nof volition, and endeavour, by our own energy, to disperse the clouds\nwhich occasionally arise within our own horizon; if we _resolutely tore\nthe first threads of the net_ which gloom and ill-humour may cast\naround us, and made an effort to drive away the melancholy images of\na morbid imagination by incessant occupation. How beneficial would\nit be to mankind if this truth were universally acknowledged and\nacted upon\u2014viz., that our state of health, mental as well as bodily,\nprincipally depends upon ourselves!\u201d\n\n  \u201cBy _seeming gay_, we grow to what we seem.\u201d\n\nIt was the remark of a man of great observation and knowledge of the\nworld\u2014\u201cOnly wear a mask for a fortnight, and you will not know it from\nyour real face.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am determined to believe myself a happy man,\u201d said a poor fellow,\nsunk in the lowest stage of melancholy, to Esquirol; and he did\nendeavour to triumph over his gloomy apprehensions, and for a short\nperiod he enjoyed the sunny aspect of life; but not having sufficient\nresolution to continue this effort of volition, he again gave way to\ndespair.\n\nA thousand years before the Christian era, there were, at the two\nextremities of Egypt, temples devoted to Saturn, to which those\nlabouring under hypochondriasis resorted in quest of relief. Some\ncunning priests, profiting by the credulity of these patients,\nassociated with the pretended miracles of their powerless divinities\nand barren mysteries, natural means by which they always solaced\ntheir patients, and succeeded often in effecting cures by amusing\nthe mind, and withdrawing the attention from the contemplation of\nphysical suffering. The patients were religiously subjected to a\nvariety of diversions and recreative exercises. Voluptuous paintings\nand seducing images were exposed to their view; agreeable songs and\nmelodious sounds perpetually charmed their ears; gardens of flowers and\nornamental groves furnished delightful walks and delicious perfumes.\nEvery moment was consecrated to some diverting scene and amusement,\nwhich had a most beneficial result on the diseased mind, interrupted\nthe train of melancholy thought, dissipated sorrow, and wrought the\nmost salutary changes on the body through the agency of the mind.\nThe Egyptian physicians recommended their patients to repair to these\nfamous temples, as the faculty of the present day suggest a trip to a\nfashionable spa.\n\nThat many suicides result from an indulgence in long-continued and\ncorroding grief must be apparent to all who have given this subject\nany consideration. The medical man will find it difficult to manage\nsuch patients. Everything should be done to rouse the person from his\nstate of mental abstraction. The immortal poet had a just conception of\nthe baneful influence of silent grief on the mind and body; he makes\nMalcolm say, imploringly, to Macbeth,\n\n  \u201cGive sorrow words; the grief that does not speak\n  Whispers the o\u2019er-wrought heart, and bids it break.\u201d\n\nAn eminent London physician communicated to me the particulars of the\nfollowing case:\u2014A young lady, connected with a family of rank, and\npossessing great accomplishments, had formed, unknown to her parents, a\nsecret attachment to a gentleman who often visited the house. When it\nwas discovered, he was requested to abandon all notions of the lady,\nas it was the determination of her relations to refuse their consent\nto an alliance with him. Both parties took it much to heart. The lady\nsuffered from a severe attack of nervous disorder, which terminated\nin suicidal mania. She endeavoured several times to jump out of the\nwindow, and would have done so had she not been most carefully watched.\nHer symptoms were most distressing. The mind appeared to be weighed\ndown to the earth by an accumulation of misery and wretchedness, which\nshe was unable to shake off. \u201cOh! could I but be happy!\u201d she would\nexclaim. \u201cWill no one come to my relief? What can I do?\u201d She would\nwalk about the room, occasionally giving utterance to expressions\nsimilar to those just quoted. More than once she observed, that, could\nshe cry, she felt assured her mind would be relieved; but not a tear\ncould she shed. After a fearful struggle for some time, one evening,\nas she was retiring to rest, she burst into a flood of tears. The\neffect was most beneficial; from that moment she began to recover. The\ncopious lachrymal secretion had the effect of relieving the cerebral\ncongestion, and in this way the brain was restored to the performance\nof its healthy functions.\n\nIt is difficult to lay down any particular instructions for the\ntreatment of _ennui_. How is it possible to restore enjoyment to a man\nwho has quite exhausted it? In such cases the advice which F\u00e9n\u00e9lon\ngives to Dionysius the tyrant, by the mouth of Diogenes, will naturally\napply,\u2014\u201cTo restore his appetite, he must be made to feel hunger; and to\nmake his splendid palace tolerable to him, he must be put into my tub,\nwhich is at present empty.\u201d\n\nA lady became insane in consequence of a sudden and unexpected\nacquisition of wealth. In a few months she was reduced, by the failure\nof the house in which all her property was embarked, to complete\nindigence. Being compelled to work for her daily bread, her reason was\nsoon restored. The great preservative from _tedium vit\u00e6_ is, in keeping\nthe mind and body in a state of healthy activity. How true it is\u2014\n\n      \u201cThat many ills o\u2019er which man grieves,\n  And still more woman, spring from not employing\n  Some hours to make the remnant worth enjoying.\u201d\n\n  BYRON.\n\nIn the army, it is proverbial that the time of fatigue and danger is\nnot the time of disease; it is during the inactive and listless months\nof a campaign that crowds of patients pass to the hospitals. In both\nthese cases it is the active exercise of the mind giving strength to\nthe brain, and through it, healthy vigour to the body, which produces\nthe effect. Shakspeare has not been unobservant of the consequences of\nexcitement of mind on the bodily functions. In King Henry IV., when\nNorthumberland is told of the fatal tidings from Shrewsbury, and is\ninformed of the death of his son Percy, he breaks out,\u2014\n\n  \u201cFor this I shall have time enough to mourn.\n  In poison there is physic; and these news\n  That would, had I been well, have made me sick,\n  _Being sick, have in some measure made me well_:\n  And as a wretch whose fever-weakened joints,\n  Like strengthless hinges, buckle under life,\n  Impatient of his fit, breaks like a fire\n  Out of his keeper\u2019s arms; _even so my limbs_,\n  Weakened with grief, being now enraged with grief,\n  Are thrice themselves.\u201d\n\nIn illustration of the same principle, we have only to refer our\nreaders to the ever-memorable Walcheren expedition. It has been stated\nthat while our troops and seamen were actively engaged in the siege\nand bombardment of Flushing, exposed to intense heat, heavy rains,\nand poisonous exhalations from the malarious soil, inundated by the\nturbid waters of the Scheldt, scarcely a man was on the sick list; the\nexcitement of warfare, the prospects of victory, and the expectation of\nbooty, completely fortifying the body against all the potent causes of\ndisease that environed the camp and the fleet.\n\nIn the celebrated retreat of the \u201cTen thousand Greeks\u201d under Xenophon,\nthe troops were subjected to great mental despondency. They had to\ncross rapid rivers, penetrate gloomy forests, drag their weary way over\nvast and burning deserts, scale the summits of rugged mountains, and\nwade through deep snows and pestilent morasses, in continual fear of\ndeath or capture. It was a sense of the despondency which misfortune\nwas producing among the troops that induced Xenophon, in his address\nto his companions on the fearful night which preceded the murder of\nClearchus, to say, \u201cThe soldiers have at present nothing before their\neyes but misfortune. If any one can persuade them to turn _their\nthoughts into action_ it would greatly encourage them.\u201d It was to\neffect this purpose that the consummate general ordered everything in\nthe camp, except the sword, to be abandoned. He inspired the hopes of\nhis soldiers, roused their minds into activity, and thus prevented the\ndevelopment of serious disease among the troops.\n\nLord Anson says, in speaking of the ravages which the scurvy made under\nhis command, that \u201cwhatever discouraged the seamen, or damped their\nhopes, never failed to add new vigour to the distemper; for it usually\nkilled those who were in the last stages of it, and confined those to\ntheir hammocks who before were capable of some kind of duty.\u201d\n\nIn certain diseases of the nervous system, particularly when associated\nwith morbid conditions of the mind leading to suicide, the influence\nof music may be had recourse to with great advantage to the patient.\nThe ancients, who paid more attention to the moral treatment of disease\nthan the moderns have done, had a just appreciation of the beneficial\neffect of music on the nervous system. The learned Dr. Bianchini has\ncollected all the passages found in ancient authors relative to the\nmedical application of music; and from these it appears that it was\nused as a remedy by the Egyptians, Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans, not\nonly in chronic, but in acute cases of disease.\n\nM. Burette, in his able and scientific work on music, allows it to be\npossible, and even probable, that music, by the impressions it makes\nupon the nerves, may be of use in the cure of certain maladies; yet he\nby no means supposes the music of the ancients possessed this power\nin a greater degree than that of the moderns. Homer attributes the\ncessation of the plague among the Greeks, at the siege of Troy, to\nmusic:\u2014\n\n  \u201cWith hymns divine the joyous banquet ends,\n  The p\u00e6ans lengthened till the sun descends:\n  The Greeks, restored, the grateful rites prolong;\n  Apollo listens and approves the song.\u201d\n\n  POPE.\n\nIn the Memoirs of the French Academy of Sciences, for 1707 and 1708,\nthere are many accounts of cases of disease which, after having long\nresisted and baffled the most efficacious remedies, had yielded under\nthe influence of the soft impressions of harmony; and M. de Mairan, in\nthe same records, published in 1735, has entered very fully into the\nconsideration of the _modus operandi_ of music on the body in health\nand disease.\n\nThe effect of music on the system is explained in two different ways.\nThe monotony of the sound is supposed to have a soothing influence over\nthe mind, similar to what is known to result from the gurgle of a mimic\ncataract of some mountain rill, or to a distant waterfall. How often\nhas the music caused by the waves gently dashing upon the beach excited\nsleep, when all our narcotics have failed in producing a similar\neffect. This soporific effect of the repetition or monotony of sound is\nbeautifully alluded to by Mackenzie, in his Man of Feeling. When his\nhero, Mr. Harley, arrives in London, he finds that the noise and varied\nexcitement of the metropolis increase his nervous state of habit, and\nprevent him from sleeping. Ordinary narcotics produce no effect upon\nhim, and he must have continued to suffer from watchfulness if he had\nnot happily touched his shoe-buckle, which lay upon the table, when the\nvibration produced a monotonous sound so closely resembling the voice\nof his good aunt, who nightly read him asleep in the country, that from\nthat time he regularly applied to the same narcotic, and always slept\nsoundly. Music acts, secondly, by causing an association of agreeable\nideas. A lady who was confined in an asylum in the vicinity of London,\nand who had been separated for some months from her home, and from all\nshe held dear, was pronounced partially convalescent. She was, however,\nstill melancholy; and it was suggested by her father that a piece, of\nwhich she was passionately fond, and which was associated with the\nhappiest period of her life, should be played within her hearing. This\nwish was complied with; the effect produced was highly gratifying. For\nthe first few minutes, no notice was taken of the music; in a short\nperiod, however, a smile was seen to play upon a countenance where\nall had been dark and gloomy for months. As the music proceeded, the\neffect became more sensible and powerful; ideas of a most pleasurable\nkind appeared to rush upon a mind which had previously been a blank; a\nchord had been touched which thrilled through her, until she appeared\nabsorbed in the pleasing associations which the favourite air had\nconjured to her recollection. The past was no longer forgotten, and she\nfor the first time gave evidence of being conscious of the situation in\nwhich she was in. A fatal blow had been given to the disease, and in a\nshort period she was considered sufficiently recovered to be allowed to\nreturn home to the bosom of her family.\n\nThe disease of Saul was alleviated by David\u2019s harp. Aristotle maintains\nthat actual madness in horses may be cured by the melody of lutes.\n\u201cExperience has proved,\u201d says Gibbon, \u201cthat the mechanical operation of\nsounds, by quickening the circulation of the blood and spirits, will\nact on the human machine more forcibly than the eloquence of reason\nand honour.\u201d In illustration of the above observation the following\nfact may be adduced:\u2014At the battle of Quebec, in April, 1760, while the\ntroops were retreating in great confusion, the general complained to a\nfield-officer of Fraser\u2019s regiment of the bad behaviour of his corps.\n\u201cSir,\u201d he answered, in great warmth, \u201cyou did very wrong in forbidding\nthe bagpipes to play this morning; nothing encourages Highlanders so\nmuch in the day of action,\u2014nay, even now the pipes would be of use.\u201d\n\u201cLet them blow, then, like the devil,\u201d replied the General, \u201cif it will\nbring back the men.\u201d The bagpipes were ordered to play a favourite\nmartial air. The Highlanders, the moment they heard the music, returned\nand formed with alacrity, and fought like infuriated lions.\n\nThe influence of music over animals is known to be very great. Burney\nsays that an officer, being shut up in the Bastille, had his lute\nallowed him; upon which, after a trial or two, the mice came issuing\nfrom their holes, and the spiders, suspending themselves from their\nthreads, assembled round him to enjoy the melody.[53]\n\nFalret alludes particularly to the benefit which often accrues from\nmusic in peculiar disorders of the nervous system attended with a\ndisposition to suicide. So exalted an idea had M. Appert of its effects\non the mind, that he has observed, alluding to criminals, \u201c_that the\nman sensible to the influence of harmony is not irretrievably lost_.\u201d\nA young lady passionately fond of music manifested an inclination to\nkill herself; she was sent by her family to an hospital, where she was\ncarefully watched. The idea of suicide was not, however, removed until\nshe was allowed the use of her favourite instrument, the harp. The\ngood effect was soon perceptible; her melancholy gradually subsided,\nand with it the suicidal disposition. She expressed to her friends how\ngrateful she felt that she was allowed to indulge in her favourite\namusement, and was conscious of the benefits which she had derived from\nit.\n\nThe progress of epidemic suicide has been stayed by having recourse to\nmeasures which have powerfully affected the imagination.\n\nThe young women of Marseilles, at one period, were seized with a\npropensity to commit suicide. In order to prevent the contagion from\nspreading, a law was passed to the effect that the body of every\nfemale who was guilty of self-murder should be publicly exposed after\ndeath. The beneficial result of this law became immediately apparent;\nthe epidemic was stopped; the sense of shame prevailed over the\nrecklessness of human life.\n\nIn the French army, during the reign of Napoleon Buonaparte, a\ngrenadier killed himself. This suicide was followed by another case,\nand it was feared that the disposition would assume an epidemic\ncharacter. Buonaparte saw the necessity of prompt and decisive\nmeasures, and with a view of striking terror in the minds of the\nsoldiers, and putting a stop at once to the spread of what appeared to\nbe a contagious malady, he issued the following \u201corder of the day,\u201d\ndated _St. Cloud, 22 Floreal, an_ X.:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe grenadier Groblin has committed suicide, from a disappointment\nin love. He was, in other respects, a worthy man. This is the second\nevent of the kind that has happened in this corps within a month. The\nFirst Consul directs that it shall be notified in the order of the day\nof the guard, that a soldier ought to know how to overcome the grief\nand melancholy of his passions; that there is as much true courage in\nbearing mental affliction manfully as in remaining unmoved under the\nfire of a battery. To abandon oneself to grief without resisting, and\nto kill oneself in order to escape from it, is like abandoning the\nfield of battle before being conquered.\n\n  \u201cSigned,  NAPOLEON,\n           \u201cBESSIERES.\u201d\n\nThe effect of this masterly appeal to the courage of the French\nsoldiery was truly magical. The disposition was completely quelled,\nand no case of suicide occurred for a considerable time afterwards.\nThe course which Napoleon adopted shewed his great knowledge of human\nnature, as well as the thorough insight he had obtained into the\ncharacter of the people over whose minds he exercised so tremendous an\ninfluence.\n\nAn account of the punishment inflicted on the women of Miletus, a city\nof Ionia, who were seized with an epidemic suicide, is transmitted to\nus in the writings of Plutarch. He says, \u201cThe Milesian virgins were at\none time possessed with an uncommon rage for suicide. All desire of\nlife seemed suddenly to leave them, and they rushed on death (by the\nhelp of the halter) with an impetuous fury. The tears and entreaties\nof parents and friends were of no avail; and if they were prevented\nby force for awhile, they evaded all the attention and vigilance of\ntheir observers, and found means to perpetrate the horrid deed.\nSome ascribed this extraordinary species of desperation and frenzy\nto certain occult and maddening qualities of the air at that season,\nsomehow or other peculiarly injurious to the female frame and texture,\nboth of body and mind, (since the men were not visibly affected by it;)\nwhile the superstitious considered it as a calamity sent from the gods,\nand therefore beyond the power of human remedy. But whatever was the\ncause, the effect was visible and important, and could not be suffered\nto rage long without manifest injury to the state. While speculative\nmen, therefore, were attempting to account for the phenomena, the\nactive magistrate was endeavouring to arrest the progress of the\ncontagion, for which purpose the following decree was issued;\u2014\u201cThat\nthe body of every young woman who hanged herself should be dragged\nnaked through the streets by the same rope with which she committed\nthe deed.\u201d This wise edict had in a short time the desired effect.\nPlutarch adds\u2014\u201cThe fear of shame and ignominy is an argument of a good\nand virtuous mind; and they who regarded not pain and death, which are\nusually esteemed the most dreadful of evils, could not, however, endure\nthe thoughts of having their dead bodies exposed to indignity and\nshame.\u201d\n\nIn the Magdalen Asylum, at Edinburgh, a girl was seized with typhus\nfever, at the time that it was raging in the city, and though she\nwas instantly removed, as well as all her bed-clothes &c., two more\nwere seized next day, and an alarm or panic was soon spread over the\nwhole house. Next day, no fewer than sixteen were in the sick-room,\nand in the course of four days, out of a community of less than fifty\nindividuals, twenty-two were apparently labouring under decided fever.\nIt now struck Dr. Hamilton that there was mad delusion in all this,\nand that the disease arose as much from panic and irritation as from\nany other causes. Acting on this belief, he went to the sick-room, and\ntold the girls that such a rapid spread of the disease was entirely\nunprecedented; that they were under the delusion of yielding to\ntheir fears, and of imitating others who were now undergoing all\nthe tortures of bleeding, blistering, and purging, in Queensbury\nHospital. He assured them that the fumigation and other precautions\nmust have destroyed the contagion, and that if they would only keep\na good heart and dismiss their fears, he would pledge himself the\nfever would soon disappear. The effect of the Doctor\u2019s speech was\nmagical. All apprehension was instantly banished from the mind, the\ncheering influence of hope was inspired, moral courage was developed,\nand the progress of the pestilence stopped. Not one case of fever\noccurred afterwards, and those who had the fever at the time perfectly\nrecovered.[54]\n\nIt is only on the same principle that we can account for the success\nwhich Dr. A. T. Thompson met with in the treatment of the following\ncase of whooping-cough, which had been kept up by habit. The patient,\na young boy, was threatened with the application of a large blister;\nalthough it was not applied, but merely placed within his view, yet the\ndread of it completely removed the cough. Boerrhave cured epilepsy in a\nwhole school, by marching into it at the moment of the expected attack\nwith a red-hot poker, which he threatened to thrust down the throats of\nthose who should have a fit.\n\nA remarkable instance of epidemic suicide occurred as far back as the\nreign of Tarquinius Priscus, which as it required, so it received,\nan effectual check by the spirited introduction of an extraordinary\nmode of punishment. After this king had employed the Roman people in\nsuccessful wars abroad, he filled up their leisure at home in works\nof less apparent honour, though of greater utility. These were to cut\ndrains and common sewers of immense size and durability. When the\nsoldiers disdained these servile offices, and saw no end to their\nlabours, many of them committed suicide by throwing themselves off the\nCapitoline Hill. Others followed their example, until the contagion\nspread through the whole of the men. The king, in order to strike\nterror into the minds of those who might contemplate self-destruction,\nissued an order commanding the bodies of those who should commit\nsuicide to be nailed on crosses, and then exposed as spectacles to the\nrest of the citizens, and left a prey to the fowls of the air. The\nfeeling of shame and horror had the effect of checking the disposition\nto sacrifice life, and thus the king\u2019s purpose was effected.\n\nWhether any measures of a similar character could be adopted in cases\nwhere the disposition to suicide has a tendency to assume an epidemic\nform is a matter of considerable doubt.\n\nExperience has established the effect of some simple remedies in\npreventing the return of paroxysms of melancholia with a propensity\nto suicide. But it has likewise, and not unfrequently, evinced their\ninsufficiency, and at the same time the influence of a strong and\ndeeply impressed emotion in producing a solid and durable change. A\nman who worked at a sedentary trade consulted Pinel, about the end\nof October, 1783, for dyspepsia and great depression of spirits.\nHe knew of no cause to which he could ascribe his indisposition.\nHis unhappiness at length increased to such a pitch that he felt an\ninvincible propensity to throw himself into the Seine. Unequivocal\nsymptoms of a disordered stomach induced Pinel to prescribe some\nopening medicines, and for some days occasional draughts of whey. His\nbowels were effectually opened, and he suffered but little from his\npropensity to self-destruction during the remainder of the winter. Fine\nweather appeared to restore him completely, and his cure was considered\nas perfect. Towards the decline of autumn, however, his melancholia\nreturned. Nature assumed to him a dark and dismal aspect, and his\npropensity to throw himself into the Seine returned with redoubled\nforce. The only circumstance that in any degree restrained the horrid\nimpulse was, the idea of leaving unprotected a wife and child, whom\nhe tenderly loved. This struggle between the feelings of nature and\nhis delirious frenzy was not permitted to continue long; for the most\nunequivocal proofs soon after appeared of his having executed his fatal\nproject.\n\nA literary gentleman, devoted to the pleasures of the table, and who\nhad lately recovered from a fever, experienced in the autumnal season\nall the horrors of the propensity to suicide. He weighed with shocking\ncalmness the choice of various methods to accomplish the deed of death.\nA visit which he paid to London appears to have developed, with a new\ndegree of energy, his profound melancholy, and his immovable resolution\nto abridge his term of life. He chose an advanced hour of the night,\nand went towards one of the bridges of that capital for the purpose of\nprecipitating himself into the Thames; but at the moment of his arrival\nat the destined spot, he was attacked by some robbers. Though he had\nlittle or no money about him, he felt extremely indignant at this\ntreatment, and used every effort to make his escape, which, however, he\ndid not accomplish before he had been exceedingly terrified. Left by\nhis assailants, he returned to his lodgings, having forgot the original\nobject of his sally. This rencontre seems to have caused a thorough\nrevolution in the state of his mind. His cure was complete.\n\nA watchmaker was for a long time harassed by the propensity to suicide.\nHe once so far gave way to the horrid impulse, that he withdrew to his\nhouse in the country, where he expected to meet no obstacle to the\nexecution of his project. Here he took a pistol, and retired to an\nadjoining wood, with the full intent of perpetrating the fatal deed;\nbut missing his aim, the contents of the piece entered his cheek.\nViolent h\u00e6morrhage ensued. He was discovered, and conveyed to his own\nhouse. During the healing of the wound, which was long protracted,\nan important change took place in the state of his mind. Whether\nfrom the agitation produced by the above tragic attempt, from the\nenormous loss of blood which it occasioned, or from any other cause,\nhe never afterwards shewed the least inclination to put an end to his\nexistence. This case, though by no means an example for imitation,\nis well calculated to shew that sudden terror, or any other lively or\ndeep impression, may divert, and even destroy, the fatal propensity to\nsuicide.\n\nA few years ago, an officer went into Hyde Park with an intention of\nshooting himself. He applied a pistol to his forehead; the priming\nflashed, but no discharge followed. A man of poor appearance, whom the\nofficer had not observed, or perhaps thought unworthy of his notice,\ninstantly ran up, and wrested the pistol from his hands. The other drew\nhis sword, and was about to stab his deliverer, who, with much spirit,\nreplied, \u201cStab me, Sir, if you think proper; I fear death as little as\nyou, but I have more courage. More than twenty years I have lived in\naffliction and penury, and I yet trust in God for comfort and support.\u201d\nThe officer was struck with these spirited words, continued speechless\nand motionless for a short time, and then, bursting into tears, gave\nhis purse to the honest man. He then inquired into his story, and\nbecame his private friend and benefactor; but he made the poor man\nswear that he would never make inquiries concerning himself, or seem to\nknow him, if chance should ever bring them in sight of each other.\n\nA female patient, who had often threatened to destroy herself, one\nday assured M. Esquirol that she was about to do it. \u201cVery well,\u201d he\nanswered; \u201cit is nothing to me; and your husband will be delivered of a\ngreat torment.\u201d She instantly ceased the preparations she was making to\naccomplish the act, and never spoke of committing it again.\n\nHow easily lunatics may be diverted from their purpose by presence\nof mind, an intimacy with their character, and the tact to employ\nthe destructive feeling by which they are actuated as the means of\nprotection, is well exemplified in an anecdote related by Dr. Fox. He\nhad accompanied a suicidal and furious maniac, who was at the time\ncalm, to the upper story of his asylum to enjoy the prospect beyond\nthe walls. In returning, the spiral staircase struck the eye of the\npatient; the opportunity roused the half-slumbering propensity, and a\nfit of frenzy ensued. His eyes glared, his teeth ground against each\nother; he panted like a bloodhound for his prey, and seizing the Doctor\nby the collar, howled into his ears, \u201cYou jump down, and I will jump\nafter you.\u201d The Doctor for the moment was petrified with horror; he\nwas alone with a powerful man, frenzied by insanity; to escape was out\nof the question; to attempt to overcome him by force was still more\nfutile: in a moment he hit upon a stratagem. Turning to the infuriated\nmadman, he exclaimed, with a look of coolness and collectedness, \u201cBah!\nmy child could jump from this place; it requires no nouse to do that;\nthe thing is to jump up\u2014that is the difficulty.\u201d The madman listened\nwith attention to what the Doctor said, and then observed, \u201cBut you\ncannot do so, can you?\u201d The Doctor replied, he could, and they both\nhurried down to put the boast to the proof, and the sanguinary threat\nwas forgotten before they reached the lobby.\n\nPhysicians not practically acquainted with the treatment of insanity\nare too much inclined to believe that it is fruitless to attempt to\nreason a madman out of his morbid delusion, and that to have recourse\nto a trick in order to dispel the mental illusion is a species of\npractice unbecoming the dignity of a professional gentleman. Numerous\ncases are recorded in which patients have been cured of monomania by a\nwell-contrived artifice; and in many cases of suicidal insanity, when\nother treatment fails, the medical man may have recourse to this mode\nof cure without any danger of sinking himself in public or professional\nestimation. The following cases are illustrations of the foregoing\nremark:\u2014\n\nA celebrated watchmaker, at Paris, was infatuated with the chimera of\nperpetual motion, and to effect this discovery he set to work with\nindefatigable ardour. From unremitting attention to the object of his\nenthusiasm coinciding with the influence of revolutionary disturbances,\nhis imagination was greatly heated, his sleep was interrupted, and, at\nlength, a complete derangement of the understanding took place. His\ncase was marked by a most whimsical illusion of the imagination. He\nfancied that he had lost his head on the scaffold; that it had been\nthrown promiscuously among the heads of many other victims; that the\njudges, having repented of their cruel sentence, had ordered them\nto be restored to their owners, and placed upon their respective\nshoulders; but that, in consequence of an unfortunate mistake, the\ngentleman who had the management of the business had placed upon his\nshoulders the head of one of his unhappy companions. The idea of this\nwhimsical exchange occupied his thoughts night and day, on account\nof which his relations sent him to the H\u00f4tel Dieu; and from thence\nhe was transferred to the Asylum de Bic\u00eatre. Nothing could equal the\nextravagant overflowings of his heated brain. He sung, cried, or danced\nincessantly; and as there appeared no propensity in him to commit acts\nof violence or disturbance, he was allowed to go about the hospital\nwithout control, in order to expend, by evaporation, the effervescent\nexcess of his spirits. \u201cLook at these teeth,\u201d he constantly cried;\n\u201cmine were exceedingly handsome; these are rotten and decayed. My mouth\nwas sound and healthy; this is foul and diseased. What a difference\nbetween this hair and that of my own head!\u201d To this state of delirious\ngaiety, however, succeeded that of furious madness. He broke to pieces,\nor otherwise destroyed, whatever was within the reach or power of his\nmischievous propensity. Close confinement became indispensable. Towards\nthe approach of winter, his violence abated; and, although he continued\nto be extravagant in his ideas, he was never afterwards dangerous. He\nwas therefore permitted, whenever he felt disposed, to go to the inner\ncourt. The idea of perpetual motion frequently recurred to him in the\nmidst of his wanderings; and he chalked on all the walls and doors as\nhe passed the various designs by which his wondrous piece of mechanism\nwas to be constructed. The method best calculated to cure so whimsical\nan illusion appeared to be that of encouraging his prosecution of it to\nsatiety. His friends were accordingly requested to send him his tools,\nwith materials to work upon, and other requisites, such as plates of\ncopper and steel, watch-wheels, &c. The governor permitted him to fix\nup a work-bench in his apartment. His zeal was now redoubled; his whole\nattention was rivetted upon his favourite pursuit. He forgot his meals.\nAfter about a month\u2019s labour, which he sustained with a constancy\nthat deserved better success, our artist began to think that he had\nfollowed a false route. He broke into a thousand fragments the piece of\nmachinery which he had fabricated at so much expense of time, thought,\nand labour; entered on the construction of another upon a new plan,\nand laboured with equal pertinacity for an additional fortnight. The\nvarious parts being completed, he brought them together, and fancied\nthat he saw a perfect harmony amongst them. The whole was now finally\nadjusted; his anxiety was indescribable; motion succeeded; it continued\nfor some time, and he supposed it capable of continuing for ever. He\nwas elevated to the highest pitch of enjoyment and triumph, and ran\nas quick as lightning into the interior of the hospital, crying out,\nlike another Archimedes, \u201cAt length I have solved this famous problem,\nwhich has puzzled so many men celebrated for their wisdom and talents.\u201d\nBut, grievous to say, he was disconcerted in the midst of his triumph.\nThe wheels stopped; the perpetual motion ceased! His intoxication\nof joy was succeeded by disappointment and confusion. But to avoid\na humiliating and mortifying confession, he declared that he could\neasily remove the impediment; but tired of that kind of employment, he\nwas determined for the future to devote his whole time and attention\nto his business. There still remained another maniacal impression to\nbe counteracted,\u2014that of the imaginary exchange of his head, which\nunceasingly recurred to him. A keen and an unanswerable stroke of\npleasantry seemed best adapted to correct this fantastic whim. Another\nconvalescent, of a gay and facetious humour, instructed in the part he\nshould play in this comedy, adroitly turned the conversation to the\nsubject of the famous miracle of Saint Denis. Our mechanician strongly\nmaintained the possibility of the fact, and sought to confirm it by\nan application of it to his own case. The other set up a loud laugh,\nand replied, with a tone of the keenest ridicule, \u201cMadman as thou\nart, how could Saint Denis kiss his own head? Was it with his heels?\u201d\nThis equally unexpected and unanswerable retort forcibly struck the\nmaniac. He retired confused, amidst the peals of laughter which were\nprovoked at his expense, and never afterwards mentioned the exchange\nof his head. Close attention to his trade for some months completed\nthe restoration of his intellect. He was sent to his family in perfect\nhealth, and has now for more than five years pursued his business\nwithout a return of his complaint.\n\nMr. Cox recollects a singular instance of a deranged idea in a maniac\nbeing corrected by a very simple stratagem. The patient asserted that\nhe was the Holy Ghost; a gentleman present immediately exclaimed, \u201cYou\nthe Holy Ghost! What proof have you to produce?\u201d \u201cI know that I am,\u201d\nwas his answer. The gentleman said, \u201cHow is this possible? There is but\none Holy Ghost, is there? How then can you be the Holy Ghost, and I be\nso too?\u201d He appeared surprised and puzzled, and, after a short pause,\nsaid, \u201cBut are _you_ the Holy Ghost?\u201d When the other observed, \u201cDid you\nnot know that I was?\u201d his answer was, \u201cI did not know it before. Why,\nthen, I cannot be the Holy Ghost.\u201d\n\nA Portuguese nobleman became melancholy, and fancied that God would\nnever forgive his sins. Various means were tried to subdue this morbid\nimpression, but in vain, until the following artifice was adopted,\nwhich proved successful in restoring the lunatic to reason. During\nmidnight, a person dressed as an angel was made to enter his bed-room,\nhaving a drawn sword in its right hand, and a lighted torch in the\nother. The imaginary angelic being addressed the monomaniac by name,\nwho, rising from his bed, spoke to the supposed angel, beseeching it\nto tell him whether his sins would ever be forgiven; upon which the\nangel replied, \u201cBe comforted, your sins are forgiven.\u201d The poor man\u2019s\ndelight knew no bounds. He rose from his bed, summoned every one in\nthe house to his presence, and explained to them all that had passed.\nFrom that moment the man rapidly recovered in bodily health, and his\ndelusion has completely vanished.\n\nA man fancied he was dead, refused to eat, and importuned his parents\nto bury him. By the advice of his physician, he was wrapped in a\nwinding-sheet, laid upon a bier, and in this way he was carried on the\nshoulders of four men to the churchyard. On their way, two or three\npleasant fellows (appointed for that purpose) meeting the hearse,\ndemanded in a commanding tone of voice to know whose body they had\nin the coffin. They replied it was a young man\u2019s, and mentioned his\nname. \u201cSurely,\u201d said one of them, \u201cthe world is well rid of him; for\nhe was a man who led a bad and vicious life, and his friends have\ngood reasons to rejoice that he has thus ended his days, otherwise\nhe would have died an ignominious death on the scaffold.\u201d The young\nman overheard this observation, at which he felt extremely indignant;\nbut feeling that it was not consistent with propriety or the laws\nof nature for a dead man on his way to his last home to exhibit any\nindications of passion, he satisfied himself by coolly replying, \u201cThat\nthey were wicked men to do him that wrong, and that if he had been\nalive he would teach them to speak better of the dead.\u201d \u201cIt is well,\u201d\nsaid one of the men in reply, \u201cthat you are no more; both for yourself\nand family. You were a mean, pitiful scoundrel, guilty of every\nabomination, and the world is rejoiced that you no longer live.\u201d This\nwas too much for the patience of the dead man to endure, and feeling\nthat he could no longer suffer such unjust aspersions to be cast on\nhis character, he leaped from the coffin, procured the first stick he\ncould lay hands on, and commenced belabouring his vile accusers. As it\nmay be supposed, they gave him plenty to do, and by the time he had\ngratified his indignation, and well chastised his calumniators, he had\nbecome completely exhausted. In this state he was taken home, and in\na few days he was completely cured of the morbid idea which had taken\npossession of his imagination.\n\nMenecrates, as we learn from \u00c6lian,[55] become so mad, as seriously to\nbelieve himself the son of Jupiter, and to request of Philip of Macedon\nthat he might be treated as a god. But it is not always that the man\nthus deranged falls into such good hands as those of the Macedonian\nmonarch; for Philip humorously determining to make the madman\u2019s disease\nwork its own cure, gave orders immediately that his request should be\ncomplied with, and invited him to a grand entertainment, at which was\na separate table for the new divinity, served with the most costly\nperfumes and incense, but with nothing else. Menecrates was at first\nhighly delighted, and received the worship that was paid to him with\nthe greatest complacency; but growing hungry by degrees over the empty\nviands that were offered him, while every other guest was indulged with\nsubstantial dainties, he at length keenly felt himself to be a man, and\nstole away from the court in his right senses.\n\nMany cases of suicidal insanity have been cured by removing the persons\nso unhappily afflicted from their own homes, friends, and relations.\nIn these cases the physician has no little difficulty in persuading\nthe friends of the invalid that a separation from old associations is\nabsolutely indispensable; that without it, a return to sanity cannot be\nreasonably expected. When Dr. Willis undertook the cure of George III.,\nhe insisted, in the first instance, in dismissing all the old servants,\nchanging the furniture, and removing everything from the king\u2019s sight\nthat might tend to awaken in his mind ideas of the past. The success\nthat attended his treatment is said mainly to have depended on this\ncircumstance.\n\nMr. \u2014\u2014, forty-seven years old, of a neuro-sanguineous temperament,\nwas happy in his domestic circle, and his business had prospered\nuntil the year, 1830, from which period he was much harassed in the\nmanagement of his affairs. In December, 1831, after a very trifling\nloss, he grew sorrowful and melancholy; his face was flushed, his eyes\nbecame blood-shot, his breathing was difficult, and he shed tears,\nincessantly repeating that he was lost. On the next and following days,\nhe made several attempts to commit suicide, so that they were obliged\nto cover his apartment with wadding. He wished to strangle himself,\ntried to swallow his tongue, filled his mouth with his fist in hopes\nof suffocating himself, and then refused all nourishment. At the\nexpiration of six days, the patient was brought to Paris, and entrusted\nto Esquirol\u2019s care. From the moment of his arrival all desire to commit\nsuicide vanished, and the patient appeared restored to reason. \u201cThe\nimpression that I received,\u201d said he, \u201con finding myself transported to\na strange house cured me.\u201d In fact, sleep, appetite, and a return of\nconnected, and sometimes lively conversation, induced the belief that\na cure was effected. Three weeks seemed enough for convalescence, when\nhis wife and son came to fetch him. They passed two days at Paris to\nfinish some business there, and then returned to the country. Scarcely\nhad he arrived at his home when he felt himself impelled by the same\ndesires, in consequence of which, he returned to Paris, transacted some\nbusiness whilst he remained there, and appeared perfectly well. On\nreturning to his home again, he made fresh attempts to commit suicide,\nstruck his son, and those who waited upon him, and endangered the life\nof his wife. Neither the grief of his family, the watch placed over\nhim, nor the pretended authority of those about him, could overcome\nthese feelings. The patient passed several days without food; he tore\nup his linen to make a cord to hang himself, tied it round his neck,\nand got upon his bed in order to throw himself upon the floor; and at\nlast, deceiving the watchfulness of his relations, escaped to throw\nhimself into the river. He was immediately put into a carriage, and\naccompanied by his wife; but, notwithstanding the strait-waistcoat, he\nleft no means untried to kill himself. On arriving at Paris, and being\nagain confined, he became perfectly reasonable, and made no attempt\nto destroy himself during the six weeks that his second confinement\nlasted. There was reason to believe his cure complete. If he was asked\nwhy he did not overcome his terrible impressions at his own house as\nhe did at Paris, he answered in an evasive manner, affirming that this\ntime the trial had been long enough, that he was cured, and that he\ninsisted upon returning home. \u201cDeprived of my wife and son,\u201d said he,\n\u201cI am the most unhappy of men, and I cannot live.\u201d \u201cBut if you are\nso unhappy here,\u201d said Esquirol to him one day, \u201cwhy do you not try\nto destroy yourself, as it is very easy to do so?\u201d \u201cI know not,\u201d he\nreplied; \u201cbut I am cured, and I wish to live.\u201d This patient enjoyed\nthe greatest liberty, and although no apparent precaution was taken\nto prevent his destroying himself, he never made the least attempt.\nHe afterwards ceased to talk unreasonably; but Esquirol was never\nable to obtain an avowal of the motives which induced him to commit\nsuicide at his own house, whilst he thought no more of it as soon as he\ncame amongst strangers. On returning to his home for the fourth time,\nalthough he was able to transact important business, the same phenomena\nreturned with equal violence.\n\nM.\u2014\u2014, twenty-seven years old, after experiencing some reverses of\nfortune, became maniacal, with a tendency to commit suicide. The\nelevated situation of the room which he inhabited, the position of\nthe staircase, the reiterated visits of his friends, \u201cwho came to\ncontemplate his misfortunes,\u201d and the despair of his wife, were so\nmany circumstances which induced him to terminate his existence; and\nalthough he avowed that he had no motive for so doing, and that he was\nashamed, and considered himself criminal for having attempted it, he\nleft no means untried for more than a month to effect that end. When he\nwas taken away from his home, and lodged in a ground-floor which led\ninto a garden, the idea no longer harassed him. \u201cIt would be of no\nuse,\u201d he said; \u201cI could never kill myself here; every precaution is\ntaken to prevent me.\u201d\n\nA baker\u2019s wife, of a lymphatic temperament, experienced a violent\nfit of jealousy, which caused her much distress, and induced her to\nwatch her husband\u2019s steps, who vented his discontent in threats and\nreproaches. At last, this unhappy woman, being unable to bear the\nfeeling any longer, threw herself out of the window. Her husband ran\nto pick her up, and bestowed marks of the most attentive kindness\nupon her. \u201cIt is useless,\u201d she said; \u201cyou have a wife no longer.\u201d She\nrefused every kind of nourishment, and neither the solicitations,\ntears, prayers of her relations, and those of her husband, who never\nquitted her room, were able to overcome her resolution. After seven\ndays of total abstinence, Esquirol was called in. They hid from him\nthe cause of the disease, but he observed that every time her husband\napproached the bed, her face became convulsed. The patient was told\nthat she was about to be sent into the country, but that it was\nnecessary for her to take a little nourishment in order to support\nthe journey. A little broth which was offered her was accepted; but\nnotwithstanding her attempts, she could only swallow a few drops. She\ntried again the following morning, but she expired in the course of\nthe day. \u201cHad this woman,\u201d says Esquirol, \u201cbeen removed from her home\nimmediately after the accident, there is little doubt but she would\nhave been restored. How could she desire to live, her distress being\ncontinually aggravated by the presence of her husband?\u201d\n\nThe chief means of controlling the passions, and of keeping them within\njust bounds, is to form a proper estimate of the things of this life,\nof the relation of our present to a future state of existence, and\nof the influence which our actions in this world will have upon our\nhappiness hereafter. Such a right estimate every rational man will\nlabour to attain. He will endeavour, by correcting error, and acquiring\nsuch habits as are consistent with just sentiments, to withdraw the\nnourishment from the very root of passion, rather than be for ever\nfruitlessly occupied in merely pruning the luxuriance of some of its\nbranches.\n\nIt may be useful to impress strongly upon the minds of those who have\nnot sufficient command over their feelings, the persuasion that the\nindulgence of any passion to excess, and especially of the selfish and\nmalevolent ones, is likely to be injurious to health, will certainly\nbe destructive of serenity and comfort; and of course, by diminishing\nhappiness, will frustrate its own aim and intention, and may, by\nrepetition, acquire accumulated force and facility of excitement,\nbecome at length unconquerable and habitual, and according to its\nnature, violence, and frequency, will, in a greater or less degree,\nbe subversive of happiness, and leave them more or less open to the\nattacks of insanity.\n\nSuch persons will therefore see it highly expedient, while under the\ninfluence of these impressions, to do all in their power to avoid them;\nto compare their urgent and apparent importance when they occur, with\nthe probable diminution of the comfort and health of body and mind\nwhich they might induce; and to lay it down as a rule never to indulge\nany passion whatever, till, independently of moral considerations, and\nthe notions of duty and obligation, they have deliberately reflected,\nwhether the importance of the cause will be a sufficient counterbalance\nto the certain pain inflicted and the injury which may be thence\nderived to their health of body and ease and soundness of mind. A habit\nof such deliberation once acquired,\u2014and it may be acquired by diligence\nand resolution,\u2014will entirely put an end to exorbitant excitement,\nsince by checking the very beginnings of emotion, its growth and\nprogress will be altogether prevented.\n\nAnd as every one has some weak point on which he is more open to\na successful attack, some constitutional or habitual feeling, the\napproaches of which he cannot easily withstand, all persons who are\nconvinced of the expediency and necessity of subduing their passions,\nif they would consult their own ease, will be aware of the importance\nof keeping a diligent watch, and placing a strong guard, upon the one\nthat most easily and successfully besets them.\n\nAnd whoever would secure a reasonable portion of present happiness will\nbe sensible of the necessity of learning the art of contentment, which,\ndifficult as it may seem to those who have not used themselves to check\nthe wanderings of imagination, and to keep their desires within prudent\nbounds, not only appears indispensable, but easy, to the man who feels\na lively and practical conviction of its wonderful tendency to multiply\nthe sum of actual enjoyment.\n\nWith the same view of promoting and securing their own present\nfelicity, such persons will see the propriety of acquiring habits\nof good nature, and of cultivating the emotions of benevolence. And\nas virtue seldom fails to bring her own dowry, contentedness and\nbenevolence will infallibly introduce habits of cheerfulness, which,\nwhile they improve our happiness, act as powerful preservatives against\ndisease, and as determined enemies of insanity.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nPHYSICAL TREATMENT OF THE SUICIDAL DISPOSITION.\n\n\n  On the dependence of irritability of temper on physical\n  disease\u2014Voltaire and an Englishman agree to commit\n  suicide\u2014The reasons that induced Voltaire to change his\n  mind\u2014The ferocity of Robespierre accounted for\u2014The state\n  of his body after death\u2014The petulance of Pope dependent\n  on physical causes\u2014Suicide from cerebral congestion,\n  treatment of\u2014Advantages of bloodletting, with cases\u2014Damien\n  insane\u2014Cold applied to the head, of benefit\u2014Good effects of\n  purgation\u2014Suicide caused by a tape-worm\u2014Early indications of\n  the disposition to suicide\u2014The suicidal eye\u2014Of the importance\n  of carefully watching persons disposed to suicide\u2014Cunning\n  of such patients\u2014Numerous illustrations\u2014The fondness for a\n  particular mode of death\u2014Dr. Burrows\u2019 extraordinary case\u2014Dr.\n  Conolly on the treatment of suicide\u2014Cases shewing the\n  advantage of confinement.\n\nMedical men have not considered with that degree of attention\ncommensurate with its importance the relationship between physical\nderangement and those apparently trifling mental ailments which so\noften, if not subdued, lead to the commission of suicide. The origin\nof self-destruction is more frequently dependent upon derangement of\nthe _prim\u00e6 vi\u00e6_ than is generally imagined. Every one must, in his own\nperson, be aware of the influence of indigestion, and what is termed\nbilious disorder, upon the spirits. An inactive condition of the bowels\nis a common cause of mental disquietude. Voltaire, who was a man of\ngreat observation, appears to have paid considerable attention to this\nconnexion. He advises a person who intends to ask a favour of a prime\nminister, or a minister\u2019s secretary, or a secretary\u2019s mistress, to be\ncareful to approach them after they have had a comfortable evacuation\nfrom the bowels. Dryden invariably dosed himself before sitting down\nto compose. He says\u2014\u201cIf you wish to have fairy flights of fancy,\nyou must purge the belly.\u201d Carneades, the celebrated disputant of\nantiquity, was in the habit of taking white helebore, (a purgative,)\npreparatory to his refuting the dogmas of the Stoics. Lord Byron says,\nin one of his letters, \u201cI am suffering from what my physician terms\n\u2018gastric irritation,\u2019 and my spirits are sadly depressed. I have taken\na brisk cathartic, and to-morrow \u2018Richard will be himself again.\u2019\u201d The\nfollowing anecdote is recorded of Voltaire:\u2014\u201cAn English gentleman of\nfortune had been sitting many hours with this great wit and censurer of\nhuman character. Their discourse related chiefly to the depravity of\nhuman nature, tyranny and oppression of kings, poverty, wretchedness,\nand misfortune, the pain of disease, particularly the gravel, gout,\nand stone. They worked themselves up to such a pitch of imaginary\nevils that they proposed next morning to commit suicide together.\nThe Englishman, firm to his resolution, rose, and expected Voltaire\nto perform his promise, to whom the genius replied, \u201c_Ah! monsieur,\npardonnez moi, j\u2019ai bien dormi, mon lavement a bien oper\u00e9, et le soleil\nest tout-\u00e0-fait clair aujourd\u2019hui_.\u201d\n\nWe knew a gentleman whose temper was not controllable if he allowed\nhimself to pass a day without his accustomed evacuation from the\nbowels. Pinel records the particulars of the case of a man who had\nfits of mental derangement whenever the action of the bowels became\nirregular.\n\nThe blood-thirsty miscreant Robespierre is said to have been of a\n\u201c_costive habit, and to have been much subjected to derangement of\nthe liver_.\u201d After death, it is said that \u201chis bowels were found one\nadherent mass.\u201d It is indeed interesting to consider, both morally and\nmedically, how far these morbid ailments influenced this monster in the\nbloody career in which he was engaged.\n\nThere can be no question but that the morbid irritability which\nmany of our men of genius have manifested was but the effect of\na derangement of the physical frame acting upon a mind naturally\nsensitive to such impressions.\n\nMuch of the petulance, personality, and malignity of Pope was dependent\nupon causes over which he had no control\u2014viz., disease of the stomach\nand liver, producing hypochondriasis. It has been well observed by\nMadden, \u201cWho knows under what paroxysms of mental irritation caused\nby that disease (indigestion), which more than any other domineers\nover the feelings of the sufferer, he might have written those bitter\nsarcasms which he levelled against his literary opponents? Who knows\nin what moment of bodily pain his irascibility might have taken the\nform of unjustifiable satire, or his morbid sensibility assumed the\nsickly shape of petulance and peevishness? Who knows how the strength\nof the strong mind might have been cast down by his sufferings, when\n\u2018he descended to the artifice\u2019 of imposing on a bookseller, and of\n\u2018writing those letters for effect which he published by subterfuge?\u2019\nWho that has observed how the vacillating conduct of the dyspeptic\ninvalid imitates the vagaries of this proteiform malady can wonder at\nhis capriciousness, or be surprised at the anomaly of bitterness on the\ntongue, and benevolence in the heart, of the same individual?\u201d[56]\n\nThat Pope was a severe sufferer from bodily disease will appear\nevident from the following account given by Dr. Johnson of the poet.\nHe says, \u201cPope\u2019s constitution, which was originally feeble, became so\ndebilitated that he stood in perpetual need of female attendance; and\nso great was his sensibility of cold that he wore a fur doublet under\na shirt of very coarse warm linen. When he rose, he invested himself\nin a bodice made of stiff canvass, being scarcely able to hold himself\nerect till it was laced; and he then put on a flannel waistcoat. His\nlegs were so slender that he enlarged their bulk with three pairs of\nstockings, which were drawn off and on by the maid, for he was not\nable to dress or undress himself, and he neither went to bed nor rose\nwithout help.\u201d\n\nHis frequent attacks of indigestion made him at times a perfect picture\nof misery and wretchedness. It clothed everything with a gloomy aspect,\nmade him quarrel with his friends and domestics, and he has been known\nto say that he sighed for death as a reprieve from mental and bodily\nagony. Sir Samuel Garth was frequently consulted when he had these\nattacks; and it was only by exacting a strict attention to diet and\nexhibiting medicine that he was enabled to restore the mind of the poet\nto a healthy tone.\n\nThis physical ailment, as it often does when long continued, ultimately\naffected the cerebral functions. At times he had symptoms of pressure\non the brain, or at least of an unequal and imperfect distribution of\nblood to that organ. Spence says, he frequently complained of seeing\neverything in the room as through a curtain, and on other occasions,\nof seeing false colours on certain objects. At another period, on a\nsick-bed, he asked Dodsley what arm it was that had the appearance of\ncoming out from the wall.\n\nWhen the disposition to suicide is present, the physician should\ncarefully ascertain whether the patient is not labouring under cerebral\ncongestion, or a determination of blood to the head. The loss of\na small quantity of blood has frequently been known to remove the\npropensity to self-destruction. A case is referred to by Schlegel of\na woman who was liable to periodical fits of suicidal mania whenever\nshe allowed a redundancy of blood to accumulate in the system. On two\noccasions she attempted suicide. On the first indications of a return\nof her delirium, she was generally bled, and relief was instantaneously\nafforded.\n\nA gentleman who had received, during the peninsular campaign, a sabre\ncut in the head, felt for some years, whenever he was exposed to great\nmental excitement, or allowed himself to over-indulge in the use of\nspirits, a kind of suicidal delirium. Twice he was detected in the act\nof attempting to commit suicide, and was fortunately prevented from\ndoing so. The local abstraction of blood from the neighbourhood of the\nhead was the only remedy which appeared to subdue the disposition.\n\nThe cases which are related in another chapter of individuals who were\ninsane at the moment when the act of self-destruction was attempted,\nbut who recovered the use of their reasoning after having inflicted\na wound attended with loss of blood, fully testify the importance\nof general and local depletion in certain cases of cerebral disease\nattended by this unfortunate propensity.\n\nA blow on the head has been known to develope this feeling. The\naffection of the sentient organ may remain latent for many years, and\nthen suddenly manifest itself. A man had received, when young, a kick\nfrom a horse, which produced at the time no very urgent symptoms.\nSix years after the accident, he, without giving any indications of\nprevious derangement of mind, cut his throat. Upon examining the brain,\nit was found extensively diseased.\n\nA man, feeling the suicidal disposition, bled himself from the arm, and\nrecovered.\n\nIt will not be proper in all cases to abstract blood; for the\ndestructive propensity has been known to exist where there has been\na deficiency of blood in the brain. The practitioner should examine\nthe condition of the patient thoroughly before he recommends active\ndepletion. Sixty per cent. of the cases of suicide will, however, be\nfound with cerebral disease either of a primary or secondary nature;\nand to that organ the medical man\u2019s attention should be particularly\ndirected.\n\nThe following case happily illustrates the benefits which are sometimes\nderived from the local abstraction of blood in certain cases of\ntemporary insanity, accompanied with a disposition to commit suicide.\n\u201cA gentleman,\u201d says Dr. Burrows, \u201cof a very irascible and impetuous\ndisposition, with whom I was intimate, experienced in a public\nmeeting a rebuke which exceedingly mortified him, and made so deep\nan impression upon his mind, that he was quite miserable. At night,\ninstead of going to bed, he roamed abroad; and at length, early in\nthe morning, without knowing whither he went, he found himself near a\nsheet of water. The view of it at once determined him to drown himself,\nand he accordingly plunged in. The action was perceived, and he was\nrescued from the water, insensible, and immediately conveyed to a place\nwhere means of resuscitation were adopted. As his address was found in\nhis pocket, a communication was directly made to his family, and Dr.\nBurrows was called in to see the patient. He found him in a state of\ninsensibility. As soon as consciousness returned, he was dressed, put\ninto a coach, and Dr. B. accompanied him to his residence. As yet, he\nhad not spoken, neither did he appear to observe anything. The motion\nof the carriage on the stones seemed to rouse him, and he looked about.\nHe took no notice of those who were in the carriage with him. He soon\nbecame violent; his eyes were wild, and rolled in their sockets; his\nface became flushed; the vessels of the forehead were excessively\ndistended, and all the symptoms of genuine delirium came on.[57] Dr.\nBurrows ascribed the symptoms to a violent reaction in the vascular\nsystem from the state of collapse it had sustained, and ordered the\noppressed vessels of the head to be relieved by the application of\ncupping glasses, and the abstraction of sixteen ounces of blood;\nthe head to be kept cool, and enemata to be administered until the\nbowels were well cleansed out. After these operations, he soon became\npassive and disposed to sleep. He slept six hours, and awoke tolerably\ncomposed, but not quite coherent. He took light nourishment, and at\nnight awoke perfectly collected, but exceedingly low. The next day he\nwas well, but languid. An explanation was given him, which removed the\nimpression that the offensive part of the speech had given him, and he\nby degrees recovered his usual state of mind.\u201d\n\nWe are inclined to believe, with D\u2019Israeli, \u201cthat there are crimes for\nwhich men are hanged, but of which they might easily have been cured\nby physical means.\u201d Damien, who attempted the assassination of Louis\nXV., and who in consequence was subjected to the most refined tortures,\npersisted to the last in declaring that if he had been bled, as he\nwished and implored to be, the morning previously, he never would have\nendeavoured to take the life of the king.\n\nGaubius relates the case of a lady of a too inflammable constitution,\nwhom her husband had reduced to a model of decorum by phlebotomy.\n\nIn the month of April, M. Delormel was called to Madame Chatelain,\nat the Chateau de Armanvillers, who, according to the statement of\nthe physician in attendance, was \u201cmelancholic, hypochondriacal, and\ninsane.\u201d She had made several attempts to commit suicide, and was\ncarefully guarded. She had been bled, purged, and well dosed with\nanti-spasmodics, but to no purpose. M. Delormel examined the patient\nvery carefully, and came to a conclusion respecting her case very\ndifferent from that which had been formed by the other physicians\nwho had seen her. The lady was thirty-seven years of age, of a very\nneuro-sanguineous temperament, active in body, and most amiable in\ndisposition. For more than two years she had complained of burning heat\nin her stomach and bowels; digestion was painful, and constipation\nhabitual. The catameni\u00e6 were irregular; she was much emaciated, and the\nsymptoms of melancholia and hypochondriasis were well marked.\n\nMadame C. could not bear to see her husband and children, to whom she\nhad, when in good health, been affectionately attached. Her chief\ndesire was solitude, and the predominant idea was the conviction of\napproaching death. From an attentive examination of the case, it\nwas pronounced one of chronic gastro-enteritis. Eighty leeches were\napplied to the abdomen, proper medicines were administered, her diet\nregulated, and in less than a month she was completely restored to\nhealth of body and mind.\n\nWhen it is evident that the patient is suffering from cerebral\ncongestion, and yet general bleeding is inadmissible, the application\nof cold to the head by means of a shower bath has often been productive\nof much good. A young lady who laboured under the disposition to\nsuicide consulted an eminent living physician, communicating to him\nthe particulars of her malady, bitterly lamenting the unfortunate\nfeeling that was undermining her health. After trying various remedies\nwithout effecting much relief, a cold shower bath was recommended\nevery morning. In the course of ten days, the desire to commit\nself-destruction was entirely removed, and never afterwards returned.\n\nA timely-administered purge has been known to dispel the desire of\nself-destruction. Esquirol knew a man who was decidedly insane whenever\nhe allowed his bowels to be in an inactive condition.\n\nA patient of Falret had well-marked suicidal delirium. So urgent were\nthe symptoms, that he was placed under restraint and carefully watched.\nActive cathartics were administered, and Falret states that the\nlargest tape-worm he ever saw was evacuated. The idea of suicide soon\nvanished, and the man was restored in perfect health to his friends and\nfamily.[58]\n\nFoder\u00e9 examined the bodies of three persons in one family who fell\nby their own hands, and in the three cases considerable disease was\ndiscovered in the intestinal canal, which had been irritating the brain\nand disturbing its manifestations.\n\nIn the instances just referred to, the indication of physical disease\nof the _prim\u00e6 vi\u00e6_ were but trifling during life.\n\nDisease of the stomach and liver frequently incite to suicide; hepatic\naffections notoriously disturb the equilibrium of the mind. Many a case\nexhibiting an inclination to suicide has been cured by a few doses of\nblue pill. The physician should direct his attention to the condition\nof the uterine function and the state of the skin. During the puerperal\nstate, a tendency to suicide is often manifested.\n\nA lady, shortly after her accouchement, expressed, with great\ndetermination, her intention to kill herself. Her bowels had not been\nproperly attended to, and a brisk cathartic was given. This entirely\nremoved the suicidal disposition.\n\nAny irregularity in the action of the uterine organ may give rise to\nthe same inclination. Under such circumstances, emmenagogues will do\nmuch good.\n\nGerman writers dwell much upon the connexion between suicide and\nderangement of the cutaneous secretion. That this function should also\nbe attended to there cannot be a doubt, although we cannot call to\nmind any cases of suicide which could be directly traced to suppressed\nperspiration.\n\nIn some cases, a blister applied and kept open in the neighbourhood of\nthe head has effected much good. In other instances, issues have been\nbeneficial, particularly in persons subject to cerebral congestion.\nThere is, however, a condition of brain accompanying the suicidal\ndisposition which may be denominated a state of _cerebral irritation_,\nin which bleeding or depletion would be injurious. In such cases,\nfriction on the spine, and the administration of anti-spasmodics,\ngentle aperients, and alteratives, will be serviceable.\n\nSufficient attention is not paid to those precursory symptoms which\nindicate the existence of a disposition to suicide. In two-thirds of\nthe cases that occur, the act is preceded by premonitory signs, which,\nif attended to, will prevent the developement of the propensity.\n\nWith very few exceptions, the mental symptoms are those which are\nprincipally manifested in these cases. Lowness of spirits, a love of\nsolitude, an indisposition to follow any occupation which requires\nexercise of the mind, are generally exhibited. The person\u2019s suspicions\nbecome roused; he fancies his dearest friends are regardless of his\ninterests, or are plotting against his life. He takes no pleasure in\nthe family circle. He may be suffering from some evident physical\nmalady, acting through sympathy on the brain, and deranging its\nfunctions; and then he will often refer to his disease, and express\nhis utter hopelessness of ever being cured. There is an expression\nof countenance generally present in a person who meditates suicide,\nwhich, if once seen, cannot easily be forgotten. Suicidal mania is\neasily recognised by the experienced physician. The surgeon of a large\nestablishment in the environs of the metropolis informed me, that in\nsix cases out of ten he could detect, by the appearance of the eye, the\nexistence of the desire to commit self-destruction. A young gentleman,\na few days previously, had been admitted into the house as a patient.\nThe surgeon, after examining and prescribing for the lunatic, said to\none of the keepers, \u201cYou must watch Mr. \u2014\u2014 carefully, for I feel assured\nhe will attempt his life.\u201d Everything with which he might injure\nhimself, were he so disposed, was taken from him; but it appears that\nhe had resolved to make away with himself, and had carefully concealed\na penknife in his boot. On the evening of the day on which he was\nadmitted he made a dreadful gash in his throat, but failed in injuring\nany large vessel. He confessed that he had determined to sacrifice\nhis life; he said, \u201cIt has been pre-ordained that I should fall by my\nown hands, and I am only fulfilling my destiny by cutting my throat!\u201d\nShortly after this he was removed; and as we have been subsequently\ninformed, sufficient care not being taken of him, he eventually\nsucceeded in killing himself.\n\nHow difficult it is for the medical man to persuade the friends of\na person who has evinced a disposition to suicide, of the absolute\nnecessity of his being confined and carefully watched! A physician,\ndining with a friend, met by accident a young lady who had exhibited,\nfor a few days previously, a shrewdness of manner that attracted the\nnotice of those with whom she associated. He also observed a wildness\nand incoherence about her ideas; but what particularly struck his\nattention was, the peculiar expression of countenance which so often\ndenotes the presence of suicidal mania.[59] He felt convinced in his\nown mind that the lady meditated self-destruction; and so firmly\npersuaded was he of the fact, that he seriously spoke to the gentleman\nat whose table he was dining on the subject, and urged him, as he was\nintimately acquainted with the young lady\u2019s family, to suggest the\npropriety of having medical advice, and of carefully watching the\nmovements of the lady. This suggestion was treated with ridicule,\nand of course the subject was not broached again. Two days after the\nconversation took place, intelligence was brought that the lady had\ntaken a large dose of laudanum, and had died from its effects! A little\nprudent caution might have saved the life of this poor unfortunate\nbeing.\n\nIn cases in which the disposition to suicide has been evinced, the\npatient ought to be carefully watched, and, under some circumstances,\nplaced under restraint. Men who talk loudly of the effects of moral\ncoercion, and who repudiate the idea of strait-waistcoats* &c., have\nhad but little practical experience of the treatment of the insane.\nMoral discipline has done much good. Deeply should we regret to see\nthe system which has been in force within our own recollection again\nintroduced into our lunatic asylums. In endeavouring to avoid Scylla\nwe have fallen into Charybdis. How many lives are lost in consequence\nof the patients not being properly secured when they have exhibited a\ndesire to commit self-destruction.\n\nA lady who had attempted to destroy herself was very properly sent to\nan asylum. Having expressed a determination to avail herself of the\nfirst opportunity for carrying her intentions into execution, she was\nmost carefully guarded. She was never allowed to be out of sight; a\ntrustworthy nurse always kept by her side; and in the course of time\nshe was pronounced recovered. But as it was not considered prudent to\nsend her home at once, she was separated from the other inmates of\nthe house, and allowed to reside with the surgeon and matron of the\nestablishment. Even under these circumstances it was thought better\nnot to allow her to be wholly by herself, fearful that the disposition\nmight again suddenly develope itself. She resided with the surgeon\nfor some weeks, and appeared completely well. She expressed much\nastonishment when told that she had attempted her own life; she was\napparently horrified at the idea. She was sitting with the matron\none morning after breakfast; the surgeon was going round the asylum,\nwhen a child was heard to cry up stairs, as if it had received some\ninjury. The matron immediately left the room; she was not absent\nthree minutes, and when she returned she was astonished to find the\nyoung lady had vanished. Immediate search was made for her, but she\nwas not to be found, when, looking behind the curtain in the parlour,\nthe lady was discovered hanging to the cornice! In that short space\nof time she had succeeded in suspending herself, and was quite dead.\nOf course we cannot determine whether she had recovered, and this\nwas but a sudden recurrence of the suicidal mania, or whether she\nhad cunningly concealed her ailment for the purpose of throwing her\nattendant off her guard, and thus being enabled to effect her dreadful\npurpose. We should be more disposed to accede to the latter solution\nof the question, knowing the extreme cunning of such lunatics, and the\ningenious stratagems they often have recourse to in order to accomplish\nany mischievous object they have in view.\n\nA person who manifested indications of mental aberration was found\nin the act of hanging himself. Upon being detected, he promised most\nsolemnly to abandon his rash resolution. He attempted a second time to\nkill himself by cutting his throat, but the wound was not fatal. He was\nnow placed under the care of a gentleman who had devoted much attention\nto the treatment of insanity; and, knowing his propensity, the\nkeeper received strict injunctions to watch his movements carefully.\nEverything by which he could injure himself was removed from his room,\nhe was shaved every day by a barber, and no instrument of any kind was\nallowed to be in his possession. He was confined for nine months; and\nit appeared, from what afterwards occurred, that he had, during the\nwhole of this period, been absorbed in the one idea of how he should\ncontrive to commit suicide. He was discovered one morning hanging by\nthe neck from the bedstead, quite dead. How he got possession of the\ncord which suspended him, puzzled everybody acquainted with the history\nof the case. At last the enigma was solved. It appears that parcels of\nbooks and newspapers had occasionally been sent to him by his family,\ntied with twine; and he had carefully, and unknown to the keeper,\nconcealed each piece, until he had collected a quantity to constitute\na cord sufficiently strong with which to hang himself. For nine\nmonths this idea had exclusive possession of his mind; and although\nhe exhibited no apparent symptoms of insanity, he had evidently been\ncontemplating suicide for the period already specified.\n\nA female had made repeated attempts, during her residence in the\nasylum at Wakefield, to hang herself, but had been so watched that she\nhad not succeeded. One evening, the servant, on going to remove all her\nclothes out of her bed-room, thought she saw something bright on the top\nof one of her under garments; upon examination, this was found to be\na pin. She had contrived just before bed-time to take off her garter;\nand, knowing that her pockets as well as her clothes would all be\nremoved, she contrived to pin it within her dress, so high up that it\nwould not easily be perceived. Very providentially, the brightness of\nthe metal discovered it, and she was again prevented from accomplishing\nher purpose. By degrees the propensity wore off; and after a residence\nof eighteen years in the Hanwell Asylum, Sir W. Ellis found her a\nfew years ago, living, though upwards of eighty years of age, in a\ncomparatively tranquil state, waiting her removal in the ordinary\ncourse of nature.\n\nWhen persons determined on suicide find that they are unceasingly\nwatched, and so carefully secured that they have no opportunity of\nexecuting their design, they will assume a most cheerful manner for\ndays and weeks together, in order to lull suspicion; and when a\nfavourable opportunity offers, it is never neglected.\n\nA man who had long been in a state of despondency, and had made many\nattempts to hang himself, but had always been prevented, very suddenly\nappeared much better. He became apparently cheerful, and being desirous\nof employment, was sent out with a large party into the hay-field.\nHe continued in this and other out-door occupations for some time,\ngradually improving. One evening, on returning from the field, when\nthe rest of the party went in to tea, (which they were allowed when\nhay-making,) he told the farming man that he did not feel thirsty, and\nas it was very warm he would rather remain at the door. He was left\nthere. A short time afterwards his keeper came down to inquire for him,\nand being told where he had been left, immediately exclaimed, \u201cThen he\nhas hung himself!\u201d It was also singularly impressed upon his mind,\nthat it was in one particular out-house that he had done it. There he\nwent, and found him suspended and dead, as he expected.\n\n\u201cA noble lord,\u201d (says Dr. Rowley,) \u201cwhose family I had the honour to\nattend, had received, it is said, some little reproof from a great\npersonage, concerning a military omission. It seized his lordship\u2019s\nmind so seriously, that on examination it was evident to me that\nsuicide was intended. All weapons and dangerous means whatever were\nremoved. It being a circumstance of delicacy, I sent for his lordship\u2019s\nson, then about eighteen, from Westminster school, communicated my\napprehensions, and requested his constant attendance on his noble\nparent. This the young man executed for several days, and prevented\nthe commission of the crime apprehended. In my absence a few hours in\nthe country, a very eminent, learned, and indeed remarkably sagacious\nphysician, but my mortal and vindictive enemy, was called in. I had,\ncontrary to medical _etiquette_, enforced the necessity of promptly\nbleeding a most noble lady in an apoplexy, which saved life, but\nbrought down invectives, hatred, and vengeance on me. Whether out of\nopposition to my vigilance, or from malicious motives, it would be\ndifficult to determine, but the noble lord was liberated from all\nrestraint, and my apprehensions treated by injurious insinuations and\nwith contempt. Thirty-six hours had scarcely elapsed before the noble\nlord put a period to his existence, by a sword he had concealed, which\nhad been a present from Prince Ferdinand: he wounded his breast in\ntwo places, but the third thrust pierced his heart. Thus perished a\nnobleman, whose liberality, feelings, and many virtues, did honour to\nhuman nature, and who might, in all probability, have been now living,\nhad not medical arrogance and illiberality, merely from personal\nambition, dictated error, at the risk of human destruction! _Horridum!\nvalde horridum!_\u201d\n\nThe physician should constantly bear in mind this important fact\nconnected with the suicidal disposition\u2014viz., that those determined\nupon self-destruction often resolve to kill themselves in a particular\nmanner, and however anxious they may be to quit life, they have been\nknown to wait for months and years, until they have had an opportunity\nof effecting their purpose according to their own preconceived notions.\nA man who has attempted to drown himself will not readily be induced\nto cut his throat, and _vice versa_. A morbid idea is frequently\nassociated in the maniac\u2019s mind with a particular kind of death, and\nif he be removed from all objects likely to awaken this notion, the\ninclination to suicide may be removed.\n\nAn old man, upwards of seventy years of age, who had a market garden,\nnear the asylum at Wakefield, consulted the late Sir W. Ellis as to\nthe best mode of destroying himself, as he had made up his mind not\nto live any longer. He said he had thought of hanging himself, if Sir\nWilliam could not recommend an easier death. The physician talked to\nhim some time upon the heinousness of the crime he contemplated, and\nendeavoured to shew him that hanging was a most horrible death, from\nthe suffocation that must be felt. His conversation was attended with\nlittle success. Finding that the chylopoietic viscera were a good deal\ndisordered, he prescribed for him, and sent to inform his wife that he\nought never to be left alone. The medicine had the effect of restoring\nthe secretions to a healthy action, and he got better. Sir William\nheard no more of him for some time, when he was at length informed that\nhe was discovered dead in a little shed in his garden, where he used\nto keep his tools. But so fixed was the mode in his mind, by which he\nwas determined to accomplish his death, that, though the place was so\nlow he could not stand upright in it, and he had not a rope or a string\nwith which he could suspend himself, he contrived to effect his purpose\nby getting a willow twig, and making it into a noose, which he fastened\nto one of the rafters. He stooped to put his head through it, and then\npushing his feet from under him, suspended himself until he died. Now,\nif he had not made up his mind to destroy himself in this particular\nway, he might have accomplished it with much greater ease by drowning\nhimself in the pond in his garden, or by cutting his throat with his\ngarden knife, which he always had about him; but neither of these was\nthe mode he previously intended.\n\nIt may be practically useful to all who have the immediate care of\nsuicidal patients to bear this in mind; and if the medical man can find\nout that any particular plan is contemplated, he ought to be especially\ncareful to remove the means of accomplishing it out of the patient\u2019s\nreach, and to prevent him having an opportunity of carrying it into\nexecution.[60]\n\n\u201cA medical friend,\u201d says Dr. Burrows, \u201cwho had much enjoyed life,\nand never met with any circumstances to occasion him particular\ndisquietude, when at the age of forty-five became very dyspeptic,\nlow-spirited, and restless. He gradually shunned society; but still,\nthough with great reluctance, pursued his professional avocations. This\ndepression increased so much that he often told his wife that he should\nconsult me. (He knew very well that both his father and grandfather had\ndestroyed themselves.)\n\n\u201cOne morning he kept in bed much longer than usual, and a relation\ncalling, went up, without being announced, to see him. He seemed\ncomposed, at length complained of being very faint, and upon\nraising him up, blood was perceived on his hands. Upon examination\nit was discovered, at the moment his friend entered the chamber,\nhe was employed in opening the femoral artery; that there had been\nconsiderable hemorrhage from the small vessels he had divided. I saw\nhim within an hour afterwards. He had recovered from the syncope, and\nexpressed great sorrow for what he had done; described with minuteness\nhis case; lamented he had not seen me sooner, but that he could not\nmuster sufficient resolution; consented to place himself under my\nsuperintendence; and, in fact, to follow all my directions.\n\n\u201cI placed him in charge of a careful keeper. It was agreed that he\nshould be removed into lodgings in the environs of town; and he\ntherefore submitted to the necessary medical treatment.\n\n\u201cHe remained two days at home, till lodgings could be procured, during\nwhich he was calm and rational; but there existed the suicidal eye,\nwhich sufficiently denoted that he was not to be trusted.\n\n\u201cOn the third morning, his keeper, having a violent attack of\nrheumatism in his right arm, could not shave him, and another person\nwas obliged to be trusted. This person, unfortunately, laid the razor\non the dressing-table; and, while his face was turned away, and the\nkeeper was heating some water a few feet from the table, the patient\nsuddenly jumped up, seized the razor, and in a moment applied it to his\nthroat, and effectually divided the carotid artery.\u201d\n\nA case somewhat similar we find recorded by the same authority. Major\u2014\u2014\nhad been wounded at the battle of Waterloo. He had since recovered\nhis health, but a great depression of spirits followed. The maniacal\ndiathesis was hereditary. By degrees he became more desponding, his\nideas wandered, and at length a suicidal propensity was evident. On\nvisiting him, Dr. Burrows strongly urged the necessity of placing\nhim under the supervision of an experienced keeper; but here, as in\ntoo many cases, his family opposed this advice, and would not permit\nproper restraint, but put him under the care of a nurse only. In the\nevening, he retired early to bed. The nurse went to tea in his chamber,\nsupposing her charge to be asleep. The patient watched the opportunity,\njumped out of bed, seized a knife on the table, wounded, and would have\neffectually cut his throat, had not the nurse interposed.\n\n\u201cA clergyman in Warwickshire told me,\u201d says Dr. Conolly, \u201cthat he was\nrequested, some years ago, to interfere respecting certain measures\nproper for securing a neighbour who had exhibited unquestionable\nsymptoms of insanity. His neighbour, however, was not to be met with\non the day when it was intended to remove him, and when he reappeared,\nwhich was either the next day or in a day or two afterwards, he was\nquite in a sound state, in which condition he has lived with great\ncomfort up to the present time. On the other hand, an instance came\nunder my own observation in which a gentleman had shewn many proofs\nof disordered mind for the space of three or four months, and his\nactions becoming dangerous, it was resolved to remove him. About\ntwo hours before I was to call for him, he was so quiet and orderly\nin a conversation with the old family-apothecary, that the latter\ngentleman rode off to the relations of the patient, relenting all\nthe way concerning the proposed restraint, and purposing to solicit\nits postponement; in which attempt he was only prevented by being\novertaken by a messenger before he had ridden half a mile, who came\nto inform him that his apparently tranquil patient had nearly blown\nup his house and his whole family with gunpowder, having for that\npurpose thrown a pound and a half of it into the fire, sitting by to\nsee it explode. In another case, a gentleman had made repeated attempts\nat self-destruction, but seemed to have got well, and was no longer\nmuch looked after; yet after living comfortably at home for a little\nwhile, and having passed a cheerful evening in reading to his wife, he\nconcluded it, when she had retired, by hanging himself in the parlour.\n\n\u201cThese lamentable accidents are, of course, always productive of\ndisagreeable feelings in the mind of a practitioner; but never more\nso than when he has been too confident of the absence of danger. It\nis questionable, perhaps, whether there are not, in all these cases,\ncertain means of which prudence might avail itself, for the purpose\nof ascertaining the exact state of the supposed convalescent\u2019s mind,\nas well as the existence of such intentions in a lunatic as are\ninconsistent with the safety of other persons, or with the preservation\nof his own existence. The lunatic may maintain a very guarded silence\non these matters so long as they remain quite unsuspected, but is\nnot very well able, in general, to prevent his intentions becoming\nvisible to those who have begun to suspect him. These intentions,\ntoo, are generally associated with certain recollections, or certain\ntopics, or certain antipathies or prepossessions, which may be found\nout and brought into the conversation; in which case, the lunatic can\nseldom conceal his agitation, his superstitious belief, his anger, or\nhis inly-cherished hope of full revenge. Indeed, he is often in no\ndegree solicitous to conceal his feelings. There cannot be anywhere\na more harmless person than Jonathan Martin; his manners are mild,\nhis occupations are of the most peaceful description, his language\nis strikingly simple and unassuming; but take up the Bible, and you\nhave touched the chord of his insanity; you find that, to destroy the\nnoblest monuments of ancient piety and munificence seems to him a work\nto which God has especially called him. The effect of possessing a key\nto the excited feelings of a lunatic is, indeed, always surprising to\nthose unaccustomed to their peculiarities. You walk with a man who\nseems to delight in the simplest pleasures of a state of innocence;\nhe admires the flowers of the field and the beauty of the sky, or he\ndwells with satisfaction on the contemplation of whatever is generous\nand good; nothing can exceed the mildness of his manner: but a\nsingle word calculated to rouse a morbid train of ideas, a name, the\nreminiscence of a place, or any trifling inadvertency, will convert\nthis placid being into a demon; the tones of his voice, his gestures,\nhis countenance, his language, assume, in a moment, the expression of\na fiend; and you discover that opportunity alone is wanting to effect\nsome dreadful crime. The discovery of such a design is certainly not\nalways so easy, but wherever suspicion exists, strict superintendence\nis warranted, or various degrees of restraint must be determined upon,\nand steadily adhered to.\u201d[61]\n\nThe following cases will shew the necessity of guarding a person\nby the strictest surveillance from the moment that he evinces the\nslightest symptom of mental alienation, when it manifests itself by\nincongruous expressions or attempts at self-destruction. This precept\nshould be engraven on the mind of every medical man, and no feeling\nof false delicacy should prevent his communicating his suspicions and\nwishes the moment he considers measures of precaution necessary. In\nthese cases, the loss of an hour may make all the difference between\nlife and death.\n\nM. Piorry was called to the H\u00f4tel de Biblioth\u00e8que, where he found a\nman of athletic form and military appearance in a state of complete\ninsensibility. He manifested all the indications of apoplexy or\nepilepsy. Some time elapsed before the physician could ascertain\nwhat was the matter; he could not obtain any satisfactory answers to\nhis repeated questions. At last the patient made Piorry understand\nthat he had swallowed a key. Professor Roux was sent for, who, after\nconsiderable difficulty, succeeded in extracting the foreign body\nfrom the \u0153sophagus, along with an oblong piece of copper attached\nby a chain to the handle of the instrument. On the succeeding night\nhe made fresh attempts to destroy himself; first by hanging with the\nbed-clothes, and, on that mode not proving successful, he endeavoured\nto strangle himself by squeezing two chairs against his neck. Thwarted\nin effecting his design, he again swallowed the key, and he was nearly\ndead when he was discovered, and the key extracted from his throat. He\nwas now confined in a strait-waistcoat, and was subjected to proper\nmedical treatment. In the course of a short period, all disposition to\nsuicide was removed, and his mind was restored to perfect integrity.[62]\n\nA soldier, who was greatly beloved in his regiment for his exemplary\nconduct and amiable qualities, became affected with suicidal\nmelancholy, and fired a pistol into his mouth. The havoc made was\ndreadful; but by great exertions on the part of M. Petit, who attended\nthe case, his life was preserved. During his confinement, he manifested\ngreat anxiety for his recovery, and expressed himself horrified that\nhe should ever have attempted to commit self-destruction. The surgeon\nand his friends entertained every hope that all suicidal tendency\nwas dissipated. The result, however, proved that the whole was a\nman\u0153uvre on the part of the patient to lull suspicion to rest, and\nwhen he had succeeded by this dissimulation in throwing his friends off\ntheir guard, he put an effectual period to his existence whilst in the\nwards of the hospital.\n\nThe following case exhibits some practical points exceedingly worthy\nof record, and displays besides, in a remarkable degree, the control a\nlunatic disposed to suicide acquires over himself, his conversation,\nand conduct, when he wishes to lull suspicion to sleep. In this\ninstance, says Dr. Burrows, who relates the particulars of the case,\na most judicious physician, and those in whom he had confidence, all\nexperienced in the phases of this wonderful malady, insanity, and its\nno less wonderful concomitant, suicide, were completely deceived.\n\nA medical friend of the Doctor\u2019s, travelling over Shooter\u2019s Hill,\nobserved a gentleman walking up it, his carriage following him. When\nopposite to each other, the stranger suddenly fell on his knees in\nthe dirt, and lifted up his hands, as if in earnest prayer. The\nfriend stopped his post-chaise at so extraordinary a sight, and soon\nfound by his looks and manners that the poor gentleman was insane. He\nimmediately accompanied him back to London, and placed him under Dr.\nB.\u2019s care till his relations were informed of his state.\n\nThe history of the case was this:\u2014The patient was a cavalry officer\nof rank, aged thirty-five, and had particularly distinguished himself\nat the recent battle of Waterloo. On that occasion he had two horses\nkilled under him, and was himself wounded in four places. He was first\nstruck on the crown of his helmet by the splinter of a shell, which\nwounded the scalp and stunned him; he was next shot through the fleshy\npart of the thigh by a grape shot, which at the same time killed his\nfirst horse; from these two wounds he lost much blood. Whilst lying\nunder his second horse, he was pierced in the groin by a lance; and\nin this helpless condition he received from a French drummer, who was\nrifling the dead and dying, a violent blow on the temple from the\nbutt-end of a musket, from the effects of which, he remained some time\ninsensible. He was afterwards conveyed in a most deplorable state as a\nprisoner within the French lines, and though released the same evening\nby the victorious allies, a long while elapsed before his wounds and\nexhausted condition received any attention.\n\nHe inherited a predisposition to insanity, and was naturally reserved,\ndiffident, and taciturn, but affectionate and generous.\n\nWhen he recovered from his wounds, he often complained of pains in\nhis head; and it was observed that his temper became fretful and\nsuspicious; that he slept ill, was depressed in spirits, and courted\nsolitude. These symptoms increased latterly. At length he imagined\nhimself the sport of his brother officers, and many other delusions\narose.\n\nThere was a moral cause likewise operating which, on a constitution\nthat had recently received so severe a shock, no doubt greatly\ninfluenced his disorder. He had applied for promotion in consequence\nof his sufferings in the service. This was withheld, as he thought,\nungraciously, and too long; and when he was raised a step, his mind was\nalready too much disturbed duly to appreciate it. The anniversary of\nthe glorious battle of Waterloo was just passed, and the recollection\nof it was painful to him. In this state he came to town.\n\nHe was exceedingly sober and temperate by habit; but during the day\nbefore, with a brother officer, he was persuaded to commit an unusual\nexcess in wine, with the hope of raising his spirits.\n\nThis proved a match to the mine. It exploded, and his intellects became\ncompletely deranged.\n\nDr. Burrows found him with his countenance very wild, the eyes injected\nand pupils contracted, pulse quick and weak, tongue white, and great\nthirst. He had had no sleep for five nights. Sometimes exalted,\nviolent, and loquacious; sometimes depressed and taciturn. He was\nrather languid, which was imputed to his having lost full twenty ounces\nof blood from the rupture of an h\u00e6morrhoidal vessel.\n\nIt is not necessary to detail the medical treatment adopted, but we\nwill proceed to those points in the case which are relevant.\n\nHe was placed in lodgings with a careful attendant. In about three\nweeks he was nearly well, when unluckily a whitlow formed on his\nfinger, and as one of his delusions was that he was rotten in every\npart, it was the cause, besides pain, of considerable irritation, and\nit broke his rest; other delusions returned, but subsided with the pain\nof the whitlow, and he again greatly improved.\n\nIn six weeks he was so well that the Doctor took his leave, advising\nhim to travel during the remainder of the autumn. The next day some\ndomestic occurrence occasioned violent irritation, and he again\nrelapsed into despondency, unattended by paroxysms of violence; but he\nshortly recovered.\n\nHowever, instead of going into the country and varying the scene, his\nlady brought him into town and permitted unrestricted intercourse\nwith his relations, &c. He grew quarrelsome, suspicious, and very\nlow-spirited, and began to abuse his wife. It was then earnestly\nrecommended that he should be completely separated from all intercourse\nwith her and his connexions, but the advice was disregarded.\n\nA boil now formed on his body. This irritated him more than the\nwhitlow, and his delusions about his rottenness were more prominent\nthan ever; but when the boil suppurated and discharged, his mind again\nimproved.\n\nNo persuasion could induce his friends to give him exercise or\ndiversion, or change the scene. He therefore sat all day brooding over\nhis fantasies, and reading religious books; for now there was added to\nhis delusions an impression that he was very wicked, and had neglected\nhis religious duties. His face, too, assumed the suicidal expression.\n\nA month afterwards, a consultation with two eminent physicians\nconfirmed Dr. Burrows\u2019 opinion of the treatment to be pursued. But,\nnotwithstanding this consultation, all remedial aid was neglected,\nand he was allowed to follow his own inclinations, both in religious\nmatters and in totally secluding himself. In about three weeks all the\nsymptoms were so much increased that he was sent to a private asylum.\nA few days afterwards, while walking out, he tried to drown himself,\nbut was rescued by his keeper. He continued in this desponding state\nsome months, when, rather suddenly, he appeared much better; and\ncontinuing to improve, his physician thought him well, and he returned\nhome. Two days only had passed, when he called on the same physician,\nacknowledged that he was as bad as ever, and entreated earnestly that\nhe might again be received into his house. He was so on that day. The\nnext day he poisoned himself and died.\n\nIt proved, that he had never abandoned the desire of committing\nsuicide; but he so well concealed it, and otherwise conducted himself,\nas to lead to the conclusion that he had recovered. It was, in fact,\na scheme, the sole object of which was to get out and buy laudanum.\nHaving procured a sufficient quantity, but anxious to save his wife the\nagony of witnessing the act he meditated, he preferred returning to the\nasylum to execute it.\n\nA few general principles have been laid down in this chapter to direct\nthe practitioner in the management of certain cases of suicidal\ninsanity. The success of the treatment will in a great measure be\ndependent on the physician making himself acquainted with the minute\nhistory of each case submitted to his professional care. No particular\nrules can be adduced that will be applicable to all cases of this\ndescription; much must be left to the judgment of the medical man. The\nphysician should, however, never forget that whatever apparently may\nbe the physical disturbance going on in the system, the brain, and the\nbrain alone, is the seat of the disease in all cases of suicide, and to\nthe condition of that organ most particular attention ought to be paid.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nIS THE ACT OF SUICIDE THE RESULT OF INSANITY?\n\n\n  The instinct of self-preservation\u2014The love of life\u2014Dr.\n  Wolcott\u2019s death-bed\u2014Anecdote of the Duke de Montebello\u2014Louis\n  XI. of France\u2014Singular death of a celebrated lawyer\u2014Dr.\n  Johnson\u2019s horror of dying\u2014The organ of destruction\n  universal\u2014Illustrations of its influence\u2014Sir W. Scott, on\n  the motives that influence men in battle\u2014Have we any test of\n  insanity?\u2014Mental derangement not a specific disease\u2014Importance\n  of keeping this in view\u2014Insanity not always easily detected\u2014Is\n  lowness of spirits an evidence of derangement?\u2014The cunning\n  of lunatics\u2014Esquirol\u2019s opinion that insanity is always\n  present\u2014Moral insanity\u2014The remarkable case of Frederick of\n  Prussia\u2014Suicide often the first symptom of insanity\u2014Cases\n  in which persons have been restored to reason from loss\n  of blood, after attempting suicide\u2014The cases of Cato, Sir\n  Samuel Romilly, Lord Castlereagh, Colton, and Chatterton\n  examined\u2014Concluding remarks.\n\nNature has ordained no law more universal in its influence than the\ndesire which all animated beings display, and which is indeed the\ngoverning principle in the greater part of their actions, to preserve\ntheir existence, and to secure themselves from the influence of\ncircumstances that bring it into danger. That \u201cno man ever yet hated\nhis own flesh, but nourisheth it and cherisheth it,\u201d is an axiom laid\ndown in scripture, and one founded on reason and observation.[63]\n\nOne of our poets, in alluding to this subject, after declaring life to\nbe the dream of a shadow, \u201ca weak-built isthmus between two eternities,\nso frail that it can neither sustain wind nor wave,\u201d yet avers his\npreference of a few days\u2019, nay, a few hours\u2019 longer residence upon\nearth to all the fame that wealth and honour could bestow\u2014\n\n  \u201cFain would I see that prodigal\n  Who his to-morrow would bestow\n  For all old Homer\u2019s life, e\u2019er since he died till now.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs there anything on earth I can do for you?\u201d said Taylor to Wolcott,\nas he lay on his death-bed. The _passion for life_ dictated the answer,\n\u201cGive me back my youth?\u201d These were the last words of the celebrated\nPeter Pindar.\n\nDr. Johnson had a superstitious fear of death. Boswell asked him\nwhether we might not fortify the mind for the approach of death.\nJohnson answered in a passion, \u201cNo, Sir, let it alone! It matters\nnot how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of\nimportance; it lasts so short a time.\u201d But when Boswell persisted in\nthe conversation, Johnson was thrown into such a state of agitation\nthat he thundered out, \u201cGive us no more of this;\u201d and turning to\nBoswell, he said, with great earnestness, \u201cDon\u2019t let us meet to-morrow!\u201d\n\n          \u201cO thou strong heart!\n  There\u2019s such a covenant \u2019twixt the world and thee,\n  They\u2019re loath to break!\u201d\n\nThere is an anecdote recorded of one of the favourite marshals of\nNapoleon, the Duke de Montebello, which finely illustrates the strength\nof this instinctive principle. During a battle in the south of\nGermany, the duke was struck by a cannon-ball, and so severely wounded\nthat there was no hope of his surviving. Summoning the surgeon to his\nside, he ordered the wounds to be dressed; and when help was declared\nto be unavailing, the dying officer, excited into frenzy by the love\nof life, burned with vindictive anger against the medical attendant,\nthreatening the heaviest penalties if his art should bring no relief.\nThe dying marshal demanded that Napoleon should be sent for, as one who\nhad power to save, whose words could stop the effusion of blood from\nthe wounds, and awe nature itself into submission. Napoleon arrived in\ntime to witness the last fearful struggle of expiring nature, and to\nhear his favourite marshal exclaim, as the lamp of life was just being\nextinguished, \u201cSave me, Napoleon!\u201d\n\nThe following case, which occurred in humble life, illustrates the same\nprinciple:\u2014A man on the point of death vowed he would not die, cursing\nhis physician, who announced the near termination of his life, and\ninsisted that he would live in defiance of the laws of nature.\n\nIt is recorded of Louis XI. of France, that so desperately did he cling\nto life when everything warned him to prepare for death, that he, in\naccordance with the barbarous physiology of that age, had the veins of\nchildren opened, and greedily drank their blood, hoping in that way to\nfan the dying embers of life into a flame!\n\nA once celebrated member of the English bar, whose strong original\npowers of mind had been obscured and enfeebled by the gross sensuality\nof his habits, in the extremity of his last illness, when the shadows\nof death were fast coming over him, with a blasphemous audacity, swore\nby his Creator that he _would not die_. In this state of morbid and\nimpious rage he struggled out of his bed, tottered down the stairs, and\nfell lifeless in the passage. From the exclamation of this unfortunate\nman, it would seem as if he fancied that he held the reins of life in\nhis hands, and could arrest at will the rapidity of its descending\ncareer.\n\nSpence says, that \u201cSalvini was an odd sort of man, subject to gross\nabsences, and a very great sloven. His behaviour in his last hour was\nas odd as any of his behaviour in all his lifetime before could have\nbeen. Just as he was departing, he cried out in great passion, \u201c_Je ne\nveux pas mourir, absolument!_\u201d\n\n  \u201cThe weariest and most loathed worldly life\n  That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment, can lay on man,\n  Is paradise to what we fear of death.\u201d\n\nIt is not our intention to consider this subject phrenologically. That\nwe have all certain good and evil propensities inherent in our nature,\ndeveloped in various degrees in different individuals, is admitted by\nthe anti-phrenologist, as well as by the most zealous advocate of that\nscience. We need no phrenology to tell us, that \u201cthe heart of man is\ndeceitful above all things, and desperately wicked:\u201d scripture makes\nus acquainted with this fact. It is useful to look at the dark as\nwell as the bright side of human nature. Without, then, using _terms_\nwhich might be considered objectionable, there can be no doubt of the\nexistence in the human mind of a propensity to destroy, varying in\ndegree from the simple pleasure of viewing the destruction of human\nlife, to the most impassioned desire to kill others or oneself. This is\na natural propensity, and, when not subdued by the higher faculties of\nthe mind, it exhibits itself in the form of unequivocal insanity. This\nfeeling to destroy may exist in conjunction with a consciousness on\nthe part of the individual that he is about to commit a crime opposed\nto the laws of God and man. Dr. Gall relates many particulars of cases\nin which this natural propensity became morbidly developed. A student\nshocked his fellow-pupils by the extreme pleasure he took in tormenting\ninsects, birds, and brutes. It was to gratify this inclination, he\nconfessed, that he studied surgery. A man had so strong an inclination\nto kill that he became an executioner; and a Dutchman paid his butcher,\nwho furnished ships with extensive supplies of meat, for being allowed\nto slaughter the oxen. In these cases we see this natural feeling\ninordinately developed. Subject such persons to the operation of causes\nlikely to excite this extra-developed propensity, and they will murder\nothers or themselves.\n\nGall mentions the case of a person at Vienna who, after witnessing an\nexecution, was seized with a propensity to kill; at the same time, he\nhad a clear consciousness of his situation. He wept bitterly, struck\nhis head, wrung his hands, and cried to his friends to take care and\nget out of his way. Pinel mentions the case of a man, exhibiting\nno apparent unsoundness of intellect, who confessed that he had a\npropensity to kill. He nearly murdered his wife, and then attempted\nseveral times to destroy himself.\n\nIn 1805, a man was tried at Norwich for wounding his wife and cutting\nhis child\u2019s throat. He had been known to tie himself with ropes for\na week to prevent his doing mischief to others and to himself. A man\nexposed to a sudden reverse of fortune was heard to exclaim, \u201cDo, for\nGod\u2019s sake, get me confined; for if I am at liberty I shall destroy\nmyself and wife! I shall do it, unless all means of destruction are\nremoved; and therefore do have me put under restraint. Something above\ntells me I shall do it; and I shall!\u201d\n\nWhenever the mind is exposed to the influence of excited feeling, and\nthe operation of the reasoning powers are suspended, we see the faculty\nalluded to developed according to the constitution of the individual.\nOn the field of battle, striking examples occur of the various energies\nof this inclination. One soldier at the appearance of blood experiences\nthe intoxication of carnage; another will swoon at the same sight. Sir\nWalter Scott, in the poem in which he has referred to the battle of\nBannockburn, alludes to the various feelings that influence the mind\nin the heat of an engagement; and it will be perceived that he directs\nparticular attention to those who are influenced by no other motive\nthan the pleasure they derive from sacrificing human life:\u2014\n\n  \u201cBut, oh! amid that waste of life,\n  What various motives fired the strife!\n  The aspiring noble _bled for fame_,\n  The patriot for his country\u2019s claim;\n  This knight his youthful strength to prove,\n  And that to earn his lady\u2019s love;\n  _Some fought for ruffian thirst of blood_;\n  From habit some, or hardihood;\n  But ruffian stern, and soldier good,\n    The noble and the slave,\n  From various cause the same wild road\n  On the same bloody morning trode\n    To that dark inn, the grave.\u201d\n\nWhat conclusion are we justified in drawing from the facts just\nrelated? Certainly, that there is in us all a disposition to destroy,\nwhich is in some wisely and providentially restrained. If this view\nof the matter be correct, we do not think that we should be wrong in\nconcluding that by far the great majority of cases of suicide result\nfrom a morbid development of this natural feeling, consequent upon a\nprimary or secondary affection of the brain. This subject is of great\ninterest in a medico-legal point of view, and is well deserving of\nserious consideration.\n\nIs the act of suicide an evidence of mental derangement? Before this\nquestion can be satisfactorily answered, it would be necessary for\nus to consider that _vexata questio_\u2014what is insanity? Have we an\nunfailing standard to which to appeal; an infallible _test_ by which\nwe can ascertain, with anything like a proximity to truth, the sanity\nof any mind? Perhaps, if we were to assert that we considered it\nimpossible to point out the line of demarcation which separates the\nconfines of a sane and insane condition of the mind, we might lay\nourselves open to an attack. Again, were we bold enough to proclaim\nour non-adherence to what is considered as the orthodox faith in this\nmatter, and assert that we viewed every departure from a healthy tone\nof mind, whether in its intellectual or moral manifestations, as an\nevidence of insanity, we might still more expose ourselves to the\nmerciless lash of the critic; yet these are the opinions to which we\nshould feel most disposed to give our assent. We must make a marked\ndistinction between insanity considered as a _legal_ and as a _medical_\nquestion; and it is greatly owing to our not keeping this essential\ndifference in mind that so much useless reasoning and vituperation\nhas arisen. The man who is daily exposed to the kind and cheering\ninfluence of friendship, and who fancies himself alone in the world,\nwithout one human being to sympathize with him in his afflictions, is\nas essentially mad as he is who imagines himself to be made of glass,\nand is fearful of sitting down lest he should injure his brittle glutei\nmuscles. A poet of antiquity wrote a book describing the miseries of\nthe world, and destroyed himself at the conclusion of the task.\n\n\u201cNo man who is oppressed with grief,\u201d Crichton justly observes, \u201cand\nwho is constantly preyed on by mental and bodily pain, can be supposed\ncapable of exercising his judgment at all times correctly; a fresh\nmisfortune, imaginary or real, excites an irresistible desire of\nrelief. Tired out, hopeless, dismayed by the threatening aspect of many\na bursting cloud; discerning nothing, whichever way he looks, but a\ndreary and comfortless life, how can he be supposed capable of taking\na clear, calm, and comprehensive view of the obligations he owes to\nhis Creator or society, or of reflecting on the sudden vicissitudes\nwhich daily occur in human life, and on which every man may safely form\nsome hope, even in the most distressed situation? The wretchedness of\nlife is the only picture present to the mind of one in whom grief has\nterminated in such a state of deep melancholy; the only objects of\ncomparison are the misery of existence on the one hand, and the relief\nhe can obtain by withdrawing himself from it on the other.\u201d\n\nInsanity results from a disease of the brain. Although after death,\nin many cases, no appreciable structural lesion can be detected in\nthe cerebral mass, it would be illogical for us to conclude that the\nsentient organ has not been physically affected. Derangement of mind\nis but the effect of physical disease, and, like all other diseases,\nit has an early as well as an advanced stage. Medical men have not\npaid sufficient attention to the premonitory indications of mental\nalienation. Having erected an arbitrary standard of derangement in\ntheir own minds, they have been disposed to consider no deviation from\nmental soundness as insanity, unless it exhibited the symptoms which\ntheir preconceived ideas had led them to suppose necessary, in order\nto constitute that disease. They have argued as if insanity were a\nspecific disease invariably manifesting the same phenomena, and in\nthis way definitions have been framed, by which the soundness of the\nintellect has been tested. It is hardly necessary to say how fallacious\nall such tests must be. The brain, like every other organ, is liable\nto a variety of diseases, in all of which the mental faculties are\nmore or less affected. The danger of attempting to erect an arbitrary\nstandard of insanity is this: it induces us to overlook the incipient\nsymptoms of mental derangement, and to consider no deviation from\nsoundness of intellect as insanity which does not come within the\nscope of our definition. The early symptoms of mental aberration are\nas much an evidence of the presence of insanity, as when the disease\nis more advanced, and the indications become so apparent that no one\nhesitates in pronouncing the individual mad. Medical men who have\nmaintained that the act of suicide is not invariably the result of\ninsanity have argued as if the mental ailment was always self-evident\nand easily detected; whereas, those who have had any experience in the\nmatter know full well, that occasionally there are no diseases more\ndifficult of detection than those which relate to a morbid condition of\nthe mind. If an act of suicide has been committed, and the individual\nat the moment of perpetrating it did not manifest evident symptoms of\ninsanity, the conclusion drawn is, that he was perfectly sane at the\ntime. That the facts of the case do not warrant this inference must\nbe apparent to those who consider the subject in an enlarged point of\nview. If we examine attentively the majority of cases of suicide, we\nshall find that the unfortunate persons have laboured, either for some\ntime previously or at the very moment, under depression of spirits,\nanxiety of mind, and other symptoms of cerebral derangement. Very few\ncases of suicide take place in which you cannot trace the existence\nof previous mental depression, produced either by physical or moral\nagents. It may be said that lowness of spirits is not insanity;\ncertainly not, according to the _legal_ definition of the term; but\nwe may always be assured, that if mental anxiety or perturbation be\nmore than commensurate with the exciting cause, it may be presumed\nthat the individual is labouring under the incipient indications of\ninsanity.[64] This view of the case is strengthened if an hereditary\npredisposition to the disease should also be present.\n\n\u201cIt will be said,\u201d says Esquirol, \u201cthat there are individuals who,\nin the midst of affluence, grandeur, and pleasures, and in the full\nenjoyment of reason, have suddenly put an end to their existence,\nimmediately after parting with their friends in good spirits, or after\nhaving written letters on business with perfect correctness. Can these\nbe said to be insane when they commit suicide? Yes; most undoubtedly.\nDo not monomaniacs appear perfectly sane on all other subjects,\ntill the particular idea is started which forms the burden of their\nhallucination? Are they not capable of curbing the expression of their\ndelirium, and dissembling their aberration of intellect? It is the\nsame with sane individuals, over whom the suicidal idea tyrannizes.\nA physical pain, an unexpected impression, a moral affection, a\nrecollection, an indiscreet proposition, the perusal of a passage in\nwriting, will occasionally revive the thought and provoke the act\nof suicide, although the individual the instant before should be in\nperfect integrity of mind and body.\u201d\n\nIn general, most persons actually insane wish not only to be esteemed\nfree from the malady, but to be considered as possessing considerable\nintellectual endowments; hence, _real_ lunatics seldom allow the\nexistence of their lunacy; but are always endeavouring to conceal from\nobservation those lapses of thought, memory, and expression, which are\ntending every moment to betray them, and of the presence of which they\nare much oftener conscious than is generally apprehended or believed.\nAlexander Cruden, when suffering under his second and last attack of\nmental aberration, upon being asked whether he ever was mad, replied:\n\u201cI am as mad now as I was formerly, and as mad then as I am now, that\nis to say, _not mad at any time_.\u201d\n\nAgain, medical men who have reasoned against this opinion have\nforgotten entirely one peculiar, and a very remarkable feature of\ninsanity\u2014viz., the singular cunning of lunatics; how extremely\ndifficult it is in many cases where _we know_ the individual to\nbe unquestionably mad, to make his delusion apparent. The case of\nthe lunatic who indicted Dr. Monro for confining him in his asylum\nhas often been cited. He brought an action against the Doctor at\nWestminster; and, although the man was subjected to a most severe\nexamination and cross-examination, his insanity could not be detected.\nThe trial was on the eve of being concluded, when Dr. Sims entered the\ncourt, and knowing the man\u2019s peculiar delusion, he was requested to ask\nhim a question. He did so, and his insanity instantly became apparent.\nHe brought another action against Dr. Monro in the city of London, and,\nknowing that he had failed before by acknowledging his love for an\nimaginary princess, so remarkable a degree of cunning did he exhibit\nthat one of the severest examinations to which a man was ever subjected\nin a court of justice could not induce the lunatic to disclose the\ndelusion under which he was known to labour. This curious feature of\ninsanity must be taken into consideration in forming an estimate of the\npresence of derangement in cases of suicide, and we must not hastily\nconclude, because insanity is not _self-evident_, that it does not\nexist.\n\nA merchant, fifty-five years of age, of a strong constitution,\nalthough of a lymphatic temperament, mild and gentle in his\ndisposition, the father of a numerous family, and who had acquired a\nconsiderable fortune in business, experienced some domestic troubles,\nnot sufficiently serious, however, to affect any one of a resolute\ncharacter. About a year ago, he formed a large establishment for one\nof his sons, and shortly afterwards became very active, and expressed,\ncontrary to his usual habits, the delight which he felt at his\nincreasing prosperity. He was also more frequently absent from his\nwarehouse and business than usual. But notwithstanding these trifling\nchanges, neither his family, nor any of his friends or neighbours,\nsuspected any disorder of his reason. One day, whilst he was from home,\na travelling merchant brought to his house two pictures, and asked\nfifty louis for them, which he said was the price agreed on by a very\nrespectable gentleman who had given his name and address. His son sent\naway both the pictures and the seller. On his return, the father did\nnot mention his purchase; but the children began the conversation,\nalluding to the roguery of the merchant, and their refusal to pay him.\nThe father became very angry, asserting that the pictures were very\nbeautiful, that they were not dear, and that he was determined to\npurchase them. In the evening, the dispute became warmer, the patient\nflew into a passion, uttered threats, and at last became delirious.\nOn the next day, he was confided to Esquirol\u2019s care. His children,\nfrightened at their father\u2019s illness, and alarmed at the purchase\nwhich he had made, looked through their accounts; and great was their\nastonishment at seeing the bad state of their books, the numerous\nblanks which they presented, and the immense deficiency of cash. This\nirregularity had existed for more than six months. Had this discussion\nnot taken place, one of the most honourable mercantile houses would\nhave been compromised in a few days; for a bill of exchange of a\nconsiderable amount had become due, and no means had been taken to\nprovide for it.\n\nA patient has been known to weep, and affect the deepest contrition\nfor attempting suicide, when it has been proved that all the time he\nwas meditating on the means of accomplishing his design. A workman was\nadmitted into a French hospital, having a third time attempted his\nlife. He appeared deeply mortified and broken-hearted that he should\nhave suffered a relapse, and was much affected by the remonstrances of\nhis physician. He promised faithfully, in tears, to abandon his rash\nresolve. Ten minutes afterwards, whilst on his road home, he perceived\na piece of cord; he seized it, made a noose, put his head into it, and\nsuspended himself from the branch of a tree, where he was found dead!\nCases illustrative of the same fact are mentioned in another part of\nthis work.\n\nAgain, we must bear in mind that insanity is often as much a disease of\nthe _moral_ as of the intellectual faculties, and that it is possible\nfor the intellect to be perfectly sound, and yet for insanity to be\npresent. Moral derangement has not met with that consideration from\nthe profession which its importance demands. Insanity often consists\nin a vitiated condition of the moral principle, independently of\nany delusion of the intellect; and in many cases of suicide, if we\ninvestigate their history, we shall find that the alienation has been\nof this character. A man, whose disposition naturally disposed him\nto vice, fancied that he had been guilty of committing a nameless\noffence, and, whilst labouring under this idea, blew out his brains.\nIn this case, the intellect was unaffected; the derangement consisted\nin a perversion of the moral powers. Senile insanity, which has been\nrecognised in our courts of law, is a derangement of the moral\nconstitution. In cases of this description, it is possible for the\nperson to be conscious of his infirmity, and to confess, with great\napparent regret, his inability to control his feelings. \u201cI am impotent,\nand not fit to live,\u201d said a man, and accordingly cut his throat.\nIf we admit the existence of an insanity which consists solely in a\nperversion of the moral powers, then we should hesitate in pronouncing\n_ex cathedr\u00e2_ that insanity is not present because no derangement of\nthe intellectual faculties can be perceived.\n\nDr. T. Mayo observes, that \u201cno intellectual delusion need be present\nwhen self-destruction is coveted. But there must be an extinction\nof that moral sense which revolts from it on grounds independent of\nfear. Owing, however, to the systematic neglect of moral symptoms, the\nsuicide is seldom recognised as possessing this destructive tendency\nuntil he has made an attempt upon his life; often, therefore, until all\nmeasures must be too late.\u201d\n\nA very common feature of moral mania is a deep perversion of the\nsocial affections, whereby the feelings of kindness and attachment\nthat flow from the relations of father, husband, and child, are\nreplaced by a perpetual inclination to tease, worry, and embitter the\nexistence of others. The ordinary scene of its manifestations is the\npatient\u2019s own domestic circle, the peace and happiness of which are\neffectually destroyed by the outbreakings of his ungovernable temper,\nand even by acts of brutal ferocity. Frederic William of Prussia,\nfather of Frederic the Great, undoubtedly laboured under this form\nof moral mania; and it furnishes a satisfactory explanation of his\nbrutal treatment of his son, and his utter disregard of the feelings\nor comfort of any other member of his family. About a dozen years\nbefore his death, his health gave way under his constant debauches\nin drunkenness; he became hypochondriacal, and redoubled his usual\nreligious austerities. He forbade his family to talk of any subject\nbut religion, read them daily sermons, and compelled them to sing,\npunishing with the utmost severity any inattention to these exercises.\nThe prince and his elder sister soon began to attract a proportionate\nshare of his hostility. He obliged them to eat and drink unwholesome or\nnauseous articles, and would even spit in their dishes, addressing them\nonly in the language of invective, and at times endeavouring to strike\nthem with his crutch. About this time he attempted to strangle himself,\nand would have accomplished his design had not the queen come to his\nrescue. His brutality towards the prince arrived to such a pitch that\nhe one morning seized him by the collar as he entered his bed-chamber,\nand began to beat him with a cane in the most cruel manner, till\nobliged to desist from pure exhaustion. On another occasion, shortly\nafter, he seized his son by the hair, and threw him on the ground,\nbeating him till he was tired, when he dragged him to a window,\napparently for the purpose of throwing him out. A servant hearing the\ncries of the prince, came to his assistance, and delivered him from\nhis hands. Not satisfied with treating him in this barbarous manner,\nhe connived at the prince\u2019s attempts to escape from his tyranny, in\norder that he might procure from a court-martial a sentence of death;\nand this even he was anxious to anticipate by endeavouring to run him\nthrough the body with his sword. Not succeeding in procuring his death\nby judicial proceedings, he kept him in confinement, and turned all\nhis thoughts towards converting him to Christianity. At this time, we\nfirst find mention of any delusion connected with his son, though it\nprobably existed before. In his correspondence with the chaplain to\nwhom he had entrusted the charge of converting the prince, he speaks\nof him as one who had committed many and heinous sins against God and\nthe king, as having a hardened heart, and being in the fangs of Satan.\nEven after he became satisfied with the repentance of the prince, he\nshewed no disposition to relax the severities of his confinement. He\nwas kept in a miserable room, deprived of all the comforts and many of\nthe necessaries of life, denied the use of pens, ink, and paper, and\nallowed scarcely food enough to prevent starvation. His treatment of\nthe princess was no less barbarous. She was also confined, and every\neffort used to make her situation thoroughly wretched, and though,\nafter a few years, he relaxed his persecution of his children, the\ngeneral tenour of his conduct towards his family and others evinced\nlittle improvement in his disorder, till the day of his death.[65]\n\nIn considering this point it is important to remember that _the\nattempt at self-destruction is_ OFTEN _the_ FIRST _distinct overt act\nof insanity_. A young lady of delicate constitution, but previously\nin apparent health, started up one day from the tea-table, rushed to\nthe window, and endeavoured to throw herself out. It required several\npersons to restrain her until a strait-waistcoat could be procured. She\nremained insane from that time until the day of her death, with very\npartial glimmerings of reason. \u201cFortunately,\u201d says Mr. Chevalier, who\nrelates the case, \u201cher life was not long protracted.\u201d\n\nIt has been inferred, that when an unsuccessful act of suicide has been\ncommitted, and the person expresses his regret for what he has been\nguilty of, that we are justified in concluding that the mind was sane\nwhen the suicide was attempted. The effort which Sir Samuel Romilly is\nsaid to have made to stop the hemorrhage after having cut his throat,\nhas been cited by a celebrated living authority as an evidence of his\nprevious sanity.[66] We must bear in mind that many cases of suicide\nresult from derangement of mind dependent on cerebral congestion.\n\nIn such cases, we can imagine a person insane when the act of\nself-destruction is attempted, and sane immediately afterwards. The\nloss of blood which a person would sustain from an extensive wound of\nthe throat, particularly when, as is often the case, some large vessel\nis wounded, would instantly relieve the brain of the superabundant\nblood which had been oppressing it, and deranging its manifestations,\nand thus producing a return of sanity. That this was the fact in Sir\nSamuel Romilly\u2019s case is evident from its history. There cannot be a\nshadow of doubt that he was insane when he cut his throat; and his\napparent desire to live after the act was committed, may be attributed\nto the relief which he had derived from the loss of blood.\n\nMr. T. Miller, of Spalding, in a fit of delirium, cut his throat so\ndreadfully that after languishing three days, he died. He manifested\nduring this interval the utmost contrition for his offence, declaring\nhe knew not what he had done until he found the blood streaming from\nhis wound. He dictated his will, and talked rationally with his friends\ntill his dissolution.[67]\n\nA merchant in the city, not many months back, met with some losses\nin business. His mind became affected to a certain extent; he felt\na strong desire to kill himself; but being a man of education and\nenlarged capacity, he fought most resolutely against this inclination.\nHe had been exposed during one day to the influence of circumstances\nwhich caused great mental depression. He said to his head-clerk,\npreviously to his leaving his counting-house, that his head felt heavy\nand oppressed, and he had a _presentiment_ that something would happen\nbefore the morning. The clerk suggested the propriety of his having\nmedical advice, but he did not think proper to do so. In this state he\nwent to bed. In the middle of the night he awoke in a state of extreme\nagitation; no language could convey an adequate idea of his feelings,\nand suicide was the only act which held out the hope of relief. In this\nstate he rose from his bed, called up the servants, and commanded them\nto run for the surgeon. A professional gentleman who lived close by\nwas soon in attendance, and the moment he entered the room the patient\nexclaimed, \u201cBleed me, or I shall cut my throat!\u201d The operation was\ninstantly performed, and as the blood flowed from the vein the patient\nexclaimed, \u201cThank God! I have been saved from committing self-murder.\u201d\nEvery disposition to suicide was immediately removed.\n\nThe following is an extract of a letter found in the pocket of Captain\nAitkins, of the Pembroke Fusileers, who committed suicide:\u2014\u201cAs some\ninquiry may be instituted as to the cause of my death, I think it\nnecessary to state that it was inflicted by my own hand, partly from\npecuniary embarrassment, and partly from the effect of _strong nervous\nmalady_, which has fixed itself on my spirits so as to render life\ninsupportable.\u201d In this case we have no hesitation in asserting, that\nif the brain could have been relieved of the unnatural weight which\noppressed it, this poor man would not have stained his hand with his\nown blood.\n\nIn many cases the delusion of the intellect is so self-evident that no\none questions the existence of insanity. A respectable Scotch merchant,\nnear Pimlico, committed suicide by cutting his throat. He fancied the\ndevil was in him; he asserted he could feel him in his throat. On\nexamining his room after his death, two wills were discovered, in one\nof which he desires his executors to employ a surgeon to open his body,\nthat the devil might be found, secured, and destroyed; and in this way,\nhe says, he will be prevented from injuring any one else.\n\nMany other cases could be cited in which the act of suicide was clearly\ntraceable to mental derangement, were it considered necessary further\nto illustrate this point. Much evil has resulted from the opinions\nwhich the profession have entertained relative to the absence of\ninsanity in cases of those who have exhibited a disposition to destroy\nthemselves. In this matter, the principle which the great Edmund Burke\napplied to politics is equally applicable to medicine\u2014\u201cWe had better be\nblamed for too anxious apprehension, than be ruined by too confident a\nsecurity.\u201d\n\nIt is a safe doctrine always to presume the presence of insanity\nin those who have exhibited a desire to commit suicide. A person\nwho has once attempted to take away his life cannot be trusted,\nnotwithstanding he manifest the usual evidences of a sane intellect. It\nis astonishing to consider the ingenious tricks and stratagems to which\na person whose mind is bent on self-destruction will have recourse in\norder to effect his purpose. We find recorded the case of a woman who\nwas tried for her life, and who, in order that she might escape from\nthe hands of the executioner, applied a hundred leeches to her body,\nhoping to bleed to death. Another female exposed herself to a swarm\nof bees; and we read of an apothecary who endeavoured to beat out his\nbrains with his own pestle.\n\nA builder, who had been found fault with by his employer, became\nmelancholy, and finally determined upon self-destruction. He hurried\nto a steep part of the high road, where vehicles of all descriptions\nwere compelled to put on the drag in the descent. Here he waited\nuntil a heavily loaded wagon reached the spot, when he seized hold of\none of the wheels that was not locked, and applying his body to the\ncircumference, was instantly crushed.\n\nA woman cut her throat severely, but not fatally. Her friends could\nnot be prevailed on to believe that she was insane. She recovered,\nbut shewed such evidences of that unhappy condition, through the\nwhole progress of her cure, as were sufficiently unambiguous to every\ncompetent judge. She had speculated unsuccessfully in the lottery,\nand it was insisted that the rash act was solely to be ascribed to\nher disappointment in this venture. Soon after her recovery, and\nwhen her affairs had assumed a more comfortable train, she went up\none day into her bed-room, and being thought to stay longer than was\nnecessary, a person went to see after her, and found her sitting before\na dressing-glass, with a basin under her chin, and a knife in her hand,\ncutting her throat again, as deliberately as a surgeon would have\nperformed an operation. She recovered this time also, and afterwards\nmade a third and successful attempt.\n\nA maniac who was extremely turbulent, and had evinced a strong\npropensity to destroy himself, was confined, and everything taken from\nhim which could be imagined in any way capable of being instrumental\nfor such a purpose. He was remarked on one occasion to be unusually\nquiet, and on his keeper looking through an aperture in his apartment,\nhe discovered him scooping out his eyes with a bit of broken china\nfound by him in the mattress, which he had torn to pieces; and with his\nface full in the glare of the sun, he had completely accomplished this\nhorrid act before the door could be opened to secure him.\n\nA gentleman of some political consequence in France had an attack\nof apoplexy, from which he recovered by copious bloodletting. Some\nyears afterwards, he had a fall from his horse, and was wounded\nseverely in his head, the injury occasioning fever and delirium of\nsome weeks\u2019 duration. After this accident, he evinced some marks of\nmental aberration. He threw up his post under government, and retired\nto his chateau in the country, for the purpose of concocting, as he\nsaid, a scheme for _uniting the people of all nations_. To prepare a\nsuitable edifice for this philanthropic union, he began to pull down\nhis chateau; but being interrupted by his friends, he came to Paris,\nand one day jumped off the Pont-Neuf into the middle of the Seine. He\nswam manfully, and reached the shore in safety. He was so proud of this\nexploit that he considered himself invulnerable, and began next day to\nrun in the way of carriages or fiacres he met in the street, calling to\nthe drivers that they need not mind him, as he could not be injured!\nHe was seized and carried home, but in a day or two jumped out of the\nchamber window into the street. He was then placed in M. Esquirol\u2019s\nestablishment, and considered as an incurable maniac.\n\nDuring the French revolution, a case of mania without delirium gave\nrise to an extraordinary scene at the Asylum de Bic\u00eatre. The mob, after\nthe massacre of the prisons, broke like madmen into the above hospital,\nunder pretence of emancipating certain victims of the old tyranny,\nwhom it had endeavoured to confound with the maniacal residents of\nthat house. They proceeded in arms from cell to cell, interrogating\nthe prisoners, and passing such of them as were manifestly insane. A\nmaniac, bound in chains, arrested their attention by the most bitter\ncomplaints which he preferred, with apparent justice and rationality.\n\u201cIs it not shameful,\u201d said he, \u201cthat I should be bound in chains, and\nconfounded with madmen.\u201d He defied them to accuse him of any act of\nimpropriety or extravagance. \u201cIt is an instance of the most flagrant\ninjustice!\u201d He conjured the strangers to put an end to such oppression,\nand to become his liberators. His complaints excited amongst the armed\nmob loud murmurs and imprecations against the governor of the hospital.\nThey immediately sent for that gentleman, and, with their sabres at\nhis breast, demanded an explanation of his conduct. When he attempted\nto justify himself, they imposed silence upon him. To no purpose did\nhe adduce, from his own experience, similar instances of maniacs who\nwere free from delirium, but at the same time extremely dangerous from\ntheir outrageous passions. They answered him only with abuse; and had\nit not been for the courage of his wife, who protected him with her own\nperson, he would have been sacrificed to their fury. They commanded him\nto release the maniac, whom they led in triumph with reiterated shouts\nof \u201cVive la R\u00e9publique!\u201d The sight of so many armed men, their loud and\nconfused shouts, and their faces flushed with wine, roused the madman\u2019s\nfury. He seized with a vigorous grasp the sabre of his next neighbour,\nbrandished it about with great violence, and wounded several of his\nliberators. Had he not been promptly mastered, he would soon have made\nthem repent their ill-timed humanity. The savage mob then thought\nproper to lead him back to his cell, and, with shame and reluctance,\nyielded to the voice of justice and experience.\n\nMany modern and ancient cases of suicide have been referred to in\nsupport of the opinion that insanity is not necessarily present under\nsuch circumstances. The conclusions drawn from the history of ancient\ncases, such as Cato, Cleopatra, Cassius, &c., cannot fairly be made use\nof in the present inquiry; and yet if we examine these instances, which\nhave been so triumphantly brought forward as incontrovertible proofs\nthat it is possible for a person with a mind perfectly unclouded and\nfree from even the semblance of aberration to commit suicide, we shall\ndiscover that they are not such good illustrations in support of the\ndoctrines which they who cite them are anxious to uphold.\n\nThe suicide of Cato has often been referred to, and is considered a\nmost apt and conclusive instance in point. We admit this case is one\nof great importance, inasmuch as it has been held up as an example to\nothers of a man who sacrificed his own life to promote the interests\nof his country. How many have been induced to plunge recklessly into\nanother world in imitation of the conduct of the Roman hero!\n\nWas Cato perfectly sane when he sacrificed his life? We are disposed\nto think not. His whole conduct immediately preceding the last fatal\nact of his life evinces the extreme mental agitation under which he\nlaboured; despair had taken possession of his faculties; the ambition\nand the hopes of years were prostrated in a moment to the dust, and to\nescape from a long life of tyranny, he perished on his own sword.\n\nMany modern cases have been cited as evidence of the coolness and\ncollectedness which many have exhibited in the act of suicide. The\nRev. Mr. Colton, the accomplished author of \u201cLacon,\u201d is said to have\nbeen sane when he committed self-destruction. He shot himself with a\npistol after having written the following apophthegm: \u201cWhen life is\nunbearable, death is desirable, and suicide justifiable.\u201d The last few\nweeks of Colton\u2019s life were embittered by acute mental and physical\nsuffering. He was involved in great pecuniary difficulties, and was\ndependent for the necessaries of life on the charity of his friends.\nIndependently of this, he laboured under a very painful disease, and\nit was when exposed to this combination of misery that he committed\nsuicide. His biographer states that there was no doubt of Colton\u2019s\ninsanity at the time of his death; it was evident to all who were\nabout him. The evidence in Sir Samuel Romilly\u2019s case is as strongly\ncorroborative of his derangement as in that of poor Colton\u2019s. At the\ntime, he was suffering from the loss of a wife to whom he was most\ndotingly attached, and the cerebral derangement was so apparent that\nhis physician ordered him to be cupped in the nape of the neck a short\nperiod previously to his killing himself. Lord Castlereagh\u2019s insanity\nwas also clearly manifested. His whole conduct on the day he cut his\nthroat led irresistibly to the conclusion that he was not in his right\nsenses. His strange manner was noticed some time previously in the\nHouse of Commons. The Duke of Wellington saw the necessity of medical\nadvice, and had a physician sent to him; in fact, the evidence was as\nstrong as evidence could be, and no one at the time questioned the\ncorrectness of the verdict. There were many peculiar circumstances\nconnected with his lordship\u2019s early history which ought to be borne in\nmind before we conclude that he was of sane mind at the moment of his\nsuicide.\n\nIt is now more than thirty-five years ago that the following singular\ncircumstance occurred to the Marquis of Londonderry: He was on a visit\nto a gentleman in the north of Ireland. The mansion was such a one\nas spectres are fabled to inhabit. The apartment, also, which was\nappropriated to his lordship was calculated to foster such a tone of\nfeeling from its antique character; from the dark and richly carved\npanels of its wainscot; from its yawning chimney, looking like the\nentrance to a tomb; from the portraits of grim men and women arrayed in\norderly procession along the walls, and scowling a contemptuous enmity\nagainst the degenerate invader of their gloomy bowers and venerable\nhalls; and from the vast, dusky, ponderous, and complicated draperies\nthat concealed the windows, and hung with the gloomy grandeur of\nfuneral trappings about the hearse-like piece of furniture that was\ndestined for his bed. Lord Londonderry examined his chamber; he made\nhimself acquainted with the forms and faces of the ancient possessors\nof the mansion as they sat upright in their ebony frames to receive\nhis salutation; and then, after dismissing his valet, he retired to\nbed. His candle had not long been extinguished when he perceived a\nlight gleaming on the draperies of the lofty canopy over his head.\nConscious that there was no fire in his grate; that the curtains\nwere closed; that the chamber had been in perfect darkness but a few\nminutes previously, he supposed that some intruder must have entered\ninto his apartment; and, turning round hastily to the side from whence\nthe light proceeded, he, to his infinite astonishment, saw not the\nform of any human visitor, but the figure of a fair boy surrounded\nby a halo of glory. The spirit stood at some distance from his bed.\nCertain that his own faculties were not deceiving him, but suspecting\nhe might be imposed on by the ingenuity of some of the numerous guests\nwho were then inmates of the castle, Lord Londonderry advanced towards\nthe figure; it retreated before him; as he advanced, the apparition\nretired, until it entered the gloomy arch of the capacious chimney,\nand then sunk into the earth. Lord Londonderry returned to his bed,\nbut not to rest; his mind was harassed by the consideration of the\nextraordinary event which had occurred to him. Was it real, or the\neffect of an excited imagination? The mystery was not so easily solved.\n\nHe resolved in the morning to make no allusion to what had occurred\nthe previous night, until he had watched carefully the faces of all\nthe family, to discover whether any deception had been practised. When\nthe guests assembled at breakfast, his lordship searched in vain for\nthose latent smiles, those conscious looks, that silent communication\nbetween parties, by which the authors and abettors of such domestic\nconspiracies are generally betrayed. Everything apparently proceeded in\nits ordinary course; the conversation was animated and uninterrupted,\nand no indication was given that any one present had been engaged in\nthe trick. At last, the hero of the tale found himself compelled to\nnarrate the singular event of the preceding night. He related every\nparticular connected with the appearance of the spectre. It excited\nmuch interest among the auditors, and various were the explanations\noffered. At last, the gentleman who owned the castle interrupted the\nvarious surmises by observing that \u201cthe circumstance which had just\nbeen recounted must naturally appear very extraordinary to those who\nhave not been inmates long at the castle, and are not conversant with\nthe legends of his family;\u201d then, turning to Lord Londonderry, he\nsaid, \u201cYou have seen the Radiant Boy. Be content; it is an omen of\nprosperous fortunes. I would rather that this subject should not again\nbe mentioned.\u201d[68]\n\nThe case of Chatterton\u2014\n\n          \u201cThe marvellous boy,\n  The sleepless soul that perish\u2019d in his pride\u201d\u2014\n\nhas been adduced; but no one acquainted with the history of this\nunfortunate youth would doubt for one moment that he was insane.\nChatterton possessed naturally acute sensibilities; he was\nunquestionably a man of genius. When the forgery of Rowley\u2019s poems was\ndetected, his mind received a severe shock; friend after friend forsook\nhim. All his bright and cheering hopes were levelled to the earth; his\ncharacter for integrity was gone; the world, which had been so eager to\ncourt his society and friendship, turned its back upon him; misfortunes\nfollowed in rapid succession, until he was frenzied by mental agony\nand physical suffering. At the time of his death he was in want of the\ncommon necessaries of life, realizing the affecting picture of the poet\u2014\n\n  \u201cHomeless, near a thousand homes he stood,\n  And near a thousand tables pined and wanted food.\u201d\n\nUnder such circumstances, it is not surprising that poor Chatterton\u2019s\nmind should have been overthrown, and that he should have been led to\ncommit suicide. A few days before his death, he wrote to his mother\nin these terms:\u2014\u201cI am about to quit for ever my ungrateful country.\nI shall exchange it for the deserts of Africa, where tigers are a\nthousand times more merciful than man.\u201d A very important fact connected\nwith Chatterton\u2019s case ought to be borne in mind\u2014viz., that insanity\nwas in his family.\n\nWe have entered at some length into the consideration of this\nquestion, because we felt it to be one of great importance. In forming\nan estimate of the condition of a person\u2019s mind who has committed\nsuicide, the coroner and jury should make particular inquiries into\nthe following points:\u2014First, as to state of mind for some time prior\nto the act. In many, and in fact, in all cases, if proper evidence\ncan be obtained, it will be discovered that the person has laboured\nunder depression of spirits, either resulting from physical or mental\ncauses. Inquiry should be instituted as to the presence of any\ndisease of the stomach or liver which may have operated injuriously\non the mind. In many cases it will be found that the suicide has\nreceived at some period of his life a blow on his head, giving rise\nto cerebral injury, which may remain latent for a great length of\ntime, and suddenly manifest itself. Is insanity, particularly suicidal\ninsanity, in the family? What was the person\u2019s natural character? Was\nhe liable to sudden bursts of passion? Had his mind been dwelling on\nthe subject of suicide? Was he monomaniacal, or remarkable for any\npeculiar eccentricity? All these various but important questions should\nbe carefully sifted, should the coroner entertain any doubts as to\nthe presence of mental derangement in such cases. In another chapter\nwe have considered the unjustifiableness of a jury ever returning a\nverdict of _felo-de-se_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nSUICIDE IN CONNEXION WITH MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE.\n\n\n  The importance of medical evidence\u2014The questions which medical\n  men have to consider in these cases\u2014Signs of death from\n  strangulation\u2014Singular positions in which the bodies of those\n  who have committed suicide have been found\u2014The particulars of\n  the Prince de Cond\u00e9\u2019s case\u2014On the possibility of voluntary\n  strangulation\u2014General Pichegru\u2019s singular case\u2014The melancholy\n  history of Marc Antonie Calas\u2014How to discover whether a person\n  was dead before thrown into water\u2014Singular cases\u2014Admiral\n  Caracciolo\u2014Drowning in a bath\u2014The points to keep in view in\n  cases of suspicious death\u2014Was Sellis murdered?\u2014Death from\n  wounds\u2014The case of the Earl of Essex.\n\nMedical men are frequently called upon in our courts of law to give\nevidence in cases where it is doubtful whether persons found dead\nwere murdered or committed suicide. The questions involved in these\njudicial inquiries are of great public importance, and it is the sacred\nduty of medical men, for the sake of their own characters, and for a\nmuch higher consideration\u2014for the ends of justice, to make themselves\nthoroughly conversant with all the evidence which can be brought to\nbear in the elucidation of such important questions. Our criminal\nannals are replete with illustrations in which individuals accused\nof the atrocious crime of murder have been saved from a dreadful and\nignominious death by medical evidence. Cases also are recorded in which\ndeath has been ascribed to suicide, but which after investigation have\nbeen proved to have been effected by other hands. In doubtful cases\nof this description, the evidence of the medical man is of the highest\nimportance; without it, in the great majority of cases, justice would\nbe defeated.\n\nIn the cases of persons found hanging, two questions naturally suggest\nthemselves to the mind:\u20141. Whether the individual was suspended before\nor after death. 2. Whether it was an act of suicide or murder. It is\npossible, and such cases have occurred, that a person may have been\nhanged up after having been murdered, or may have endeavoured to\ndestroy himself by firearms, or by cutting his throat, and suspend\nhimself afterwards, not being able to effect his purpose in any other\nway. In the first case we might mistake murder for suicide; and in\nthe second, suicide for assassination. The following are the signs\nof death from strangulation:\u2014The countenance is livid and distorted;\nthe eyes protrude, and are often suffused with blood; the tongue\nprojects and is wounded by the teeth. If the rope be placed below the\ncricoid cartilage, the tongue will protrude; but if it presses above\nthe thyroid cartilage, the tongue will not be seen in the position\ndescribed. It was formerly the generally received opinion that persons\nwho were hanged died of apoplexy; but the experiments of Sir B.\nBrodie and other physiologists clearly prove that death is owing to\nsuffocation. The livid or depressed circle which the rope is said to\nmake round the neck is pronounced by M. Klein to be an uncertain sign;\nhe saw fifteen cases of suicide in which it was not discovered. Remer,\nof Breslaw, who has recently directed his mind to the consideration\nof this important point, found, out of one hundred cases of persons\nwho died from strangulation, eighty-nine with sugillation on the neck\nin an evident manner. In addition to the signs mentioned, others have\nbeen enumerated. The fingers are said to be found bent, the nails blue,\nhands nearly closed, with swelling of the chest, shoulders, arms, and\nhands.\n\nIf the body be not suspended, but touches, more or less, the ground\nor floor, while the cord is not tight enough for the purpose of\nstrangulation, and there be no manifestations of any other means of\ndeath, there can hardly be room to doubt as to self-murder. It is\ntrue that the mere resting of the toes takes away but little of the\ncharacter of suspension, but we may meet with stronger cases. A few\nyears ago, a man, aged seventy-five, destroyed himself at Castle Cary,\nin the morning, by fixing a cord round his neck while sitting on the\nbed-side, and leaning forward till his purpose was accomplished. His\nwife, who had for years been bedridden, and was therefore not likely to\nhave been very fast asleep, was in the room during the transaction, and\nknew nothing of what was going on. A prisoner hung himself in a gaol by\nfastening the cord to one of the window-bars, and pushing himself away\nfrom it with his arm.\n\nPersons have both wounded and hung themselves. This may be effected by\nplacing the cord in a wrong position, which would protract the person\u2019s\nsufferings, and compel him to struggle and make violent efforts to kill\nhimself. Ballard relates, that a young priest, having first cut his\nthroat to a certain extent, hung himself with his robe.[69] In cases\nlike these there can be little difficulty in ascertaining the real\ncause of death.\n\nIn a memoir published in a French journal,[70] there are related\nseveral instances of self-destruction by hanging, where the bodies\nwere found in the most extraordinary positions and attitudes. A man\nwas discovered in a granary hanging by a cotton handkerchief, made\nfast to a rope which stretched across; the knees were bent, so that\nthe legs formed a right angle backwards; the feet were suspended on a\nheap of grain, over which the knees hung at a distance of a few inches.\nA prisoner was found suspended in a vertical position, with his heels\nresting on a window-stool. An Englishman, a prisoner in Paris, hung\nhimself in his cell, which was an apartment with an arched roof, and at\nthe lower part of it was a grated window, the highest part of which\nwas not near the height of a man. Nevertheless, he hung himself to this\ngrating, and was found almost sitting down, with his legs stretched out\nbefore, and his hips within a foot and a half of the ground. Another\ncase is related of a man whose attitude was similar to the case first\ndescribed. He had suspended himself to a large iron pin driven into the\nwall to support the bed-curtains, and his feet, bent at a right angle,\nrested on the bed, while his knees approached it within a few inches.\nA female suspended herself so low that, in order to accomplish her\npurpose, she was obliged to stretch out her legs, one before resting\non the heel, the other behind resting on the toes. A female was found\nstretched at the foot of her bed, the legs, thighs, and left hip lying\non the floor; the upper part of the body was raised, and suspended by a\ncord fixed to the neck, and fastened to the hospital bed.\n\nA patient in La Charit\u00e9 was found one morning hanging by the rope which\nwas attached to the head of his bed. He had fastened this by a loop\nround his neck, but his body was so retained, that when discovered he\nwas on his knees by the side of his bed.\n\nIn 1832, at the west end of the town, a man was found hanging in his\nroom, with his knees bent forwards and his feet resting upon the floor.\nHe had evidently been dead for some time, since cadaverous rigidity had\nalready commenced. The manner in which this man had committed suicide\nwas as follows:\u2014He had made a slip knot with one end of his apron, (he\nwas a working mechanic,) and having placed his neck in this, he threw\nthe other end of the apron over the top of the door, and shutting the\ndoor behind him, he had succeeded in wedging it in firmly. At the same\nmoment he had probably raised himself on tip-toe, and then allowed\nhimself to fall; in this way he died. The weight of his body had\napparently sufficed to drag down a part of the apron, for it seemed as\nif it had been very much stretched.\n\nIn October, 1833, a gentleman who was employed as an assistant in a\nrespectable school in the neighbourhood of London, was discovered by\nsome of his pupils, one morning, in a sitting posture, on a dark part\nof a staircase of the house. Upon examining further, it was ascertained\nthat he was completely dead, and that he was suspended to the banisters\nby a cravat firmly tied round his neck. The deceased had evidently\nmade two similar attempts at self-destruction before he succeeded, as\npart of a silk pocket-handkerchief and his braces were found suspended\nto other parts of the banisters. It seemed scarcely possible to those\nwho discovered him that the deceased could really have accomplished\nsuicide by hanging in such a situation, for his body was resting\nentirely on the stairs, and, making every allowance for the slipping of\nthe ligature by which he was suspended, still his feet must have been\nthroughout in contact with the stair.\n\nThere have been few medico-legal investigations of late years which\nhave excited greater interest than the case of the Duke de Bourbon, in\nFrance.\n\nOn the 27th August, 1830, the duke was found suspended in his bed-room,\nin the chateau* of St. Leu. An inquest was held the same morning on\nthe body, and from the evidence of the witnesses, as well as from the\nreports of the physicians and surgeons who examined it, a verdict was\nreturned to the effect that the duke had committed suicide in a fit of\ntemporary insanity. This event did not excite much notice until the\ncontents of his will were made public.\n\nThe deceased, it appears, had made his will in favour of the Baroness\nde Feuch\u00e9res, a female who had lived with him for some years,\nbequeathing to her the whole of his immense estates, and leaving the\nDuke d\u2019Aumale, the youngest son of the king of the French, residuary\nlegatee. The Princes de Rohan, heirs by collateral descent to the\ndeceased, thus finding themselves deprived of an expected inheritance,\nattempted to set aside the will, alleging that undue influence had\nbeen exercised over him. The cause came on for hearing before the\nFirst Chamber of the Civil Tribunal of Paris, in December, 1831, and\nexcited considerable attention, not so much in consequence of the\ndispute concerning the validity of the will, as of the question which\nwas raised during the trial,\u2014whether the duke had committed suicide,\nor whether he had been murdered, and afterwards suspended, in order to\ndefeat the ends of justice.\n\nThe facts of the case, collected from the _proc\u00e9s verbaux_, are as\nfollows:\u2014The deceased had naturally partaken of the alarm which had\ndiffused itself throughout France in consequence of the events of the\nrevolution of 1830. Some of his most intimate friends declared that,\nfor some time previously to his death, his mind had been filled with\nthe most gloomy forebodings as to what this new order of things would\nbring about. On the morning of the 27th, his servant went, as usual,\nto his bed-room door about eight o\u2019clock; but receiving no answer on\nknocking, he became alarmed. Madame de Feuch\u00e9res then accompanied the\nvalet to the door of the room, which was fastened on the inside; and\nreceiving no reply after calling to the duke in a loud voice, she\nordered it to be broken open. On entering the apartment, the body of\nthe deceased was found suspended from the fastening at the top of the\nwindow-sash by means of a linen handkerchief, attached to another which\ncompletely encircled the neck. The head was inclined a little to the\nchest; the tongue protruded from the mouth; the face was discoloured;\na mucous discharge issued from the mouth and nostrils; the arms hung\ndown; the fists were clenched. The extremities of both feet touched\nthe carpet of the room, the point of suspension being about six feet\nand a half from the floor; the heels were elevated, and the knees half\nbent. The deceased was partly undressed; the legs were uncovered, and\nhad some marks of injury on them. Among other points of circumstantial\nevidence, it was remarked that a chair stood near the window to which\nthe deceased was suspended, and the bed looked as if it had been lain\non.\n\nThe medical witnesses, who examined the body soon after its discovery,\nstated that they found it cold, and the extremities rigid, from which\nthey inferred that the deceased had been dead eight or ten hours. This\nwould have fixed the time of his death at midnight of August 26th. The\nbody underwent a second examination, a report of which was furnished\nto the legal authorities, on the following day. Five medical men were\npresent at the inspection; and they gave it as their opinion, from the\n_post mortem_ appearances\u20141st, that the deceased had died by hanging;\nand, 2ndly, from the absence of all marks of violence or resistance\nabout the person or clothes of the deceased, and other facts, that he\nhad destroyed himself. They considered that the contusion on one arm,\nand the excoriations observed on both legs, must have arisen from the\nrubbing of these parts against the projecting rail of the chair near\nthe window. The mark on the neck of the deceased they described to be\nlarge, oblique, and extending upwards to the mastoid process.\n\nGeneral evidence was given to shew that the duke had meditated\nself-destruction, and had conversed about it with some of the\nwitnesses. On the morning of the 28th, some fragments of paper, which\nhad been written on, were taken from the grate of his chamber; these\nwere carefully put together by one of the legal inspectors; and among a\nfew disjointed sentences, indicating despair and a dread of impending\ndanger, were the following:\u2014\u201cIt is only left for me to die in wishing\nprosperity to the French people and my country. Adieu for ever!\u201d Here\nfollowed his signature, and a request to be interred at Vincennes, near\nthe body of his son, the Duke d\u2019Enghien. It is necessary to observe,\nthat no noise or disturbance was heard in the bed-room on the night of\nthe deceased\u2019s death.\n\nOn the other side it was contended that the duke was not unusually\nmelancholy before his death; that the supposition of suicide was\ninadmissible in a moral point of view, and indeed was physically\nimpossible, from the circumstances. One person argued that he could not\nhave made the knots seen in the handkerchiefs; another, that he could\nnot have reached so high above his head to have suspended himself,\nand that the chair could not have been used in any manner to assist\nhim; while a third affirmed, that a person might be suspended in the\nposition in which the body was discovered, without death ensuing. The\ncircumstance of the door being fastened on the inside, was accounted\nfor by supposing that the bolt had been pushed to from the outside.\nThe duke had been heard to condemn suicide; he had made an appointment\nfor the following day; and had attended to many little circumstances,\nsuch as winding up his watch the night previously, and noting his\nlosses at play;\u2014facts which were forcibly urged as being opposed to the\nsupposition of his having destroyed himself.\n\nTo combat the medical evidence, it was assumed that the deceased was\nstrangled or suffocated, and was afterwards hanged, by assassins.\nSeveral schemes were devised by the medical witnesses on this side of\nthe question, to account for the manner in which the supposed murder\nwas committed. According to some, a handkerchief might have been\ntightened round the deceased\u2019s neck by one assassin, while another\nforcibly held his legs under the bed-clothes, by which the lesions\nalready described would have been produced; or instead of being\nstrangled by a handkerchief, he might have been suffocated by a pillow\nplaced over his mouth.\n\nThe body might then have been dragged across the room to be suspended;\nand if during this time the hand of one of the assassins had been\nrudely thrust between the cravat and the neck, the excoriation and mark\nseen on the skin might be easily accounted for.\n\nThe counsel for the appellants remarked, that the want of a line in\nwriting, to withdraw from all suspicion his attendants, and even Madame\nde Feuch\u00e9res, was remarkable, as this _latter precaution_ had suggested\nitself _to almost every suicide_. He condemned those engaged in the\nanatomical examination of the body, as having been guilty of culpable\nmismanagement. He ridiculed the idea that the duke, as reported by\nthe two physicians consulted, had probably come to his death through\nasphyxia by strangulation. He contended that all the appearances on the\nskin of the neck, where no ecchymosis, _as is usual in persons hung\nalive_, was visible, _shewed that death had preceded the hanging of the\nbody_.[71]\n\nConflicting as the evidence was in this case, we think no impartial\nmind, after maturely considering all the physical facts and moral\ncircumstances connected with the Prince de Cond\u00e9\u2019s death, can entertain\nany other opinion than that he sacrificed his own life. The case is one\nof great interest; and the minute particulars detailed in the French\njournal are worthy of the perusal of every medical man.\n\nIt has been doubted whether voluntary strangulation was possible,\nbut we have too many cases on record to allow us to question the\nprobability of such an occurrence. An individual was found strangled\nin a hay-loft by a handkerchief which had been tightened by a stick.\nA Malay, who, on board of a man-of-war in the East Indies, had made\nrepeated attempts to commit suicide, at last effected his purpose in\nthe following manner:\u2014He tied a handkerchief round his neck, and with\na small stick twisted it several times, and then secured it behind his\near, to prevent its untwisting. Jealousy was the cause assigned for the\nsuicide.\n\nGeneral Pichegru was found strangled in prison during the consulate\nof Buonaparte. The case gave rise to various suspicions. The body was\nfound lying in bed on the left side, in an easy attitude, with the\nknees bent, and the arms lying down by the side, with a black silk\nhandkerchief twisted tightly round the neck, by means of a stick passed\nunder it. The cheek was torn by the ends of the stick in its rotations.\nIt was established that he had been guilty of suicide.\n\nA very important lesson is to be learned from the history of the\nfollowing case, which Dr. Beck has published in his \u201cMedical\nJurisprudence.\u201d This is but one of many cases in which the innocent\nhave been accused, and have suffered for crimes of which it has been\nsubsequently proved they were innocent.\n\nMarc Antoine Calas was the son of John Calas, a merchant of Toulouse,\naged seventy years, of great probity, and a Protestant. He was\ntwenty-eight years of age, of a robust habit, but melancholy turn\nof mind. He was a student of law, and becoming irritated at the\ndifficulties he experienced (in consequence of not being a Catholic)\nconcerning his licence, he resolved to hang himself. This he executed\nby fastening the cord to a billet of wood placed on the folding doors\nwhich led from his father\u2019s shop to his storeroom. Two hours after, he\nwas found lifeless. The parents unfortunately removed the cord from\nthe body, and never exhibited it to shew in what manner his death\nwas accomplished. No examination was made. The people, stimulated by\nreligious prejudice, carried the body to the town-house, where it was\nthe next day examined by two medical men, who, without viewing the\ncord, or the place where the death had been consummated, declared\nthat he had been strangled. On the strength of this, the father was\ncondemned by the parliament of Toulouse, in 1761, to be broken on the\nwheel. He expired with protestations to Heaven of his innocence.\n\nReflection, however, returned when it was too late. It was recollected\nthat the son had been of a melancholy turn of mind; that no noise had\nbeen heard in the house while the deed was doing; that his clothes\nwere not in the least ruffled; that a single mark only was found from\nthe cord, and which indicated suspension by suicide; and in addition\nto these, that the dress proper for the dead was found lying on the\ncounter. Voltaire espoused the cause of the injured family, and\nattracted the eyes of all Europe to this judicial murder. The cause\nwas carried up to the council of state, who, on the 19th May, 1765,\nreversed the decree of parliament, and vindicated the memory of John\nCalas.[72]\n\nMany cases occur in which it is impossible to decide whether the\nperson was dead before being thrown into the water. The attention of\nthe jurist ought to be directed to the condition of the ground in\nthe neighbourhood of the pond, to ascertain whether any signs exist\nof a struggle having taken place. In the case of Mr. Taylor, who was\nmurdered at Hornsey, in December, 1818, marks of footsteps, deep in the\nground, were discovered near the New River; and on taking out the body,\n_the hands were found clenched, and contained grass, which he had torn\nfrom the bank_. The appearance of wounds on the body will often lead\nto, or assist in, the formation of a correct opinion, as to the cause\nof death. These facts are, however, very often fallacious. Instances\nhave occurred in which persons determined upon suicide have endeavoured\nto kill themselves with sharp instruments, and not effecting their\npurpose, have subsequently thrown themselves into the water. Again,\npersons may, in the act of drowning themselves, receive severe\ninjuries, by being propelled against rocks and stakes by the force of\nthe current.\n\nA few years ago, a man, who had leaped from each of the three bridges\nwith impunity, undertook to repeat the exploit for a wager. Having\njumped from London Bridge, he sunk and was drowned. When the body\nwas discovered, it appeared that both his arms were dislocated, in\nconsequence of having descended with them in an horizontal instead of\na perpendicular position. Persons have been discovered drowned with\nligatures on their hands and feet, and the circumstance has naturally\nexcited a suspicion as to whether they had committed suicide or had\nbeen murdered. Numerous cases prove that suicides do, occasionally,\nadopt such precautions, in order to ensure death. In June, 1816, the\nbody of a gauging-instrument maker, who had been missing for some days\nfrom his home, was discovered floating down the Thames. On being taken\nout of the water, _the wrists were found tied together and made fast\nto his knees_, which were in like manner secured to each other. He had\nbeen deranged for two years. The cord was recognised as one which had\nbeen attached to his bed. He could swim well, and it was presumed that\nhe had so tied himself, in order to prevent his using his legs and arms\nshould his courage fail him after having plunged into the water.\n\nA man, with his wife and child, was reduced to great distress. On a\ncertain day, he took an affectionate leave of his family, declaring\nhe would not return until he had procured some employment by which he\nshould be able to buy bread for them. On the following day, he was\nfound drowned in the New River, with his hands and legs tied. A card\nwith his address was found in his pocket.\n\nA gentleman was found in the Seine, at Paris, having his feet, wrists,\nand neck, tied with a cord. His neck, limbs, and hands, were bound by\nmeans of a rope with slip-knots, in order to put it out of his power\nto aid himself when in the water, and thereby to render certain the\nexecution of his suicide.\n\nIn the year 1832, the body of Elizabeth Martin was found dead in the\nwater. A man of the name of Bayley was accused of the murder. They had\nbeen quarrelling, and were seen struggling with each other at the banks\nof the pond. He declared that she had fallen in accidentally. Her face\nwas found turned downwards towards the bottom of the pond, _and one of\nher hands was found to be in her pocket_. The judge properly observed,\nthat if the woman had fallen into the water as the prisoner stated,\nthat she would have, undoubtedly, taken her hand from her pocket for\nthe purpose of extricating herself. The man was convicted of the\nmurder, and executed.\n\nThere has been much discussion as to whether bodies sink or swim\nwhen thrown into the water after having been killed. Considerable\ndiscrepancy of opinion exists on this point. It has been maintained\nthat strangled persons will float more readily than others, as many\nfacts prove. Caracciolo, Admiral of the Neapolitan navy, was hanged by\nsentence of a court-martial. The body was committed to the deep in the\nusual manner; and thirteen days afterwards, while the king was walking\non the deck of Lord Nelson\u2019s ship, he suddenly exclaimed, with a yell\nof horror\u2014\u201c_Viene! viene!_\u201d The admiral\u2019s corpse, breast-high, was\nseen floating towards the ship. The shot which had been attached to\nthe feet for the purpose of sinking not being sufficiently heavy. This\nphenomenon may have arisen from the evolution of gaseous matter, after\nthe process of putrefaction had commenced, which notoriously renders\nthe body specifically lighter than water.\n\nThe apparitions that appeared at Portnedown Bridge, after the Irish\nmassacre, and which excited such commotion at the time, were accounted\nfor in a similar manner. It appears that, about twilight in the\nevening, a number of spirits became visible; one assumed the shape of\na naked woman, waist-high, upright in the water, with elevated and\nclosed hands, and looking as awful a spectre as the most superstitious\nperson would wish to behold. Various sounds were also heard proceeding\nfrom the river, which caused no little alarm. The sounds were mere\ndelusions, but that bodies were seen floating upright in the water\nthere cannot be a doubt.\n\n\u201cOne day,\u201d says Clarke, \u201cleaning out of the cabin-window, by the side\nof an officer, who was employed in fishing, the corpse of a man, newly\nsewed up in a hammock, started half out of the water, and continued\nits course with the current towards the shore. Nothing could be more\nhorrible; its head and shoulders were visible, turning first to\none side, then to the other, with a solemn and awful movement, as\nif impressed with some dreadful secret of the deep, which from its\nwatery grave it came upwards to reveal. Such sights became afterwards\nfrequent, hardly a day passing without ushering the dead to the\ncontemplation of the living, until at length they passed without\nexciting much observation.[73]\n\nIn October, 1829, a female, who was an in-patient of St. Luke\u2019s\nHospital, was found dead in the bath of the institution. It appears\nthat, for some time previously, she had been permitted the privileges\nallowed to patients exhibiting indications of convalescence, and had\nobtained access to the nurse\u2019s room, in which the key of the bath\nwas deposited. One afternoon, she secretly possessed herself of this\nkey, and then immediately proceeded to make arrangements for the\naccomplishment of her purpose. In order to deceive the vigilance of the\nnurse, who was accustomed to lock the patients up at bed-time, she took\noff her clothes and disposed them about the room, in the usual manner,\nas if she had undressed. She then made up a bundle to resemble the\nhuman figure, and placed it inside the bed, filling her nightcap with\nhandkerchiefs. So accurate was the deception that the other patients,\nwho slept in the room with the deceased, readily answered that they\nwere all present. The lunatic, after these preparations, must have\nstolen cautiously down to the bath. She was found, the next morning,\ndead, lying stretched out with her face downwards. The water of the\nbath was not deep, and, indeed, it is presumed, she must have forcibly\nmaintained the position in which her body was found, in order to have\neffected her purpose. The door of the bath-room was locked inside, and\nthe key was found in the deceased\u2019s pocket.\n\nIn a small village of Warwickshire, in the year 1800, a young\ngentleman suddenly disappeared on the evening previous to his intended\nmarriage. After a lapse of some days, his body was found floating in\na mill-stream, and it was generally concluded that he had committed\nsuicide, though the cause for such a rash act could not be conjectured.\nUpon stripping the body, some marks of a suspicious nature were\ndiscovered upon the throat. A surgeon was sent for to decide whether\ndeath had taken place from any other cause than drowning, who, after\na minute examination, gave it as his opinion that he had died by\nstrangulation. Suspicion now fell upon a man of bad character, who\nhad been seen the night the gentleman was first missed, running in\ngreat haste from the direction in which the body was afterwards found.\nHe was apprehended, but, no evidence of guilt being elicited by the\nexamination, was discharged, and the fate of the unfortunate young man\nremained buried in mystery. Ten years afterwards, the person suspected\nwas convicted of sheep-stealing, and sentenced to transportation.\nWhile on board the hulks, he made a voluntary confession of having\ndestroyed him, and declared that such was his remorse, and the horror\nof his conscience, that he earnestly desired to expiate his crime on\nthe scaffold. He was tried for the alleged offence entirely on his own\nevidence, which was as follows:\u2014\n\nUpon the evening of the fatal event, he was stealing potatoes from a\nfield-garden belonging to the deceased, whom he unexpectedly saw coming\nover the gate to secure him, upon which he jumped over the hedge on\nthe opposite side, and ran across the field to make his escape. The\ngentleman pursued him, and being an active young man, nearly overtook\nhim; upon which he (the prisoner) attempted to leap the mill-stream,\nbut the bank on the other side giving way, he fell back into the\nwater. The young gentleman, instantly plunging into the water after\nhim, strove to secure him. A desperate struggle now ensued, and the\ndeceased had at one time got the prisoner down under him in the water,\nby which he was half drowned. At length he succeeded in overturning\nhis antagonist, and, seizing him by the throat, held him fast in this\nmanner under water, till he seemed to have no more power. He then left\nhim, sprang out, and made his escape.\n\nThe judge gave it as his opinion that the case amounted only to\nexcusable homicide, and the man was acquitted.\n\nIn forming an opinion as to the cause of death in doubtful cases of\nsuicide, the following important points ought to be carefully kept in\nview:\u2014\n\n1st. If the person had for some time laboured under melancholia; had met\nwith losses, disappointments, or had suffered any acute chagrin.[74]\n2nd. If any of his family, associates, or connexions, had any interest\nin his death. 3rd. The season of the year should be taken into\nconsideration; for we have observed, without being able to assign the\nreason, that suicide is more frequent during the solstices and the\nequinoxes. 4th. If the patient, instead of complaining, remains quiet,\nseeks for solitude, and refuses medical aid. And 5th. If there be any\nwriting (as those who destroy themselves ordinarily express their last\nopinions or will) it will be one of the most satisfactory proofs that\nthey have made away with themselves. Remains of poison found in their\npockets, or in the apartment, are but an equivocal proof, and one which\nmay attend upon homicide as well as on suicide.[75]\n\nIn the course of judicial investigations, medical men are frequently\ncalled upon to decide in cases of suspicious death whether wounds\ndiscovered on the bodies of the deceased were self-inflicted. Before\ndeciding questions of this character, the medical witness ought to take\ninto consideration the following points:\u20141st, The situation of the\nwound; 2nd, its nature and extent; 3rd, the direction of the wound; and\n4th, the moral circumstances connected with the case.\n\nGenerally speaking, those who commit suicide do not wound themselves on\nthe posterior parts of the body; therefore injuries detected in such\nsituations naturally excite suspicions as to the mode of death. The\nthroat and chest are commonly selected when cutting instruments are\nused. When death has resulted from the discharge of a weapon introduced\ninto the mouth, Dr. Smith says it may be taken for granted that the\ncase is one of suicide. It is, however, possible, even under such\ncircumstances, for a person to be assassinated in this way. When death\nhas been caused by firearms, the fingers and hands of the deceased\nshould be carefully examined, in order to detect the presence of\ndiscoloration. In several instances, a murder has been discovered by a\ncareful examination of the wadding. In two cases on record, the wadding\nbeing examined, it was discovered to have been torn from paper found in\nthe possession of the parties on whom suspicion had rested.\n\nSome time back, the body of a man was found lying on the high-road. The\nthroat was severely cut, and he had evidently died from hemorrhage. A\nbloody knife was discovered at some distance from the body; and this,\ntogether with the circumstance of the pockets of the deceased having\nbeen rifled, led to a suspicion of murder. This idea was confirmed\nwhen the wound was examined. It was cut, not as is usual in suicide,\nby carrying the instrument from before backwards, but as the throats\nof sheep are cut. The knife had passed in deeply under and below the\near, and had been brought out by a semi-circular sweep in front, all\nthe great vessels of the neck, with the \u0153sophagus and trachea,\nhaving been divided from behind forwards. The nature of the wound\nrendered it at once improbable that it could have been self-inflicted;\nand it further served to detect the murderer, who was soon afterwards\ndiscovered, and executed.\n\nWith reference to the _extent_ of the wound, the celebrated Earl of\nEssex\u2019s case has often been quoted. He was found dead in the Tower,\nin 1683, and it was the generally received opinion that he had been\nmurdered by persons hired by the Duke of York, afterwards King James\nII. Upon examining the wound, it was found that the jugular vessels,\ntrachea, and \u0153sophagus, were cut through to the very neck-bone.\nThe verdict was suicide. In 1688, the matter was revived, and before a\ncommittee of the House of Lords,[76] it was proved that the razor with\nwhich the wound was inflicted was found on the left side of the body,\nwhile it was known that the Earl was left-handed. The edge of the razor\nwas found notched; and it was also proved that the cravat worn by the\ndeceased was cut through, and his right hand was wounded in five places.\n\nAs there was much political feeling mixed up with this case, it was\ndifficult to arrive at the truth. That many persons who have cut their\nthroats have divided the neck to the vertebr\u00e6 is a well-known fact.\nIn the case of Mr. Calcraft, all the large vessels in the neck were\ndivided, and the throat was cut through to the vertebral column.\n\nIn the case of Sellis, much stress was laid by Sir E. Home on the\nwound being _regular_; he observes, \u201c_any struggle would have made it\nirregular_.\u201d Although there were points connected with this remarkable\ncase which naturally tended to excite suspicion, we cannot but declare\nthat the Duke of Cumberland most clearly vindicated himself from the\nfoul charge which party feeling and private malevolence had endeavoured\nto establish against him.\n\nMany doubtful cases may be decided by taking into consideration the\nmoral circumstances connected with them. A girl was discovered dead.\nSuspicion rested upon her mother, who had severely beaten the child. It\nwas, however, clearly proved that the girl had been repeatedly heard\nto declare her intention to commit suicide. Persons should be examined\nas to the state of mind of the party found dead; whether he or she\nlaboured under an hereditary predisposition to suicidal insanity, or\nhad been exposed to the influence of causes likely to cause melancholy\nor a depressed state of feeling. If all these points be carefully\nconsidered, a fair conclusion may be arrived at in the majority\nof cases that occur, and which are made the subject of judicial\ninvestigation.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nSTATISTICS OF SUICIDE.\n\n\n  Number of suicides in the chief capitals of Europe from 1813\n  to 1831\u2014Statistics of death from violence in London from 1828\n  to 1832\u2014Number of suicides in London for a century and a\n  half\u2014Suicides in Westminster from 1812 to 1836\u2014Suicide more\n  frequent among men than women\u2014Mode of committing\u2014Influence of\n  age\u2014Effect of the married state\u2014Infantile suicides\u2014M. Guerry\n  on suicides in France\u2014Cases\u2014Suicide and murder\u2014Suicide in\n  Geneva.\n\nIn Great Britain, owing to the neglect of statistical science, much\ndifficulty has been experienced in obtaining anything like correct data\nrespecting the number of suicides committed annually. For the details\ngiven in this chapter we are indebted to various authorities. Every\nwork has been consulted which it was supposed would throw some light on\nthe subject.\n\n\n_Number of Suicides in the chief Capitals of Europe._\n\n\n  Places.    Periods.  Suicides.   Proportion\n                                  to Population.\n\n  Berlin      1813-1822    360    1 in     750\n  Copenhagen  1804-1806    100    1 \u2014   1,000\n  Naples      1828         330    1 \u2014   1,100\n  Hamburg     1822          59    1 \u2014   1,800\n  Berlin      1799-1808     60    1 \u2014   2,300\n  Paris       1836         341    1 \u2014   2,700\n  Milan       1827          37    1 \u2014   3,200\n  Berlin      1788-1797     35    1 \u2014   4,500\n  Vienna      1829          45    1 \u2014   6,400\n  Prague      1820           6    1 \u2014  16,000\n  Petersburg  1831          22    1 \u2014  21,000\n  London      1834          42    1 \u2014  27,000\n  Naples      1826          13    1 \u2014 173,000\n  Palermo     1831           2    1 \u2014 180,000\n\n_Statistics of Suicide & Deaths from Violence in general, in London._\n\n                  1828. 1829. 1830. 1831. 1832.\n                  ----  ----  ----  ----  ----\n\n  Suicide           41    35    25    48    52\n  Executed           1    26     7     6    10\n  Murdered           6     4     2     5     2\n  Poisoned           7     7     4     7     4\n  Found dead        15     6    13     5     5\n  Drowned          150    36    97   131   149\n  Burnt             47    53    61    35    36\n  From famine        1     0     0     1     1\n  From intoxication  7     3     4     0     1\n  From suffocation  10    10     5     5     5\n\n_Number of Suicides in London during a Century and a half._\n\n\n  From 1690 to 1699  236\n   \u2014  1700 \u2014 1709  278\n   \u2014  1710 \u2014 1719  301\n   \u2014  1720 \u2014 1729  478\n   \u2014  1730 \u2014 1739  501\n   \u2014  1740 \u2014 1749  422\n   \u2014  1750 \u2014 1759  363\n   \u2014  1760 \u2014 1769  351\n   \u2014  1770 \u2014 1779  339\n   \u2014  1780 \u2014 1789  224\n   \u2014  1790 \u2014 1799  274\n   \u2014  1800 \u2014 1809  347\n   \u2014  1810 \u2014 1819  363\n   \u2014  1820 \u2014 1829  381\n\n_Suicides in Westminster, from 1812 to 1836._\n\n  (Extract from Report of Medical Committee of the Statistical\n  Society of London. April, 1837.)\n\n\u201cThe first statement to which the Committee will draw the attention\nof the Council is an account of the number of persons, male and\nfemale, who have committed suicide, and upon whom inquests have been\nheld, within the city and liberty of Westminster, in each month, from\nJanuary, 1812, to December, 1836, procured from Mr. Higg, the deputy\ncoroner of Westminster; with other statements which the Committee had\nprepared from it.\n\n\u201cThe Committee deems it right to premise that caution must be used\nin drawing too general inferences from these statements, on account\nof the comparatively small number of cases to which they refer. The\naverage annual number of suicides upon which inquests have been held in\nWestminster does not probably exceed one per cent. of the total number\nannually committed in Great Britain; hence the number committed in\nWestminster during twenty-five years, amounting to 656, is only about\ntwenty-five per cent. of the whole number annually committed in Great\nBritain.\n\n\u201cFor some conclusions, however, they afford sufficient data, and these\nthe Committee will proceed to notice.\n\n\u201cIt appears from the following abstract, No. 1, that suicides in\nWestminster are most prevalent in the three months of June, July, and\nMarch; but that the excess is on the part of the males, as the greatest\nnumber of female suicides was in January, September, and November.\nSeptember, August, and October exhibit the smallest number of male and\nof total suicides; but February, March, and April, the smallest number\namong females.\n\nNo. 1.\n\n  _A Statement of the total number of Suicides of each Sex\n  committed in Westminster in each month during the twenty-five\n  years, from 1812 to 1836; also the per centage proportion of\n  the whole number committed in each month; and the proportion\n  which the number of each sex bears to the other._\n\n  +----------------------------+------------------------+--------------------+\n  \u2502 Total Number of Suicides   | Per Centage Proportion |Per Cent. Proportion|\n  |    from 1812 to 1816.      |committed in each Month.| of Male to Female. |\n  +----------------------------+------------------------+--------------------+\n  |        Male. Female. Total.| Male. Female. Total.   | Male and Female.   |\n  |January   35    20     55   |  7.3   11.2    8.4     |   64       36      |\n  |February  39    12     51   |  8.2    6.8    7.8     |   77       23      |\n  |March     52    11     63   | 10.9    6.2    9.6     |   83       17      |\n  |April     40    11     51   |  8.4    6.2    7.8     |   79       21      |\n  |May       41    15     56   |  8.5    8.4    8.5     |   73       27      |\n  |June      60    15     75   | 12.6    8.4   11.4     |   80       20      |\n  |July      50    16     66   | 10.5    9.0   10.1     |   76       24      |\n  |August    30    15     45   |  6.3    8.4    6.9     |   67       38      |\n  |September 30    18     48   |  6.3   10.1    7.4     |   62       38      |\n  |October   28    15     43   |  5.9    8.4    6.5     |   65       35      |\n  |November  32    17     49   |  6.7    9.6    7.4     |   65       35      |\n  |December  41    13     54   |  8.5    7.3    8.2     |   76       24      |\n  |        ----   ---    ---   | ----    ---    ---     |   --       --      |\n  | Total   478   178    656   | 100.   100.   100.     |   73       27      |\n  +----------------------------+------------------------+--------------------+\n\n\u201cThe last two columns in the above account shew more precisely the\nproportion of female to male suicides in each month.\n\n\u201cThe following statement shews the number of times, during the\ntwenty-five years, that no suicide was committed during each month:\u2014\n\n\n  February .. Not once.\n\n  January    }\n  March      } Once.\n  June       }\n\n  July         Twice.\n\n  May       }  Three\n  August    }  times.\n  December  }\n\n  April     } Four times.\n  October   }\n\n  September } Five times.\n  November  }\n\n\u201cFrom No. 2 it appears that the average annual number of suicides in\nWestminster has been increasing in each quinquennial period; but No.\n3 shews that it has actually decreased with reference to the increase\nwhich has taken place in the population.\n\n\nNo. 2.\n\n_A Statement of the Average Annual Number of Suicides, Male and Female,\nin each Quinquennial Period; also, the proportion per cent. which the\ntwo Sexes bore to each other in each period._\n\n\n  +------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+\n  | Periods of Years.| Average Annual Number.|Proportion of each Sex.|\n  +------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+\n  |                  |  Male. Female. Total. |     Male. Female.     |\n  |                  |                       |                       |\n  |   1812 to 1816   |   18.2   7.6    25.8  |      70      30       |\n  |   1817 \u2014\u2014 1821   |   15.0   5.2    20.2  |      74      26       |\n  |   1822 \u2014\u2014 1826   |   16.4   7.4    23.8  |      69      31       |\n  |   1827 \u2014\u2014 1831   |   22.0   7.8    29.8  |      78      22       |\n  |   1832 \u2014\u2014 1836   |   24.0   7.9    31.9  |      76      24       |\n  |                  +-----------------------+-----------------------+\n  | Average of Total |   19.1   7.1    26.3  |      73      27       |\n  +------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+\n\nNo. 3.\n\n_A Statement of the Population of the City and Liberty of Westminster,\naccording to each census, and the proportion which the number of\nSuicides in the Quinquennial Period immediately following each census\nbore to the population._\n\n  +--------+-----------+-------------------------------+------------------+\n  |        |           |                               |  Proportion      |\n  |Dates of|Population.|           Suicides.           |  of Suicides     |\n  |Census. |           |                               |to the Population.|\n  |        |           |                               |     One in       |\n  +--------+--------------------------+----------------+------------------+\n  |        |           | Quinquennial |   Average      |                  |\n  |        |           |    Periods.  | Annual Number. |                  |\n  |        |           |              |                |                  |\n  |  1811  |  160,801  | 1812 to 1816 |     25.8       |      6,232       |\n  |  1821  |  181,444  | 1822 -- 1826 |     23.8       |      7,623       |\n  |  1831  |  201,604  | 1832 -- 1836 |     31.6       |      6,379       |\n  |        +-----------+--------------+----------------+------------------+\n  |Average |  181,283  |      ..      |     27.06      |      6,744       |\n  +--------+-----------+--------------+----------------+------------------+\n\n\u201cIt must, however, be taken into consideration that suicides committed\nin Westminster may not belong to the population of the district,\nfor that the proximity of the river, and other causes existing in\nWestminster, may attract persons residing in other parts of the town.\nHence an increase or decrease of facilities for committing suicide in\nthe surrounding districts, such as the formation of a canal, &c., will\nnaturally affect the number of such deaths in Westminster.\u201d[77]\n\nIt has been clearly established that suicide is less frequent among\nwomen than men. In early life, death by hanging is preferred; in\nmiddle life, firearms are had recourse to; and in more advanced years,\nstrangulation again becomes the fashionable mode of terminating life.\n\n\n       Years of Age.      Pistol.   Hanging.\n  Between 10 and  20[78]      61        68\n          28  --  30         283        51\n          49  --  50         182        94\n          60  --  70         150       188\n          80  --  90         161       256\n\nIn an analysis of 525 cases of suicide in Prussia, the following was\nthe result:\u2014\n\n  Hanging                234\n  Shooting               163\n  Drowning                60\n  Cutting throat          17\n  Stabbing                20\n  Jumping out of window   19\n  Poison                  10\n  Opening artery           2\n                         ---\n                         525\n\nMarriage is to a certain extent a preventive of suicide; it has been\nsatisfactorily established that among the men two-thirds who destroy\nthemselves are bachelors.\n\nIn M. A. Guerry\u2019s able \u201cEssai sur la Statisque Morale de la France,\u201d\npublished in 1833, we find some valuable statistical facts relating to\nsuicide in France.\n\nIt appears on evidence of the most authentic description, that, from\nthe year 1827 to that of 1830, there were committed throughout France\nno less than 6900 suicides! that is to say, an average of nearly 1800\nper annum! It should, however, be remembered, that this calculation\nis founded only upon judicial documents, in which are included merely\nthose cases of suicide in which death has followed, or in which legal\nproceedings were taken; so that it is not improbable that many more\nattempts were made to perpetrate this crime of which the public is\nquite ignorant.\n\nTaking up this fact, let us consider that the number of crimes against\nthe person amounts yearly in France to 1900. Now, it appears that more\nthan 600 of these crimes consist of attempts on the lives of others; so\nthat the conclusion cannot be resisted, that every time an individual\nin France meets with a violent death, in any other way but by accident\nor mere homicide, there are three chances to one that he has committed\nsuicide.\n\nM. Guerry makes a transition to the geographical position of this\ncrime throughout the several arbitrary divisions, and he finds the\nstate of the case to be as follows:\u2014\n\nOut of every hundred suicides which take place on the average every\nyear, there are committed in the\n\n                      Suicides.\n  Northern division      51\n  Southern   \u2014           11\n  Eastern    \u2014           16\n  Western    \u2014           13\n  Central    \u2014            9\n\n\nAnother view of the proportion of suicides in France is, that which\ntakes place in the number of them, as compared with the amount of the\npopulation. It is as follows:\u2014\n\n  _Suicides in proportion to Population._\n\n  Northern division   1 in  9,853\n  Eastern    \u2014        1 in 21,734\n  Central    \u2014        1 in 27,393\n  Western    \u2014        1 in 30,499\n  Southern   \u2014        1 in 30,876\n\nIt is proper to bear in mind, that in the single department of the\nSeine, there are perpetrated every year nearly the sixth part of\nthe whole number of suicides which take place in all the eighty-six\ndepartments of France. It is said, however, that the greater portion\nof those persons who commit suicide in this department are altogether\nstrangers to the capital. We come, then, to this conclusion, that of\nthe thousand individuals who are guilty of the crime of suicide, no\nless than five hundred and five take place in the department of the\nnorth; one hundred and sixty-eight occur in the southern division;\nsixty-five in the western; and fifty-two in the central; a distribution\nwhich shews that there is, if not the same proportion, certainly the\nsame order, as the distribution of suicides in the five divisions in\nrespect of the amount of population.\n\nIn the explanation which is appended to the table just alluded to, the\nauthor shews, that of the suicides committed in the department of the\nSeine, where they are most numerous, there appears to be one suicide\nfor every 3,600 the inhabitants; whilst in the department of the Haute\nSoire, where the crime is less frequent, this proportion does not\namount to more than one in 163,000 inhabitants.\n\nA singularly curious inference is to be drawn from the consideration\nof the facts presented in another of M. Guerry\u2019s graphic\nillustrations\u2014viz., that which arises from the circumstance, that from\nwhatever confine of France an inquirer proceeds to the capital, he will\nfind, as he approaches it, that the number of suicides increases by\na regular gradation; so that in those departments which are near the\nSeine and Maine, the traveller will discover that more suicides have\nbeen committed than in those more remote from the metropolis, such\nas the departments of the Lower Seine, of Aube and Soiret. The same\nobservation applies as forcibly to Marseilles, which is in some measure\nto be considered the capital of certain departments in the south of\nFrance. The more these districts are in the vicinity of Marseilles, the\ngreater the amount is there of suicides as compared with the number of\nthe population.\n\nA curious fact has been elicited in the examination of the French\nregisters of crime, from which it appears that those divisions of the\nkingdom of France in which the most frequent attempts have been made to\ncommit murder are those divisions exactly where the crime of suicide is\nmost rare; and it has been further proved that precisely the reverse of\nthis law takes place in other departments; namely, that where suicides\nare numerous in proportion to the population, there the number of\nmurders committed by individuals on others is considerably diminished.\nOne peculiarity is mentioned by M. Guerry as being connected with\ncases of suicide, which is, that we are much oftener enlightened as\nto the cause of it than we are upon the motives of most other crimes,\nand that it is rarely the case that any person sets about the crime\nof self-destruction without leaving in writing, or in some other way,\nthe expression of his last wishes, together with an explanation of the\ncauses of the rash act, which he most generally seeks to justify.\n\nHolcroft, in speaking of the number of suicides in Paris, observes, \u201cI\nam not well informed on the subject, but I doubt if as many suicides be\ncommitted through all Great Britain _in a year, as in Paris alone in a\nmonth_. It is the practice of the French police to stifle inquiry and\nconceal facts, whenever they are of a disagreeable nature; for they tax\nits omnipotence, to something little short of which it pretends: all\nthings are under its protection; its eye is everywhere; the assaulted\ncannot sink; the culprit cannot escape; its guardian arm is stretched\nout so effectually to save that none are in danger. Such are its high\nclaims and the daily assertion it repeats; they are the necessary\nresults of despotism, which, ever on the alarm, will in everything\ninterfere.\n\n\u201cThe Parisians are in general themselves so ignorant that the things\nwhich they see produce only a momentary impression; none but men of\nsuperior minds collect facts and deduce consequences; the rest discern\nwith great quickness, but they forget with greater; and it is chiefly\nfrom this forgetfulness that their gaiety of heart is derived.\n\n\u201cIn England, misfortunes, so far from being concealed, are sought after\nwith eagerness by people who are paid for the bad news they bring,\nand by whom it is sometimes greatly exaggerated. If the tale do not\nastonish, it is scarcely worthy to be reported in our newspapers, and\nthe tales in these newspapers circulate through Europe. This is a\nbenefit when truth is not falsified.\n\n\u201cOf the suicides which are daily happening in France, I, who read the\ndaily journals, saw only two noticed; and these I was surprised to see.\nOne was an officer in the army who pistolled himself at the public\noffice of the war minister; and the other a poor wretch who, at the\nmoment before he threw himself from the upper story of one of the high\nhouses in Paris, called out in mercy to the passengers, _Garde l\u2019eau!_\nthe phrase used by the Parisians when they throw water out of a window.\nI was told of another suicide of the same kind, and with the same\nhumane caution, while I was at Paris.\n\n\u201cI likewise saw the body of a man borne through the streets, who,\nafter having breakfasted at a hut in _les Champs Elys\u00e9es_, put an end\nto his existence. Before doing so, he told the people that he had been\na subaltern officer of a regiment then reduced; and that all means of\nprocuring a livelihood was lost.\n\n\u201cNine conscripts who had for a time concealed themselves, but who were\nat last discovered, being determined not to serve, encouraged each\nother rather to die, and voluntarily ended life by drowning themselves\ntogether.\n\n\u201cI was passing _le Pont des Tuileries_ after dark, and saw a man\nsurrounded by other men. They had deterred him on the bridge from\njumping over; but they could not prevail on him to tell his name, or to\ngo home. He appeared to be determined in his purpose; the only resource\nthey had was, at last, to commit him to the guard; but unless his state\nof mind could be altered, safety like this was but merely temporary.\n\n\u201cAnother evening, on the same bridge, and about the same hour, a woman,\nstanding near the centre parapet, attracted my attention by her look,\nand manner in which she seemed to be examining the river. I stopped;\nshe desisted, but did not remove. I was uncertain what her intentions\nmight be, and she appeared to shun notice. Two other passengers,\nguessing my doubts, halted; but either their fears were not so strong\nas mine, or their patience was less; they stood a few minutes and\nleft. I felt as if I did not dare to go, yet could not decide how to\nact, from the fear of doing wrong. At length the woman moved towards\nthe end of the bridge, and I was obliged to leave her to her fate.\nI was not certain her intentions were ill; to have charged her with\nsuch might deeply have insulted her. I walked home, however, in a most\ndissatisfied state of mind; at one minute, proving to myself I could\nnot act otherwise, and at another, making self-accusations for having\ndeserted the duties of humanity.\n\n\u201cThe number of suicides that really happen in Paris must exceed,\nno man can say how much, those that are actually known. The bodies\nexposed at _La Morgue_ are most of them brought from _St. Cloud_; the\ndistance to which by water must be above three, perhaps four miles.\nAt the bridge of _St. Cloud_ the fishermen nightly spread their nets;\nand in the morning, with the fish, these bodies are drawn up; but as\nan old inhabitant of _St. Cloud_, whom I strictly questioned on the\nsubject, assured me the nets were only suffered to be down a stated\nnumber of hours, according to the season, certainly not upon an average\nhalf a day; and in proof of what he said, he observed to me that this\nregulation must take place, or the navigation of the river would be\nimpeded. Hence, by the most moderate calculation, the number of bodies\nthat escape the nets must at least equal the number of those that are\ncaught.\n\n\u201cI was told that the government had lately refused the accustomed fee\nto the fishermen for each corpse they brought, and that they would not\ncontinue to drag up the dead bodies, affirming that the money they\nhad before received was insufficient to pay the damage their nets had\nsustained.\u201d\n\nThe following statistical facts with reference to suicide in Geneva may\nbe relied upon:\u2014\n\nBy the laws of the canton, each case of violent death is investigated\nby a police magistrate, and the documents are sent to the\n\u201cProcureur-Generale,\u201d and carefully preserved. M. Prevost has examined\nthese documents, collected between 1825 and 1834 inclusively, with a\nview to investigating the causes of suicide, and of diminishing them if\npossible. The following are the most important results:\u2014\n\n\n1.\u2014_Age._\n\n         Ages.   No. of Cases in 10 years.   Men.   Women.\n  From 50 to 60            34                 25      9\n       20 to 30            30                 22      8\n       60 to 70            19                 10      9\n       30 to 40            18                 15      3\n       40 to 50            15                 13      2\n       70 to 80             9                  6      3\n       10 to 20             5                  3      2\n       80 to 90             3                  1      2\n\n\nFrom this table it appears that suicides are most frequent between 50\nand 60 years of age. The age when the passions are the strongest (from\n20 to 30) is, as might be expected, high in the scale; that of youth\nand old age low, from the young being strangers to the cares of life,\nand the old few in number when compared with the population.\n\n\n2.\u2014_Sex, and State of Marriage or Celibacy._\n\nThere are more suicides among men than women, in the proportion of\n95 to 38, or about three to one; and more unmarried than married,\nor in the state of widowhood, in the proportion of 70 to 63, or\nabout seven to six. Notwithstanding this, the female suicides are\nmore numerous among the married and widows than among the unmarried,\nin the proportion of 21 to 17. But among men the proportions are\nreversed,\u2014that is, 42 to 53; so that, on the whole, suicides are more\nfrequent among the unmarried than amongst those who are or have been\nmarried. This will not surprise those who know the energy, courage,\nand patience of women under misfortune; men more readily give way\nto despair, and to vices consequent upon it. Men also have means of\ndestruction, as firearms, &c., more readily at hand.\n\n\n3.\u2014_Occupations._\n\nThe number of suicides are in proportion to the number of the\nindividuals engaged in various trades, except among the agricultural\npopulation, where the proportion is very small. Thus the agricultural\npopulation of the canton is 18,000, among whom, during ten years,\nthere have been but ten suicides; whereas, if they had been in the\nsame proportion to the whole number as was found in other occupations,\nthey would have amounted to thirty-nine. Constant occupation and hard\nyet healthy work render them less sensible to the cares of life. There\nis also a somewhat larger proportion of suicides among the educated\nclasses, who are engaged in literary pursuits or the higher branches of\ncommerce.\n\n4.\u2014_Religion._\n\nThe relative proportion of Protestants to Catholics in the canton of\nGeneva is, according to the census of 1834, as 77 to 56. Thus\u2014\n\n\n  Of 133 inhabitants there are,\n      Protestants      77\n      Catholics        56\n                      ---\n                      133\n\n  Of 133 cases of suicide there are,\n      Protestants     107\n      Catholics        26\n                      ---\n                      133\n\nThis result should attract the attention of those who are interested in\nthe moral and religious education of Protestants.\n\n\n5.\u2014_Means of Destruction._\n\n  Drowning               55\n  Firearms               31\n  Strangulation          18\n  Voluntary falls        15\n  Cutting instruments     7\n  Poison                  7\n                        ---\n                        133\n\nIn a small province, with a lake and two rapid rivers, it is not\nsurprising that drowning should be the most frequent mode of suicide;\nnext to this is death by firearms, which is accounted for by all the\nmen having firearms, as they are in the militia. Whilst the men have\nused firearms and cutting instruments, the women have almost alone had\nrecourse to poisons and voluntary falls.\n\n\n6.\u2014_Seasons._\n\nThe seasons sensibly influence the number of suicides. There are more\nalmost constantly in April. Of 133 suicides there were in\u2014\n\n  April     19\n  June      17\n  August    17\n  July      15\n  October   14\n  May       13\n  March     10\n  November   9\n  September  6\n  January    5\n  February   5\n  December   3\n\nThe spring appears to have an unfavourable effect; and during the great\nheats, there are more suicides than during the cold weather. It is\ncurious that many suicides happened on the same day or week. Thus, on\nApril 9th, 1830, there were two suicides, and several others on the\nprevious and subsequent days; on the 20th of May, 1830, there were two\nsuicides; on the 28th and 29th of March, 1831, two; and the same on the\n3rd and 4th of July of the same year. On the 20th of April, 1833, there\nwere two; and on the 5th of July, 1833, two others. Some atmospheric\nchanges may account for this, though meteorological tables did not\nsatisfactorily explain them.\n\n\n7.\u2014_Presumed Motives._\n\n  Physical disease                34\n  Insanity                        24\n  Losses of property              19\n  Domestic grief                  15\n  Melancholy without known cause  13\n  Bad conduct. Drunkenness        10\n  Fear of punishment. Remorse      6\n  Disappointment in love           6\n  Gambling                         4\n  Mysterious                       2\n\n\n8.\u2014_Relation of Suicides to Population and to Deaths._\n\nThe number of suicides is to the whole number of deaths as 1 to 90-1/8;\nand to the whole population as 1 to 3\u00b7985; the mean population of the\ncanton during the last ten years being 53,000\u2014\n\n  In 1825    6 Suicides.\n     1826    6    \u201d\n     1827    9    \u201d\n     1828   13    \u201d\n     1829   13    \u201d\n     1830   16    \u201d\n     1831   18    \u201d\n     1832   12    \u201d\n     1833   24    \u201d\n     1834   16    \u201d\n           \u2014-\n           133\n\nFrom this table it appears that the number of suicides has gradually\nincreased from six as high as twenty-four in eight years. The last\nyear, it decreased to sixteen; and it is fervently hoped that this\ndeduction may be maintained, and that the increase may not be so\nfrightfully rapid as it appears to have been. It must, however, be\ntaken into account, that the population was, in 1822, 51,113, and in\n1834, 56,655. The police also are more active, and inquests are held\nmore regularly.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nAPPEARANCES PRESENTED AFTER DEATH IN THOSE WHO HAVE COMMITTED SUICIDE.\n\n\n  Thickness of cranium\u2014State of membranes and vessels of\n  brain\u2014Osseous excrescences\u2014Appearances discovered in one\n  thousand three hundred and thirty-three cases\u2014Lesions of the\n  lungs, heart, stomach, and intestines\u2014Effect of long-continued\n  indigestion.\n\nAs in cases of insanity, the morbid appearances discovered in the\nbodies of suicides are varied and contradictory. Nothing has yet been\ndetected which can lead the pathologist to a correct conclusion as to\nthe nature of the organic change which precedes and accompanies the\nsuicidal mania.\n\nThe cranium has in many cases been found preternaturally thick, and in\nothers the reverse. Greeding and Gall give their testimony in favour of\nthe skull\u2019s thickness. Out of 216 examined, a preternatural thickness\nof cranium was found in 167. Out of 100 who died of furious mania, 78\nhad the skull thick, and 20 very thin. Out of 30 fatuous patients, 21\nhad thick crania, and six thin. The thickness of the cranial bones in\nmelancholy and maniacal patients, and in old people, was supposed by\nDr. Gall to be connected with diminished size of the brain, to which\nthe inner table of the cranial bone accommodated itself; and together\nwith this thickness, he considered there was also thickness of the\nmembranes, and ossification of the blood-vessels.\n\nMalformations of the cranium are often detected. Osiander relates\nthe case of an old man who had suffered for a considerable time from\ndreadful headache, and who, weary of life, hanged himself. On examining\nthe head, small osseous excrescences were found near the carotid\nforamen. Lancisi refers to a case of hypochondriasis and suicide, in\nwhich, after death, a sharp long excrescence was found near the apex of\nthe lambdoid suture.\n\nFrom an examination of the particulars of 1333 cases of persons who\nhave committed suicide, and who have been examined after death, the\nfollowing analysis is made. The particulars of the cases referred\nto are recorded in the works of Pinel, Esquirol, Falret, Foder\u00e9,\nArntzenius, Schlegel, Burrows, Haslam, &c.\n\n  Thickness of cranium                 150\n  No apparent structural change        100\n  Bony excrescences                     50\n  Tumours in brain                      10\n  Simple congestion                    300\n  Disease of membranes                 170\n  Disease of lungs                     100\n  Softening of brain                   100\n  Appearances of inflammation in brain  90\n  Disease of stomach                   100\n  Disease of intestines                 50\n  Disease of liver                      80\n  Suppressed natural secretions         15\n  Disease of heart                      10\n  Syphilitic disease                     8\n                                      ----\n                                      1333\n\nAccretions of the membranes of the brain are often found in suicides.\nThe dura mater is often ossified, and the pia mater inflamed, and the\narachnoid thickened. Osiander considers congestion of the vessels of\nthe brain a frequent cause of suicide.\n\nAuenbrugger refers to the case of a man who had suffered for a long\nduration severe headache, and who committed suicide. After death, a\nfissure was found in the middle of the pons varolii.\n\nLesions of the lungs are among the common morbid appearances in the\nbodies of lunatics. Esquirol states that one fourth of the melancholic\ndie of consumption.\n\nThe heart is sometimes found seriously disorganized. The stomach,\nliver, and intestines, are the most frequent seats of morbid phenomena\nin these cases. It is difficult, however, to say whether they ought\nto be considered as the effect or cause of the suicidal disposition.\nIn many cases of gastric disease, the brain is also found organically\naffected. How is it possible for us to say which organ was primarily\naffected? The stomach, intestines, and liver, may be originally the\nseat of the irritation, and the brain may be sympathetically deranged.\nThis is often the case. Again, the patient may have laboured under a\nsevere mental ailment, which may give rise to disease of the splanchnic\nviscera. Severe and long-continued indigestion, from whatever cause\nit may originate, will, in certain dispositions, produce the suicidal\nmania. Very few cases are examined in which we are not able to detect\nsome disease of the gastric organ or its appendages.\n\nIt is not our wish to throw discredit on, or to underrate the value of,\nmorbid anatomy; but, with reference to the peculiar branch of inquiry\nnow under investigation, we must confess that very little practical\nimportance can be attached to the structural lesions which the industry\nand scalpel of the anatomists have enabled them to discover in the\nbodies of those who have committed suicide. The morbid appearances are\nso varied and capricious that they cannot lead to a sound conclusion\nas to the exact seat of the disease. In many cases, the brain is\napparently free from structural derangement; and yet, reasoning\nphysiologically, we must believe that in every case the sentient organ\nmust be affected, either primarily or secondarily. There are many\ninstances in which there cannot be a doubt but that the cerebral organ\nis the seat of the disease, but in which, after death, no vestige of\nthe malady can be discovered!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\nSINGULAR CASES OF SUICIDE.\n\n\n  Introduction\u2014Contempt of death\u2014Eustace Budgel\u2014M. de Boissy\n  and his wife\u2014Mutual suicides from disappointed love\u2014Suicide\n  from mortification\u2014Mutual suicide from poverty\u2014A French lady\n  while out shooting\u2014A fisherman after praying\u2014Determination\n  to commit if not cured\u2014Extraordinary case of suicide after\n  seduction\u2014Madame C. from remorse\u2014M. de Pontalba after trying\n  to murder his daughter-in-law\u2014Young lady in a pet\u2014Sir George\n  Dunbar\u2014James Sutherland while George III. was passing\u2014Lancet\n  given by a wife to her husband to kill himself\u2014Servant\n  girl\u2014Curious verses by a suicide\u2014Robber on being recognised\u2014A\n  man who ordered a candle to be made of his fat\u2014After\n  gaming\u2014Writing whilst dying\u2014From misfortune just at a moment\n  of relief\u2014Curious papers written by a suicide\u2014By heating a\n  barrel in the fire\u2014By tearing out the brains\u2014Sisters by the\n  injunction of their eldest sister\u2014Mutual from poverty\u2014Girl\n  from a dream\u2014Three servants in one pond\u2014Indifference as to\n  mode\u2014By starvation\u2014A man forty-five days without eating\u2014Mutual\n  of two boys after dining at a restaurateur\u2019s\u2014By putting head\n  under the ice\u2014By a pair of spectacles\u2014By jumping amongst\n  the bears\u2014Young lady from gambling\u2014Verses by a suicide\u2014To\n  obtain salvation\u2014A lover after accidentally shooting his\n  mistress\u2014Mutual attempt at suicide\u2014M. Kleist and Madame\n  Vogle\u2014Richard Smith and wife\u2014Love and suicide\u2014Bishop\n  of Grenoble\u2014Suicide in a pail of water\u2014Mutual of two\n  soldiers\u2014Lord Scarborough\u2014A man who advertised to kill himself\n  for benefit of family\u2014The case of Creech, and the romantic\n  history of Madame de Monier\u2014Suicide of M. \u2014\u2014, after threatening to\n  kill his brother\u2014Two young men\u2014Two lovers\u2014Homicide and suicide\n  from jealousy\u2014Cure of penchant for\u2014Attempt to, prevented\u2014Man\n  in a belfry\u2014Attempt at\u2014The extraordinary case of Lovat by\n  crucifixion.\n\nIn the preceding chapters we have detailed the history of many\nremarkable cases of self-destruction. It is melancholy to consider\nthat the principle of life with which God has endowed us for high and\nnoble purposes should have been sacrificed with that apparent coolness\nand self-possession which was manifested in many of the instances\nrecorded in this work.\n\n  \u201cHow we abuse that article our life! Some people pluck it\n  Out with a knife; some blow it up with powder; others duck it;\u2014\n    One thing is sure, and Horace\n    Has already said it for us,\u2014\n  Sooner or later, all must kick the inevitable bucket.\u201d\n\nA gladiatorial contempt of death is becoming one of the most alarming\nfeatures of the time; in this respect we appear ambitious to imitate\nthe conduct of the French sophists, and seek, in acts of desperation,\na notoriety that nothing else can give us. In investigating, as we\nhave endeavoured to do, the motives that have led to this heinous\noffence, we have in many cases been unsuccessful in tracing the act\nto any definite principle. Either no reasons have been assigned or\nthe accounts of the cases transmitted to us have been imperfect.\nThese individuals stand apart from the rest of the world, and exhibit\nan anomaly in the last act of life totally irreconcilable to all\nacknowledged principles of reason and human action. Eccentric in their\nlives, they have been desirous of manifesting the ruling passion strong\nin death. This mental idiosyncracy may be, and no doubt often is, the\nresult of original constitution, aided in its development by the moral\natmosphere in which the person is placed, as well as by education and\nother circumstances which are known to influence the formation of the\nmind and character.\n\nThe singular facts adduced in this chapter are only brought forward\nas evidence of that anomalous condition of the mind referred to which\nleads to suicide; at the same time the instances will afford to the\nmetaphysician valuable materials to assist him in his investigations\ninto the philosophy of the human understanding. Some of the cases\nrelated, of course, admit of elucidation, but the majority will be\nfound to puzzle the ingenuity even of those who pride themselves on\ntheir capacity of understanding what is beyond the ken of ordinary\nmortals.\n\nEustace Budgel was a man of much literary fame at the beginning of the\nlast century, the relation and friend of Addison, and a distinguished\nwriter in the periodical publications of that day. He was born to\na good fortune, and held a considerable place under government\nwhilst Addison lived, who kept him in some order as to his political\ncharacter. But having lost all court favour after Addison\u2019s decease,\nand being a man of great expense and vanity, having also sunk a large\nsum of money in the South Sea scheme, and having involved himself in\na number of fruitless litigations, he became highly distressed in his\ncircumstances. This, added to the chagrin of disappointed ambition and\nto other matters, determined him to make away with himself. He had\nalways thought but lightly of revelation, and after Addison\u2019s death\nbecame an avowed free-thinker, which laxity of principle strongly\nconcurred in disposing him to adopt this fatal resolution. Accordingly,\nafter having been visibly agitated and almost distracted for several\ndays, he took a boat, and ordered the waterman to go through London\nbridge. While the boat was under the bridge, Budgel threw himself\noverboard, having had the previous caution to fill his pockets with\nstones. This happened in the year 1737. It was said to have been\nBudgel\u2019s opinion, \u201cthat when life becomes uneasy to support, and is\noverwhelmed with clouds and sorrows, man has a natural right to deprive\nhimself of it, as it is better not to live than to live in pain.\u201d A\nman of unsettled principles easily persuades himself into the notion\nof suicide when he is actually suffering from some violence of his\npassions, even though he had not imbibed it before. For whenever the\npassions attempt to reason, it is only on the delusive suggestions\nof their own perturbed feelings. The morning before Budgel carried\nhis deadly intentions into execution, he endeavoured to persuade his\ndaughter to accompany him in his death. His only argument to her was,\nthat her life was not worth holding; but she thought otherwise, and\nrefused to concur in the sacrifice. A slip of paper was left on his\nwriting-table, containing these few words, as an apology for his rash\nact:\u2014\n\n  \u201cWhat Cato did and Addison approved\n  Cannot be wrong.\u201d\n\nMonsieur de Boissy, a French dramatic writer and satirist, being\nreduced to great indigence, resolved to commit suicide. As he\nconsidered this action in no other light than as a friendly relief from\nfurther misery, he not only persuaded his wife to bear him company,\nbut prevailed on her not to leave their child of five years old behind\nthem, to the mercy of that world in which they had experienced so\nlittle sympathy and happiness. Nothing now remained but to fix on\nthe mode of their death. They at length agreed to starve themselves.\nThis not only seemed to them the most natural consequence of their\ncondition, but also saved them from committing a violence either on\ntheir child, themselves, or each other, of which perhaps neither Boissy\nnor his wife found themselves capable. They determined therefore to\nwait with unshaken constancy the arrival of death under the meagre form\nof famine; and accordingly they shut themselves up in the solitude of\ntheir apartment, where, on account of their distresses, they had little\nreason to dread the interruption of company. They began, and resolutely\npersisted in their plan of starving themselves to death with their\nchild. If any one called by chance at their apartment, they found it\nlocked, and receiving no answer, it was concluded that nobody was at\nhome. A friend, however, from that kind of instinct perhaps with which\nthe spirit of friendship abounds, began to apprehend that something\nmust be much amiss with Boissy, as he could neither find him at home,\nnor get intelligence concerning him. Under much anxiety he returned\nonce more to his apartment; and, whether from hearing any groans from\nwithin, or suspecting something was wrong, he ventured to break open\nthe door. Boissy and his wife had been so much in earnest, that it was\nnow three days since they had taken any sustenance, and they were so\nfar on their way to their intended home, that they were in sight, as it\nwere, of the gates of death. The friend, entering into the room where\nthis scene of death was going forward, found the miserable pair in such\na situation as to be insensible of his intrusion. Boissy and his wife\nhad no eyes but for each other, and were not sitting in, but rather\nsupported from falling on the ground by two chairs set opposite to each\nother. Their hands were locked together, and in their ghastly looks\nwas painted a kind of rueful compassion for their child, which hung at\nthe mother\u2019s knee, and seemed as if looking up to her for nourishment,\nin its natural tenaciousness of life. This group of wretchedness did\nnot less shock than afflict his friend. But soon collecting from\ncircumstances what it must mean, his first care was not to expostulate\nwith Boissy or his wife, but to engage them to receive his succours, in\nwhich he found no small difficulty. Their resolution had been taken in\nearnest. They had got over the worst, and were in sight of their port.\nTheir friend, however, took the right way of reconciling them to live\nby making the child join in the intercession. The child, who could have\nnone of the prejudices or reasons they might have for not retracting,\nheld up his little hands, and in concert with him entreated his parents\nto consent to live. Nature did not plead in vain. They were gradually\nrestored to life, and provided with everything that could make them in\ngood humour with its return.\n\nEuphrosine Lemoine was the daughter of a bourgeoise of the Faubourg\nSt. Antoine. She loved, and had admitted to secret interviews, a\nyoung cabinetmaker of the neighbourhood. Her parents, however, had\nlong intended her to marry Mr. B\u2014\u2014, a man of some property. She\nreluctantly consented\u2014pronounced the \u201c_fatal yes_;\u201d and the young man\nprudently left Paris for some years. In 1836 he yielded to the desire\nof once more seeing her he had loved. They met, and the husband was\ndishonoured. This was followed by an elopement; but the husband, who\nstill loved his wife in spite of her crimes, discovered their retreat,\nand by the intervention of friends and of the police a reconciliation\nwas effected\u2014in vain. They again eloped, but only to perish together;\nand they were found dead, eight days after, locked in each other\u2019s\narms, in a miserable apartment they had hired for the purpose. Before\nthe suicide, one of them had sketched with coal on the wall of their\nretreat two flaming hearts, and beneath, this inscription\u2014\u201cWe have\nsworn eternal love, and death, terrible death, shall find us united.\u201d\n\nA boatman discovered in the Seine a mass which the stream seemed to\nroll along with difficulty; he found it was two bodies, a young woman\nabout twenty, tastefully dressed, and a young man in the uniform of the\neighth hussars. The left hand and foot of one victim were laid to the\nright hand and foot of the other. A bit of paper, carefully wrapped\nup in parchment to preserve it from the water, told their names and\nmotives:\u2014\n\n\u201cO you, whoever you may be, compassionate souls, who shall find these\ntwo bodies united, know that we loved each other with the most ardent\naffection, and that we have perished together, that we may be eternally\nunited. Know, compassionate souls, that our last desire is, that you\nshould place us, united as we are, in the same grave. Man should not\nseparate those whom death has joined.\n\n  (Signed), \u201cFLORINE. GOYON.\u201d\n\n\nSome years ago, a light was observed in the church of Rueil. This\nsingular appearance occasioned a search; on the approach of the\nauthorities the light was extinguished, but a woman\u2019s stays were found\non the pavement. The beadle of the church was met, apparently much\nagitated. On a further search, the proprietress of the stays was found\nconcealed in a press under the _draps mortuaires_, (the parish pall.)\nThe unhappy man, on the detection of this profanation, drowned himself.\n\nM. Malglaive, a half-pay officer, lately employed in a public office,\nhad suffered some unexpected pecuniary losses. One of his friends\nreceived a note from him by the twopenny post, requesting him to call\nat his lodgings, where he would find a packet addressed to him. On\nproceeding there, and opening the packet, he found a letter in these\nwords:\u2014\n\n\u201cWhen you shall have received this letter, my poor Eleanore and I will\nbe no more. Be so good as to have our door opened; you will find our\neyes closed for ever. We are weary of misfortunes, and don\u2019t see how we\ncan do better than end them. Satisfied of the courage and attachment\nof my excellent wife, I was certain that she would adopt my views, and\ntake her share in my design.\u201d\n\nThese young people (for the husband was but thirty-four and the wife\ntwenty-eight) had taken the most minute precautions to render the\neffect of the fumes of charcoal certain; but a brace of loaded pistols\nwas placed on the night table, to be used if the charcoal had failed.\n\nMadame de F\u2014\u2014 killed herself in the park of her chateau, with _her own_\nfowling-piece, which she took out on pretence of going shooting, as she\nwas in the habit of doing. She loaded it with six balls, and placing\nthe muzzle to her breast, discharged it. The only cause assigned is the\nvexation she and M. de F\u2014\u2014 felt at her having no children to inherit\ntheir large fortune.\n\nA fisherman with a large family, residing at Vellon d\u2019Auffes, near\nMarseilles, had been driven by domestic trouble to form a design of\nsuicide, which he had long announced. One Sunday he climbed a high\nrock in the neighbourhood, where, in the sight of his friends below,\nwith a crucifix in his hands, he was evidently saying his last prayer,\npreparatory to suicide. One of the neighbours, guessing his intentions,\nreached the spot suddenly, and seized him; a struggle ensued on the\nedge of the precipice; the unhappy man prevailed, and, escaping from\nthe arms of his friendly antagonist, flung himself over.\n\nVoltaire relates the particulars of the following singular case:\u2014An\nEnglishman of the name of Bacon Morris, a half-pay officer, and a man\nof much intellect, called on Voltaire at Paris. The man was afflicted\nwith a cruel malady, for which he was led to suppose there was no cure.\nAfter a certain number of visits, he one day called on the philosopher,\nwith a purse and a couple of papers in his hand. \u201cOne of these\npapers,\u201d he said, addressing Voltaire, \u201ccontains my will, the other my\nepitaph; and this bag of money is intended to defray the expenses of\nmy funeral. I am resolved to try for fifteen days what can be effected\nby regimen and the remedies prescribed, in order to render life less\ninsupportable; and if I succeed not, I am determined to kill myself.\nYou will bury me in what manner you please; my epitaph is short.\u201d He\nthen read it; it consisted of the following two words from Petronius,\n\u201cValete, cur\u00e6\u201d\u2014\u201cFarewell, care.\u201d \u201cFortunately,\u201d says Voltaire, \u201cfor him\nand myself, who loved him, he was cured, and did not kill himself.\u201d\n\nTwo young people\u2014Auguste, aged twenty-six, and Henriette, aged\neighteen\u2014had long loved each other, but the parents of the girl would\nnot consent to the match. In this difficulty the young man wrote to\nHenriette:\u2014\n\n\u201cMen are inexorable. Well, let us set them at defiance. God is\nall-powerful; our marriage shall be celebrated in his presence; and\nto-morrow, if you love me, we will write, in our blood, at the foot of\nthe cross, our marriage vow.\u201d\n\nThis proposition turned the weak girl\u2019s head, and she consented. They\nproceeded one night to a field near St. Denis, where there was a cross.\nOn their way they made incisions in both their arms, to procure the\nblood in which the following _acte de mariage_ was written:\u2014\n\n\u201cO great God, who governs the destinies of mankind, take us under thy\nholy protection! As man will not unite us, we come on our knees to\nimplore thy sanction to our indissoluble union. O God, take pity on two\nof thy poor children! Assemble all thy heavenly choir, that on so happy\na day they may partake our transports, and be witnesses of the holy joy\nthat shines in our hearts. O God! O ye angels of heaven and saints of\nParadise! look down upon a happiness which even the blessed may envy.\n\n\u201cAnd you, shades of our parents, come to this affecting ceremony, come\nand give us your approbation and your blessing. It is in the presence\nof you all that we, Pierre Auguste and Marie Henriette, swear to belong\nto each other, and to each other only, and to be faithful to each other\nto the hour of dissolution. Yes, we swear it\u2014we swear it with one\nvoice. You are our witnesses, and we are united for life and for death.\n\n  (Signed in letters of blood), \u201cPIERRE AUGUSTE.\n                               \u201cMARIE HENRIETTE.\u201d\n\nThe very day after this visionary marriage it was dissolved by the\nsuicide of the unfortunate Henriette. The moment her fault had become\nirreparable, her betrayer abandoned her, and the poor creature threw\nherself into the Seine. On the body was found the foregoing singular\n_acte de mariage_, to which she had subjoined, with a feeble hand, the\nfollowing note:\u2014\n\n\u201cHe has dishonoured me\u2014the monster! He deceived me by pretences which\nwent to my heart; but it is he who is to be pitied\u2014wretch that he is!\u201d\n\nA young woman, of a highly honourable commercial family, put an end to\nherself, overwhelmed with the idea of having forfeited the esteem of\nher husband. _Rosalie_ had from her youth been destined to be the wife\nof M. C\u2014\u2014, a gentleman of her own station in life. Their union, though\nnot distinguished by any transports of love, was soberly and rationally\nhappy, and they had two children.\n\nUnfortunately, Madame C\u2014\u2014 was obliged by affairs of business to go into\nthe country while her husband remained in Paris. During this absence,\nshe appears to have formed a guilty passion, (the circumstances of\nwhich have not been revealed;) but on her return home, the remorse\nof her conscience so preyed upon her spirits as to be at last\nunsupportable, and, after a long and painful struggle, she resolved\nupon suicide. Just before the fatal act, she wrote a long letter to her\nsister, of which we can only spare room for the most striking passages:\u2014\n\n\u201cI have resolved to terminate my existence to-day; but I have not had,\nduring the whole morning, resolution to leave my poor little children,\nwho are unconscious of their mother\u2019s agony.... Forgive, my dear\nsister, the grief that my death is about to cause you. If my excellent\nhusband has offended you, forgive him.... If I had appreciated his\nworth, I should not be the wretch I am: my negligence towards him\nbegan my misfortune, but I had nothing to reproach myself with till my\nfatal journey to Sarcelles\u2014that journey was my ruin!... If I had your\nvirtues, I should have been the happiest of women; but I allowed myself\nto be bewildered by a sentiment which I had not before known, and in my\nculpable frenzy I was guilty before I intended it. O, my God! may my\nrepentance be accepted, and may thy goodness inspire my husband with\na peculiar, an exalted degree of parental affection for those unhappy\nand innocent children. Protect them, O, my God, and grant that they may\nnot curse the memory of their unhappy mother, who was guilty without\nintending it.\n\n\u201cAnd you, O my dearest Louis, forgive your wretched wife, who offers\nyou this her last farewell.\u201d\n\nOne may judge the consternation which this affecting letter spread in\nthe family. The sister, on receiving this letter, hastened with Dr.\nBouillet to Mr. C\u2014\u2014 \u2019s house: it was too late\u2014they found the poor woman\nin the last agonies of death, whilst her little children were playing\nabout the adjoining room, indulging in the sports of their age.\n\nM. de Pontalba was one of the great proprietors of France. His son had\nbeen a page of Napoleon\u2019s, and afterwards a distinguished officer,\naide-de-camp to Marshal Ney, and a prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of the Duke of Elchingen.\nHe married the daughter of Madame d\u2019Almonaster, and for some time they\nlived happily; but on the death of her mother, Madame de Pontalba began\nto indulge in such extravagances that even the enormous fortune of the\nPontalbas was unequal to it. This led to some remonstrance on the part\nof her husband, on the morning after which she disappeared from the\nhotel, and neither he nor his children had any clue to her retreat. At\nlast, after an interval of some months, a letter arrived from her to\nher husband, dated New Orleans, in which she announced that she meant\nto apply for a divorce; but for eighteen months nothing more was heard\nof her, except by her _drafts_ for money. At last she returned, but\nonly to afflict her family. Her son was at the Military Academy of St.\nCyr. She induced him to elope, and the boy was plunged in every species\nof debauchery and expense. This afflicted, in the deepest manner, his\ngrandfather, who revoked a bequest he had made him of about \u00a34,000 a\nyear, and seemed to apprehend from him nothing but future ruin and\ndisgrace. The old man, eighty-two years of age, resided in his Chateau\nof Mont Lev\u00e9que, whither, in October, 1834, Madame de Pontalba went to\nattempt a reconciliation with the wealthy senior. The day after her\narrival she found she could make no impression on her father-in-law,\nand was about to return to Paris, when old M. de Pontalba, observing\na moment when she was alone in her apartment, entered it with a brace\nof double-barrelled pistols, locked the door, and, approaching his\nastonished daughter-in-law, desired her to recommend herself to God,\nfor that she had but few minutes to live; but he did not even allow\nher one minute\u2014he fired immediately, and two balls entered her left\nbreast. She started up and fled to a closet, her blood streaming about,\nand exclaiming that she would submit to any terms, if he would spare\nher. \u201c_No, no! You must die!_\u201d and he fired his second pistol. She had\ninstinctively covered her heart with her hand; the hand was miserably\nfractured by the balls, but it saved her heart. She then escaped to\nanother closet, where a third shot was fired at her without effect; and\nat last she rushed in despair to the door, and while M. de Pontalba was\ndischarging his last barrel at her, she succeeded in opening it. The\nfamily, alarmed by the firing, arrived, and she was saved. The old man,\non seeing that she was beyond his reach, returned to his apartment,\nand blew out his brains. It seemed clear that he had resolved to make\na sacrifice of the short remnant of his own life, in order to release\nhis son and his grandson from their unfortunate connexion with Madame\nde Pontalba. But he failed\u2014none of _her_ wounds were mortal; and within\na month after, Madame de Pontalba, perfectly recovered, in high health\nand spirits, radiant, and crowned with flowers, was to be seen at all\nthe f\u00eates and concerts of the capital.\n\nA wealthy inhabitant of St. Denis arrived from a long journey, in\nwhich he had occasion to carry a brace of pistols; these he deposited,\nloaded, on a table in his bed-chamber, and sat down to dinner with his\nfamily and some friends, invited to celebrate his return. Hardly had\ndinner begun when a discussion arose between the father and his eldest\ndaughter, about twenty years of age. This young woman had always shewn\ngreat jealousy of her younger sister, of whom she pretended her father\nwas fonder than of her. On this occasion the same feeling broke out,\nand after some strong exhibition of ill-temper on her part, her father\nsaid, \u201cNay, if you are sulky, you had better go to bed.\u201d The girl got\nup immediately, went to her father\u2019s bed-room, took one of the pistols,\nshot herself, and expired in a few hours in great agony.\n\nSir George Dunbar, Baronet, Major in the 14th Light Dragoons, quartered\nat Norwich, unhappily got involved in a dispute with his fellow\nofficers. He was a man of quick sensibility, which may have betrayed\nhim into error on the occasion; but whichever party was to blame,\nthe quarrel was of a most violent nature, and he returned home much\nbruised from blows received in the scuffle. The next day, repairing\nto the mess-room, he declared to the other officers, \u201cThat, if he had\noffended any of them, he was ready to make an apology; or, if that\nwas not thought sufficient, to give them honourable satisfaction.\u201d\nThis proposal was refused, and the officers insisted \u201cThat he must\nsell out, for that, as he had abused the whole regiment, nothing else\nwould or could satisfy them.\u201d To this, Sir George replied, \u201cThat he\nwould live and die in the regiment, of which he had been an officer\nfor twenty years, and that a pistol should end the dispute.\u201d Here\nended all communication, but the business made a most deep impression\non his mind. For two successive days he neither took food nor slept;\nand his melancholy appearance filled his family with the most lively\napprehensions. Lady Dunbar locked up his razors, pistols, &c., and\nwatched him with unceasing vigilance. Her distress at seeing him so\nwretched was very great, and in the night she moaned very much, and was\nquite restless. Sir George said, \u201cMaria, you disturb me; I will get\nup;\u201d which he immediately did, put on his watch-coat, and laid down\non the floor. Lady Dunbar then endeavoured to conceal the anguish of\nher mind, in hopes to pacify him, and, being overcome with watching,\nfell asleep. Sir George, as soon as he perceived it, left the room,\nand at about five or six in the morning walked out. Her ladyship,\nwhen she awoke, being much alarmed at his absence, eagerly inquired\nfor him, and was told he had taken a morning walk, having a violent\nheadache, and thinking the air would do him good. This, however, proved\nonly a pretence; for he had gone to purchase a case of pistols, and\nstood by while the bullets were casting, which, with the pistols, he\nbrought home, concealed under his watch-coat. On his return, he went\nto Lady Dunbar, who took hold of his hand, observing at the same time,\n\u201cHow cold you are!\u201d To which he answered, \u201cYes; I shall be better\npresently.\u201d She then proposed to make breakfast, but he declined it,\nsaying he had a letter to write first, and that he would ring to let\nher know when he had finished it. He then parted from her, after\npressing her hand very hard; went to his study, wrote his will, and\ninstantly after blew out his brains. Lady Dunbar, who heard the report\nof the pistol, ran down into the room, and fell insensible on his\nbody, which lay extended on the floor, and from which she was taken up\ncovered with his blood, and immediately removed to a friend\u2019s house.\nThey were a very happy couple, and she had accompanied him in all his\ncampaigns.\n\nAs George III. was passing in his carriage through the park to St.\nJames\u2019s, a gentleman dressed in black, standing in the green park,\nclose to the rails, just as the carriage came opposite to where he\nstood, was observed to pull a paper hastily from his pocket, which\nhe stuck on the rails, addressed to the king, threw off his hat,\ndischarged a pistol in his own bosom, and instantly fell. Though\nsurrounded with people collected to see the king pass, the rash act\nwas so suddenly perpetrated, that no one suspected his fatal purpose\ntill he had accomplished it. He expired immediately. In his left hand\nwas a letter addressed \u201cTo the coroner who shall take an inquest on\nJames Sutherland.\u201d This unfortunate gentleman was judge-advocate at\nMinorca during the governorship of General Murray, with whom he had a\nlaw suit which terminated in his favour. The general, however, got him\nsuspended and recalled. This, and the failure of some applications\nto government, had greatly deranged his mind. He was very genteelly\ndressed, but had only two-pence and some letters in his pocket; the\nletters were carried to the Secretary of State\u2019s Office. He left a\nsingular paper behind him, expressive of being in a sound mind, and\nthat the act was deliberate.\n\nThe following case is mentioned by Dr. A. T. Thomson, as illustrative\nof the extraordinary determination often exhibited by those resolved\non self-destruction. A gentleman, who had long enjoyed an unblemished\nreputation, was appointed the treasurer of a society; but having\nunfortunately fallen into pecuniary difficulties, he not only applied\nthe funds of the society to his own purposes, but forged some bills.\nAs the punishment of the latter crime was penal at that period, on\nbeing arrested, he made an attempt upon his life, but did not succeed.\nHis prior good character, and the respect in which he had been held,\nprevented him from being immediately sent to jail; and he was permitted\nto remain in the custody of the officer of justice who arrested him.\nThe attempt which he had made upon his life rendered it requisite\nthat every implement which could be employed by the suicide should\nbe withheld from him; but in other respects, as much indulgence was\nextended to him as possible, under the circumstances of the case. His\nwife also was permitted to visit him, but she was searched before\nentering his apartment. He was locked up every night, and he was awoke\nin the morning by an officer, at a certain hour. On the third morning\nafter his arrest, the officer, as usual, entered his room, and called\nto him, but received no answer; he then approached the bed, and found\nthat his prisoner was dead. A medical man was immediately sent for. It\nappeared that this gentleman had studied anatomy, and knew how to use a\nlancet; and as he had a thorough conviction that he should be hanged,\nhe had persuaded his wife to bring a lancet to him in her mouth. After\nbeing locked up for the night, he undressed himself, and opened the\nfemoral artery, the blood from which he allowed to flow into the pan of\nthe night chair, until, as was supposed, he became faint. He then bound\na handkerchief round the upper part of the thigh, and placed himself in\nbed, in the position in which he was discovered. Notwithstanding his\ngreat loss of blood, he contrived so effectually to stem the further\nflow, that none was seen on the floor of the room, and only a few spots\non the sheets of the bed.\u201d\n\nA servant girl of Mursley, Bucks., committed suicide while her master\nand his men were weeding in the field, by taking a cord and tying it\ntight round the upper part of her left thigh, and with a fleam and\nstick used in bleeding cattle, making a deep incision through the\nartery. She bled to death before any assistance could be procured.\n\nJohn Upson, of Woodbridge, in Suffolk, a glover, who was committed to\nthe castle for felony a few days before, hanged himself in his own room\nwith a garter. The following verses were written in a prayer-book lying\nby him:\u2014\n\n  \u201cFarewell, vain world, I\u2019ve had enough of thee,\n  And now am careless what thou say\u2019st of me;\n  Thy smiles I court not, nor thy frowns I fear,\n  My cares are past, my heart lies easy here.\n  What faults they find in me take care to shun,\n  And look at home: enough is to be done.\n\n  \u201cJune 26, 1774.          POOR JOHN THE GLOVER.\u201d\n\nMr. Brower, a print-cutter, near Aldersgate-street, was attacked on\nthe road to Enfield by a single highwayman, whom he recollected to\nbe a tradesman in the city, and called him by his name. The robber\nimmediately shot himself through the head.\n\nThe case of a man is recorded in a French paper who burnt with one of\nthe strongest passions of which we ever heard an account. His mistress\nhaving proved unfaithful to him, he called up his servant, informed him\nthat it was his intention to kill himself, and requested that, after\nhis death, he would make a candle of his fat, and carry it lighted to\nhis mistress. He then wrote a letter, in which he told her that as he\nhad long burnt for her, she might now see that his flames were real;\nfor the candle by which she would read the note was composed of part of\nhis miserable body. After this he committed suicide.\n\nLieutenant Colonel Mautren, of the Prussian Hussars, having been\nstripped, at the gaming table, of all his property, even to his watch\nand the rings he wore, returned home. Next day he disposed of his\ncommission; and having offered marriage to a respectable female whom\nhe had seduced, a clergyman was sent for, and the ceremony performed.\nHe then retired to a private room, and while some friends were\nfelicitating the bride on her good fortune, the report of a pistol\nannounced the catastrophe that had taken place. The company hastened\nto the room; but the Colonel was no more. On the table was a letter to\nhis wife, mentioning the cause of his death and inclosing the amount of\nthe sale of his commission.\n\nThe particulars of the following case were read by M. Gerard de Gray,\nat the _Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de M\u00e9decine_. A young man, having spent in the capital\nall his finances, returned home to recruit his purse; but failing in\nhis object, he resolved to put an end to himself. He made no secret of\nhis determination. On the 16th of August he carried it into execution.\nHis bed-room was about nine feet square, and a little more than six in\nheight. On every aperture in it by which the air might possibly have\nadmittance, he pasted paper, and about five in the afternoon lighted\na brazier of coals, which he set on the floor close by his bed. He\nthen left the apartment, carefully closing the door after him. At six,\nhe said to an old lady, \u201cMy brazier is now ready\u2014I go to die.\u201d On\nthe following morning, the family having become alarmed, the door of\nthe chamber was forced open. An insupportable vapour issued from the\nplace, and the body of the unfortunate youth was found stretched across\nthe bed. On the floor, the brazier still occupied the place already\nmentioned; it was of considerable capacity, and seemed to have been\nlighted with paper. Near the body were placed two volumes of an old\nEncyclop\u00e6dia; one of them at the foot of the bed, open at the article\nEcstasy; the other near the right hand displayed the article Death. On\nthe latter volume was a pencil and a bit of paper, with the words, _Je\nmeurs avec calme et bonheur_, clearly written, with the date annexed;\nbut beneath that there appeared, in characters very difficult to be\nread, the following words: _Au moment de l\u2019agonie j\u2019aurais voulu m\u2019\u00eatre\nprocur\u00e9 une sensation agr\u00e9able_. It would appear that the deceased\nimmediately on writing the scrawl, had fallen into the position in\nwhich he was found. The attitude did not betoken any struggle at the\nlast moment; yet it seems probable, from the signs of sickness of the\nstomach, and the mention of agony in the last phrase, that life did\nnot become extinct without some painful sensations.\n\nMadame Augine having been personally attached to the late Queen of\nFrance, expected to suffer under the execrable tyranny of Robespierre.\nShe often declared to her sister, Madame Campan, that she never would\nwait the execution of the order of arrest, and that she was determined\nto die rather than fall into the hands of the executioner. Madame\nCampan endeavoured, by the principles of morality and philosophy, to\npersuade her sister to abandon this desperate resolution; and in her\nlast visit, as if she had foreseen the fate of this unfortunate woman,\nshe added, \u201cWait the future with resignation; some fortunate occurrence\nmay turn aside the fate you fear, even at the moment you may believe\nthe danger to be greatest.\u201d Soon afterwards the guards appeared before\nthe house where Madame Augine resided, to take her to prison. Firm in\nher resolution to avoid the ignominy of execution, she ran to the top\nof the house, threw herself from the balcony, and was taken up dead. As\nthey were carrying her corpse to the grave, the attendants were obliged\nto turn aside to let pass the cart which conveyed Robespierre to the\nscaffold!\n\nIn the year 1600, on the 10th of April, a person of the name of William\nDorrington threw himself from the top of St. Sepulchre\u2019s church, in\nLondon, having previously left on the leads or roof a paper of which\nthe following is a copy:\u2014\n\n\u201cLet no other man be troubled for that which is my own fault; John\nBunkley and his fellows, by perjury and other bad means, have brought\nme to this end. God forgive it them, and I do. And, O Lord, forgive\nme this cruel deed upon my own body, which I utterly detest, and most\nhumbly pray him to cast it behind him; and that of his most exceeding\nand infinite mercy he will forgive it me, with all my other sins. But\nsurely, after they had slandered me, every day that I lived was to me a\nhundred deaths, which caused me rather to die with infamy than to live\nin infamy and torment.\n\n\u201cOh, summa Deitas, qu\u00e6 c\u0153lis et superis presides, meis medere\nmiseris, ut spretis inferis, letis superis, reis dona veniam.[79]\n\n\u201cTrusting in his only passion and merits of Jesus Christ, and\nconfessing my exceeding great sins, I say\u2014\u2018Master, have mercy upon me!\u2019\u201d\n\nThis paper was folded up in form of a letter, and indorsed, \u201cOh, let me\nlive, and I will call upon thy name!\u201d\n\nThomas Davers, who built at a vast expense a little fort on the River\nThames, near Blackwall, known by the name of Davers\u2019s Folly, after\npassing through a series of misfortunes, chiefly owing to an unhappy\nturn of mind, put an end to his miserable life. Some few hours before\nhis death, he was seen to write the following card:\u2014\u201cDescended from\nan ancient and honourable family, I have, for fifteen years past,\nsuffered more indigence than ever gentleman submitted to; neglected by\nmy acquaintance, traduced by my enemies, and insulted by the vulgar, I\nam so reduced, worn down and tired, that I have nothing left but that\nlasting repose, the joint and dernier inheritance of all.\n\n  \u201cOf laudanum an ample dose\n  Must all my present ills compose;\n  But the best laudanum of all\n  I want (not resolution) but a ball.\n\n  \u201cN. B. Advertise this.        T. D.\u201d\n\nA farmer near Allandale, in Northumberland, procured a gun-barrel,\nwhich he loaded with powder and shot, and having placed the stock\nend in the fire, he leaned with his belly against the other. In this\nposition he awaited the dreadful moment. When the barrel became hot, an\nexplosion took place, by which he was shot through the body. He had,\nsome time before, been in the habit of excessive drinking, which had\nimpaired his intellects, and probably produced a derangement which led\nto the commission of the deed.\n\nMr. Henry Grymes, of Virginia, U. S., whilst labouring under the\ninfluence of delirium, broke his skull with a stone. After having\nshattered it, he took out a piece about three inches long, and two\nbroad. Concluding that this would not put a period to his existence, he\nthrust his fingers into his head, and tore out a considerable quantity\nof his brains. Instead of immediate death, _he instantly returned to\nthe full exercise of reason!_ walked home, and lived to the second\nevening following. He appeared very penitent and rational to the last\nmoment of his life; and in the meantime gave to his friends the above\nstatement of the horrid transaction. The cause of this derangement is\nbelieved to have been a disappointment in marriage. Through the whole\nof his life he supported an unsullied character.\n\n\u201cA blacksmith charged an old gun-barrel with a brace of bullets, and,\nputting one end into the fire of his forge, tied a string to the handle\nof his bellows, by pulling which he could make them play whilst he was\nat a convenient distance, kneeling down; he then placed his head near\nthe mouth of the barrel, and moving the bellows by means of the string,\nthey blew up the fire, he keeping his head, with astonishing firmness\nand horrible deliberation, in that position till the further end of the\nbarrel was so heated as to kindle the powder, whose explosion instantly\ndrove the bullets through his brain. Though I know this happened\nliterally as I relate it, yet there is something so extraordinary,\nand almost incredible, in the circumstance, that perhaps I should not\nhave mentioned it, had it not been well attested, and known to the\ninhabitants of Geneva, and to all the English there.\u201d[80]\n\nA Hanoverian, eighty years of age, resided at a country house near\nBerne, with his five daughters, the eldest of whom was aged thirty,\nand the youngest sixteen. The family were of very retired habits,\nbut were governed chiefly by the eldest sister, who was noted for her\nimperious disposition, and opposition to religion. A young Englishman,\nwho had been for some time an occasional visitor to the house, became\nsmitten with one of the daughters; and one fine evening, as the five\nsisters were taking the air in a carriage in the avenues of the Eugi,\nthey met him in his cabriolet, accompanied by a friend. After parading\nup and down for some time, an exchange of vehicles was proposed to and\naccepted by the young ladies, one of whom accompanied the Englishman,\nand his friend entered the carriage with the ladies. A similar change\nwas again effected, until the Englishman found himself with the object\nof his affections, with whom he immediately decamped. The others,\nthinking he had returned to the house by another road, gave themselves\nno uneasiness, but continued their road homewards. On arriving,\nhowever, they found he had not returned. The eldest sister, becoming\nalarmed, sent and informed the police that her sister had been run away\nwith; and the next day, news having been received that the runaways\nwere at Fribourg, she immediately set out for that place, accompanied\nby one of her sisters. Before her departure, she told the two who\nremained, that if she did not return by a certain hour, it would be a\nproof that their family was dishonoured; in which case, it became the\nduty of them all to renounce life. She required, and even extorted,\nfrom them a solemn oath, that they would drown themselves if they (the\ntwo elder sisters) did not return at the hour mentioned. On arriving\nat Fribourg, and finding their sister, whom they could not persuade\nto return home, they two resolved upon putting their resolution into\neffect; for which purpose they repaired to the banks of the Sarine; but\nthe younger, on arriving, finding her courage fail, exclaimed, \u201cKill\nme, sister; I can never throw myself into the river.\u201d The eldest drew\nout a dagger, and was about to perpetrate the deed, when a peasant\ncoming up, interrupted the design. She immediately despatched the\npeasant to prevent her other two sisters from putting their oath\ninto effect; but the precaution was too late. After having prepared\nevery necessary for their aged father during the day, they dressed\nthemselves in their best apparel, and, on arriving at the banks of\nthe Aar, fastened themselves with a shawl, and, embracing each other,\nprecipitated themselves into the river, in which position their bodies\nwere found some time afterwards.\n\nThe particulars of the following extraordinary case we find recorded\nin the Annual Register for 1823. It appears that a man of the name\nof Spring and his paramour, Mary Gooch, had agreed to commit mutual\nsuicide. For that purpose a large dose of laudanum was purchased; but\nthe dose which Spring took was not sufficient for his purpose, and\nhe recovered. The poor woman was successful in killing herself. The\nfollowing is the evidence given by Spring at the coroner\u2019s inquest:\u2014\n\n\u201cJohn Spring said, that he was present with the deceased in bed when\nshe died, about seven o\u2019clock on Friday morning; that she did not\ndie in agony; that on the Wednesday evening the deceased and witness\ncame to an agreement to buy some laudanum to take together, that\nthey might both be found dead together in the same bed; that on the\nThursday morning, he (the witness) went to the chemist\u2019s and bought\nsome laudanum; he thinks four ounces; that when he came in, Mary Gooch\nsaid, \u2018Your heart has failed you; you have not bought it for me;\u2019 that\nshe got up and felt witness\u2019s pocket. The deceased said, \u2018You have got\nsomething here.\u2019 Witness replied, \u2018Oh, that will soon do our business,\nif we take it.\u2019 She said, \u2018Have you any money left of what I gave\nyou to buy it with?\u2019 Witness said, \u2018Yes, there are some halfpence.\u2019\nThe deceased said she would purchase some oranges with them, to take\nafter it, and would send for them; that she sent a boy of Webb\u2019s, who\nreturned with two oranges; that the deceased peeled them; that she\ntook two wine glasses off the shelf, and placed hers on the box, and\nsaid, \u2018Now let us take it.\u2019 She poured half into one glass, and half\ninto another. One glass she kept to herself, and the other she gave to\nwitness. The deceased said, \u2018Let us take hold of each other\u2019s hands.\u2019\nWitness said, \u2018No, my dear; if we do, we shall not take it; let us\nturn back to back, and take it.\u2019 Deceased and witness turned their\nbacks to one another, and drank the contents of the glasses. After\nthey had drunk the laudanum, the deceased said, \u2018What shall we do with\nthe bottle?\u2019 Witness said, he would go and throw it away. She said,\nshe would in the mean time wipe the glasses. He threw away the bottle,\nand the deceased had wiped the glasses by the time he came back. The\ndeceased said, \u2018Let us go to bed.\u2019 They both went to bed together.\nThe deceased afterwards got out of bed, placed a chair against the\ndoor, to fasten it, and drew the window blinds. The deceased then\nsaid, \u2018Now we shall die happily together.\u2019 This was between two and\nthree o\u2019clock. He asked the deceased how she came by the money she had\ngiven him; the deceased said, \u2018That is of no consequence, and does not\nsignify;\u2019 the deceased and witness conversed together about various\nthings, till eight o\u2019clock. She said, she had sent her gown to her\naunt\u2019s, and that the money came from her. The laudanum did not take\nany effect till about two; she then began to sleep. The witness was\nsick about four, and the deceased was awake at that time. The deceased\nwas not sick at all, and fell into a sound sleep at six. The witness\nawoke her between six and seven; the deceased then said, \u2018How large\nyour eyes look!\u2019 Witness said to her, \u2018Mary, I am afraid my laudanum\nwill take no effect.\u2019 The deceased said, \u2018Oh dear! if I should die\nwithout you, and you are taken before a court of justice, I shall not\ndie easy.\u2019 Witness told her she might be quite happy, for, if it did\nnot take effect, he would get up and buy some that would, as he would\ndie with her. The deceased said, \u2018My dear, pray give me that blue\nmuslin handkerchief, that I may have it in my hand when I die. Pray,\ndon\u2019t you take anything; but let me die, and you will get over.\u2019 She\nthen laid her head on the shoulder of the witness, and died almost\nimmediately. The body began to grow cold by the time he came in from\nthe town, about half-past eight. The deceased had been in a bad state\nof mind ever since he had known her. She always appeared to wish to\ndie, and had attempted to destroy herself before, when the witness was\nat a fair. About a month previous, the deceased having come home in\nan unhappy state of mind, got up about twelve at night, took a linen\nline, pinned her cap over her head, and went out of the house, taking\na small chair with her. She had one end of a rope about her neck, and\nwas about to throw it over the arm of an apple-tree, when he overtook\nher, brought her in, and took the rope from her. The deceased, all\nWednesday evening, was very anxious to die, and wished witness to die\nwith her. On Thursday, she expressed a desire that they should both die\ntogether. The witness had known the deceased ever since Michaelmas Bury\nfair. She had been very anxious about the payment of the half-year\u2019s\nrent; the witness said, he could go to his friends and get it; deceased\nsaid, \u2018If you go away, I shall be afraid that you will not come back\nagain.\u2019 It was not from want that they committed the act; it had been\nin contemplation some time.\u201d\n\nA young lady, at a boarding school near Birmingham, had been set a\ntask, and felt indignant at being obliged to learn it out of an old\nbook, while some of the other scholars were indulged with new ones.\nShe went next day to an old woman in the neighbourhood, and told her\n\u201cthat she had had a singular dream,\u2014that she was dead, and had been\ncarried to her grave by such and such young ladies,\u201d naming some of\nher companions and young friends; and asked the old woman what she\nthought of it; who replied, \u201cthat she put no faith in dreams.\u201d A few\ndays after, when going a walk with the other scholars, she loitered\nbehind, and making her escape from the party, drowned herself in a\npool near the school. She left her hat (or bonnet) on the edge of the\npool, wherein was pinned a letter for her parents, entreating their\nforgiveness of such a rash act. She therein requested to have for her\nbearers those whom she had said she dreamed had carried her to her\ngrave; and enclosed some locks of her hair as mementos of friendship.\nShe was only about eleven years of age, and the daughter of very\nrespectable parents in the neighbourhood.\n\nSophia Edwards and Mary West, two female-servants, in the family of\nthe Rev. John Gibbons, of Brasted, in Kent, were left in care of the\nhouse for some weeks, in consequence of the absence of their master\nand mistress. During this time they had the misfortune to break some\narticles of furniture, and to spoil four dozen of knives and forks,\nby incautiously lighting a fire in an oven where they had been placed\nto keep them from rust. The unfortunate girls, however, bought other\nknives and forks. Upon the return of Mr. and Mrs. Gibbons, the servants\nwere severely reprimanded for what had happened, and one of them\nreceived notice to leave her place. They both appeared to be very\nuncomfortable for two days afterwards; and, on the second day, the\nfootman heard them in conversation respecting Martha Viner, a late\nservant in the same family, who had drowned herself in a pond in the\ngarden, and observing one to the other, that she had done so through\ntrouble. The elder then said to the younger\u2014\u201cWe will have a swim\nto-night, Mary!\u201d The other replied\u2014\u201cSo we will, girl.\u201d The footman\nthought they were jesting, and said\u2014\u201cAy, and I will swim with you!\u201d\nSophia Edwards replied\u2014\u201cNo, you shan\u2019t; but I will have a swim, and\nafterwards I will haunt you.\u201d After this conversation, they continued\nabout their work as usual, and at six o\u2019clock asked the footman to get\ntea for them. While he was in the pantry for that purpose, he heard\nthe kitchen door shut; and on his return into the kitchen, they were\nboth gone. The footman afterwards thought he heard them upstairs, and\ntherefore took no notice of their absence, until eight o\u2019clock, when\nhe told his master and mistress. Search was made for them about the\nhouse, garden, and neighbourhood, during the whole night; and early\nnext morning, the same pond was dragged which had so recently been the\nwatery grave of Martha Viner, when both their bodies were found in it,\nlying close to each other.\n\nThe following whimsical instance of indifference as to the mode of\nsuicide is related in Sir John Hawkins\u2019s History of the Science and\nPractice of Music, vol. v. 7:\u2014\u201cOne Jeremiah Clarke, organist of St.\nPaul\u2019s, an. dom. 1700, was at the house of a friend in the country,\nfrom whence he took an abrupt resolution of returning to London. His\nfriend having observed marks of great dejection in his behaviour, and\nknowing him to be a man disappointed in love, furnished him not only\nwith a horse, but a servant to take care of him. A fit of melancholy\nseizing him on the road, he alighted and went into a field, in the\ncorner whereof was a pond, and also trees; where he began to debate\nwith himself, whether he should then end his days by hanging or\ndrowning. Not being able to resolve on either, he thought of making\nwhat he looked on as chance, the umpire. He tossed a piece of money\ninto the air, which came down on its edge and stuck in the clay. Though\nthe determination answered not his wishes, it was far from ambiguous,\nas it seemed to forbid both methods of destruction; and would have\ngiven unspeakable comfort to a mind less disordered than his. Being\nthus interrupted in his purpose, he returned, and mounting his horse,\nrode on to London, where, in a short time after, he shot himself.\n\nFalret relates the case of an apothecary who, on receiving a reproof\nfrom his sweetheart, went home and blew out his brains, having first\nwritten the following sentence on his door\u2014\u201cWhen a man knows not how to\nplease his mistress, he ought to know how to die.\u201d\n\nA German merchant, aged thirty-two, depressed by severe reverses\nof fortune, came to the resolution of starving himself to death.\nWith this view he repaired, on the 15th of September, 1818, to an\nunfrequented wood, where he constructed a hut of boughs, and remained,\nwithout food, till the 3rd of October following. At this period, he\nwas found, by the landlord of a public-house, still alive, but very\nfeeble, speechless, and insensible. Broth, with the yolk of an egg,\nwas administered to him; he swallowed some with difficulty, and died\nimmediately.\n\nIn the pocket of the unfortunate man was found a journal, written in\npencil, singular of its kind, and remarkable as a narrative of his\nfeelings and sentiments. It commences in these words:\u2014\u201cThe generous\nphilanthropist, who shall one day find me here after my death, is\nrequested to inter me; and in consideration of this service, to keep my\nclothes, purse, knife, and letter-case. Moreover observe, that _I am no\nsuicide_, but have died of hunger, because through wicked men I have\nlost the whole of my very considerable property, and am unwilling to\nbecome a burden to my friends.\u201d The ensuing remark is dated September\n17th, the second day of abstinence:\u2014\u201cI yet live; but how I have been\nsoaked during the night, and how cold it has been. O God! when will my\nsufferings terminate! No human being has for three days been seen here;\nonly some birds.\u201d The journal continues, \u201cAnd again, three days, and I\nhave been so soaked during the night, that my clothes to-day are not\nquite dry. How hard this is no one knows, and my last hour must soon\narrive. Doubtlessly, during the heavy rain, a little water has got into\nmy throat; but the thirst is not to be slaked with water; moreover, I\nhave had none even of this for six days, since I am no longer able to\nmove from the place. Yesterday, for the first time during the eternity\nwhich, alas! I have already passed here, a man approached me within\neight or ten paces. He was certainly a shepherd. I saluted him in\nsilence, and he returned it in the same manner; probably, he will find\nme after my death!\u201d\n\n\u201cFinally, I here protest before the all-wise God, that, notwithstanding\nall the misfortunes which I have suffered from my youth, I yet die\nvery unwillingly, although necessity has imperiously driven me to it.\nNevertheless, I pray for it. Father, forgive him; for he knows not what\nhe does! More I cannot write for faintness and spasms; and this will be\nthe last. Dated near the forest, by the side of the Goat public-house.\n\n  \u201cSept. 29, 1818.      J. F. N.\u201d\n\n\nIt is evident, from the above account, that consciousness and the\npower of writing remained till the _fourteenth_ day of abstinence.\nThe operation of famine was aggravated by mental distress, and still\nmore by exposure to the weather. This, indeed, seems to have produced\nhis most urgent sufferings. Subsequent to the common cravings and\ndebility of hunger, his first physical distress appears to have been\nthe sensation of cold; then cold and thirst; lastly, faintness and\nspasm. In this case we find no symptoms of inflammation. A want of\nnervous energy, arising from the reduction in the quantity or quality\nof the blood, appears to have been the principal disease. The effort\nof swallowing, and the oppression of food on the exhausted stomach,\ncompleted the catastrophe.[81]\n\nThere is an extraordinary instance of suicidal design recorded, and\nwhich is worth noticing, were it only to shew the extent to which the\nhuman powers can sustain life unaided by proper nourishment, even\nthough the intelligent principle be subverted.\n\nAn officer, having experienced many mortifications, fell into a state\nof deep melancholy. He resolved to die of famine; and he followed up\nhis resolution so faithfully that he passed forty-five days without\neating anything, except on the fifth day, when he asked for some\ndistilled water, in which was mixed a quarter of a pint of spirits of\naniseed. This lasted him three days. Upon being told that this quantity\nof spirit was too much, he then took in each glass of water no more\nthan three drops of it, and the same quantity of fluid lasted him\nthirty-nine days. He then ceased drinking, and took nothing at all\ndaring the last six days. On the thirty-sixth day, he was obliged to\nrecline on a couch. Every request to induce him to break his resolution\nwas useless, and he was regarded as already lost, when chance recalled\nwithin him a desire to live. Having seen a child with a slice of bread\nand butter, the sight excited in him so violent an appetite that he\ninstantly asked for some soup. They gave him every two hours some\nspoonsful of rice bouillie, and by degrees more nourishing diet, and\nhis health, though slowly, was established.[82]\n\nTwo young men, mere youths, entered a _restaurant_, bespoke a dinner of\nunusual luxury and expense, and afterwards arrived punctually at the\nappointed hour to eat it. They did so, apparently with all the zest\nof youthful appetite and glee. They called for champagne, and quaffed\nit hand-in-hand. No symptom of sadness, thought, or reflection of any\nkind, was observed to mix with their mirth, which was loud, long, and\nunremitting. At last came the _caf\u00e9 noir_, the cognac, and the bill;\none of them was seen to point out the amount to the other, and then\nburst out afresh into violent laughter. Having swallowed each a cup of\ncoffee to the dregs, the _gar\u00e7on_ was ordered to request the company of\nthe _restaurateur_ for a few minutes. He came immediately, expecting,\nperhaps, to receive the payment of his bill, minus some extra charge\nwhich the jocund but economical youths might deem exorbitant.\n\nInstead of this, however, the elder of the two informed him that the\ndinner had been excellent, which was the more fortunate, as it was\ndecidedly the last that either of them should ever eat; that for his\nbill, he must of necessity excuse the payment of it, as, in fact, that\nneither of them possessed a single sous; that upon no other occasion\nwould they have thus violated the customary _etiquette_ between guest\nand landlord; but that finding this world, with its toils and its\ntroubles, unworthy of them, they had determined once more to enjoy a\nrepast of which their poverty must for ever prevent the repetition,\nand then take leave of existence for ever! For the first part of this\nresolution, he declared that it had, thanks to the cook and his cellar,\nbeen achieved nobly; and for the last, it would soon follow, for the\n_caf\u00e9 noir_, besides the little glass of his admirable cognac, had been\nmedicated with that which would speedily settle all their accounts for\nthem.\n\nThe _restaurateur_ was enraged. He believed no part of the rhodomontade\nbut that which declared their inability to discharge their bill, and he\ntalked loudly in his turn of putting them into the hands of the police.\nAt length, however, upon their offering to give up their address, he\nwas induced to allow them to depart.\n\nOn the following day, either the hope of obtaining his money or some\nvague fear that they might have been in earnest in the wild tale that\nthey had told him, induced this man to go to the address they had left\nwith him; and he there heard that the two unhappy boys had been that\nmorning found lying together, hand-in-hand, on a bed hired a few weeks\nbefore by one of them. When they were discovered, they were already\ndead and cold.\n\nOn a small table in the room lay many written papers, all expressing\naspirations after greatness that should cost neither labour nor care,\na profound contempt for those who were satisfied to live by the sweat\nof their brow, sundry quotations from Victor Hugo, and a request that\ntheir names and the manner of their death might be transmitted to the\nnewspapers.\n\nMany are the cases of young men, calling themselves friends, who have\nthus encouraged each other to make their final exit from life, if not\nwith applause, at least with effect. And more numerous still are the\ntales recounted of young men and women found dead, and locked in each\nother\u2019s arms, fulfilling literally, and with most sad seriousness, the\ndestiny sketched so merrily in an old song\u2014\n\n  \u201cGai, gai, marions-nous\u2014\n  Mettons-nous dans la mis\u00e8re;\n  Gai, gai, marions-nous\u2014\n  Mettons-nous la corde au cou.\u201d[83]\n\nA woman drowned herself by breaking a hole in the ice of a pond\nsufficiently large to admit her head, which she put into the water, so\nthat her body remained quite dry.\n\nA Greenwich pensioner, who had his allowance stopped from some\nmisconduct, committed suicide by stabbing himself with his spectacles,\nwhich he sharpened to a point for that purpose.\n\nA man, with a determination to sacrifice his life, threw himself among\nthe bears in the _Jardin du Roi_, in Paris. A bear sprung immediately\nupon him, and before he could be rescued from Bruin\u2019s grasp, he was so\nmutilated that he died a few hours afterwards. Prior to his death he\nexpressed much pleasure at having effected his purpose.\n\nA young lady, at the age of nineteen, was extremely beautiful,\nin possession of a large fortune, and by no means deficient in\nunderstanding or wit; but was immoderately fond of play. She soon\ngambled away her whole fortune. Reflections on the past became\nbitter; anticipation of the future alarming; melancholy increased,\nand weariness of life succeeded. Being at Bath, in the year 1731, she\nwas seen to retire to her chamber with her usual composure, and was\nfound in the morning hanging by a gold and silver girdle to a closet\ndoor. Her youth, beauty, and distress, rendered her an object of\npity to every one but a near relation, who, on hearing of her death,\nwas inhuman enough to exclaim, in a punning style\u2014\u201cThen she has tied\nherself up from play.\u201d\n\nOn the morning of her death she left these lines in the window:\u2014\n\n  \u201cO death, thou pleasing end of human woe!\n  Thou cure for life! thou greatest good below!\n  Still mayst thou fly the coward and the slave,\n  And thy soft slumbers only bless the brave.\u201d\n\nOn reading which a gentleman wrote thus:\u2014\n\n  \u201cO dice, ye vain diverters of our woe!\n  Ye waste of life! ye greatest curse below!\n  May ne\u2019er good sense again become your slave,\n  Nor your false charms allure and cheat the brave.\u201d\n\nA man whose name and connexions were unknown, was found dead in his\nchamber at an inn, in Kent, with the following paper lying beside him:\u2014\n\n  Lost to the world, and by the world forsaken,\n            A wretched creature,\n       Who groaned under a weary life\n    Upwards of thirty years, without knowing\n              One happy hour.\n                 And all\n      In consequence of one single error,\n          Committed in early days,\n           Though highly venial\n  As being the mere effects of juvenile folly,\n           And soon repented of.\n                But, alas!\n            The poor prodigal\n  Had no kind father that would take him home,\n   And welcome back his sad repentant virtue\n   With fond forgiveness and the fatted calf.\n                  Here\n   He sinks beneath his mighty load of ills,\n                And with\n      His miserable being lays them down,\n              Heart-broken,\n          At the age of fifty.\n   Tender reader, give him a little earth\n              For charity.\n\nA middle aged Frenchman, decently dressed, hanged himself in a\npublic-house in Old Street Road. A letter written in French was found\nin his pocket, setting forth that some years ago, he dreamt he was\nto die that day, if not, he was to be damned; and therefore, for the\nsalvation of his soul, he had thought it necessary to put an end to his\nlife.\n\nA young gentleman, living in London, had paid his addresses to an\nagreeable young lady, won her heart, and obtained the consent of her\nfather, to whom she was an only child. The old gentleman had a fancy to\nhave them married at the same parish church where he himself had been,\nat a village in Westmoreland; and they accordingly set out alone, the\nfather being at the time indisposed with the gout, in London.\n\nThe bridegroom took only his man, and the bride her maid; and when they\narrived at the place appointed, the bridegroom wrote the following\nletter to his wife\u2019s father:\u2014\n\n\u201cSIR,\u2014After a very pleasant journey hither, we are preparing for the\nhappy hour in which I am to be your son. I assure you the bride carries\nit, in the eyes of the vicar who married you, much beyond her mother;\nthough he says, your open sleeves, pantaloons, and shoulder-knot,\nmade a much better shew than the finical dress I am in. However, I am\ncontented to be the second fine man this village ever saw, and shall\nmake it very merry before night, because I shall write from thence,\nYour most dutiful son,\n\n  \u201cT. D.\u201d\n\n\u201cP. S. The bride gives her duty, and is as handsome as an angel. I am\nthe happiest man breathing.\u201d\n\n\nThe bridegroom\u2019s servant knew his master would leave the place very\nsoon after the wedding was over, and seeing him draw his pistols the\nnight before, took an opportunity of going into his chamber and charged\nthem.\n\nUpon their return from the garden they went into that room, and,\nafter a little fond raillery on the subject of their courtship, the\nbridegroom took up one of the pistols, which he knew he had unloaded\nthe night before, presented it to her, and said, with the most\ngraceful air, whilst she looked pleased at his agreeable flattery,\n\u201cNow, madam, repent of all those cruelties you have been guilty of\ntowards me; consider, before you die, how often you have let a poor\nwretch freeze under your casement. You shall die, you tyrant! you shall\ndie with all those instruments of death about you,\u2014with that enchanting\nsmile, those killing ringlets of your hair!\u201d\n\n\u201cGive fire,\u201d said she, laughing. He did so, and shot her dead. Who can\nspeak his condition? But he bore it so patiently as to call up his\nman. The poor wretch entered, and his master locked the door upon him.\n\u201cWill,\u201d said he, \u201cdid you charge these pistols?\u201d He answered, \u201cYes;\u201d\nupon which his master shot him dead with the undischarged instrument of\ndeath. After this, amidst a thousand broken sobs, piercing groans, and\ndistracted motions, he wrote the following letter to the father of his\ndead mistress:\u2014\n\n\u201cSIR,\u2014Two hours ago, I told you truly I was the happiest man alive.\nYour daughter lies dead at my feet, killed by my own hand through a\nmistake of my man\u2019s charging my pistols unknown to me! I have murdered\nhim for it. Such is my wedding-day. I will follow my wife to her grave;\nbut before I throw myself upon my sword, I command my distraction\nso far as to explain my story to you. I fear my heart will not keep\ntogether till I have stabbed it. Poor, good old man, remember that he\nwho killed your daughter died for it! In death I give you thanks, and\npray for you though I dare not pray for myself. If it be possible, do\nnot curse me. Farewell for ever!\n\n  \u201cT. D.\u201d\n\n\nThis being finished, he put an end to his life. The body of the servant\nwas interred in the village where he was killed; and the young couple,\nattended by their maid, were brought to London, and privately interred\nin one grave, in the parish in which the unhappy father resided.\n\nThe following case occurred in England not many years ago. A young\ncouple, the wife aged sixteen and the husband nineteen, discovered,\na few months after marriage, that money was much more easily spent\nthan procured; and being unable to live in the style they wished, they\ndetermined, after having held a long consultation on the subject, that\ntheir best and only remedy was at once to put an end to their imaginary\nmiseries by committing suicide. After dinner, the husband attended his\nusual business, and brought home with him at tea-time a quarter of a\npound of sugar of lead, for the purpose of executing their design. The\nwhole of this poison was dissolved in a pot of coffee, and carefully\nstrained and sweetened, to render it more palatable. The young man\nthen deliberately wrote a letter, explaining the circumstances to his\nfather, to whom he had previously sent a message, requesting him to\ncall in the evening. At the time appointed the husband and wife drank\noff the poison, and then, embracing each other, laid down to die.\nWhen they were discovered, all that they could be induced to say was\nthe word \u201cpoison.\u201d Medical assistance was immediately procured, but\nno persuasions could induce them to take an antidote, both of them\nheroically resolving to die. The young woman, however, reconsidered\nthe point, and began to think that death was not so agreeable a thing\nas she first supposed; but, retaining her feelings of obedience strong\nin death, imploringly said to her husband, when she was pressed to\ntake the medicine offered, \u201cShall I take it, dear?\u201d To this he gave\na direct negative, enforcing it with an oath; but her love of life\ntriumphed over her sense of obedience to the commands of her lord, and\nshe consented to swallow the antidote. The husband, however, was not\nso willing to venture upon the cares and vexations of the world, and\nobstinately persisted in dying; but as this was not thought prudent, he\nwas made by physical force to swallow the medicine, and was restored to\nlife, and is still in the land of the living.\n\nInstances of mutual suicide are by no means uncommon on the Continent,\nand were not unknown in ancient times. The inhabitants of England have\nnot become as yet romantic enough for these exhibitions. The case\nof M. Kleist, the celebrated Prussian poet, and Madame Vogle, may\nbe fresh in the minds of our readers. Madame Vogle, it is said, had\nsuffered long under an incurable disorder; her physicians had declared\nher death inevitable; she herself came to a resolution to put an end\nto her existence. M. Kleist, the poet, and a friend of her family,\nhad also determined to kill himself. These two unhappy beings, having\nconfidentially communicated to each other their horrible resolution,\nresolved to carry it into effect at the same time. They repaired to the\ninn at Wilhemstadt, between Berlin and Potsdam, on the borders of the\nSacred Lake. For one night and one day they were preparing themselves\nfor death, by putting up prayers, singing, drinking wine and rum, and\nconcluded by drinking sixteen cups of coffee. They wrote a letter to\nM. Vogle, to announce to him the resolution they had taken, and to\nbeg him to come as speedily as possible, for the purpose of seeing\ntheir remains devoutly interred. After having despatched the letter to\nBerlin, they repaired to the bank of the Sacred Lake, where they sat\ndown opposite to each other. M. Kleist then took a loaded pistol and\nshot Madame Vogle through the heart,\u2014she instantly fell back dead; he\nthen reloaded the pistol, and applying the muzzle to his own head, blew\nout his brains.\n\nA horrid scene of mixed murder and suicide, accompanied with great\ncalmness in its execution, was exhibited in the year 1732, in the\nfamily of one Richard Smith, a bookbinder. This man being a prisoner\nfor debt within the walls of the King\u2019s Bench, was found hanging in his\nchamber, together with his wife; and their infant of two years old lay\nmurdered in a cradle beside them. Smith left three letters behind him,\none of which was addressed to his landlord, in which he says:\u2014\u201cHe hopes\neffects enough will be found to discharge his lodgings, and recommends\nto his protection his ancient dog and cat.\u201d A second was addressed to\nhis cousin Brindley, and contained severe censure on the person through\nwhose means he had been brought into difficulties, with a desire also\nthat Brindley would make the third letter public, which was as follows:\u2014\n\n\u201cThese actions, considered in all their circumstances, being somewhat\nuncommon, it may not be improper to give some account of the cause;\nand that it was an inveterate hatred we conceived against poverty and\nrags, evils that through a train of unlucky accidents were become\ninevitable. For we appeal to all that ever knew us, whether we were\nidle or extravagant, whether or no we have not taken as much pains\nto get our living as our neighbours, although not attended with the\nsame success. We apprehend the taking our child\u2019s life away to be a\ncircumstance for which we shall be generally condemned; but for our\nown parts we are perfectly easy on that head. We are satisfied it is\nless cruelty to take the child with us, even supposing a state of\nannihilation as some dream of, than to leave her friendless in the\nworld, exposed to ignorance and misery. Now in order to obviate some\ncensures which may proceed either from ignorance or malice, we think it\nproper to inform the world, that we firmly believe the existence of an\nAlmighty God; that this belief of ours is not an implicit faith, but\ndeduced from the nature and reason of things. We believe the existence\nof an Almighty Being from the consideration of his wonderful works,\nfrom those innumerable celestial and glorious bodies, and from their\nwonderful order and harmony. We have also spent some time in viewing\nthose wonders which are to be seen in the minute part of the world, and\nthat with great pleasure and satisfaction. From all which particulars\nwe are satisfied that such amazing things could not possibly be without\na first mover,\u2014without the existence of an Almighty Being. And as we\nknow the wonderful God to be Almighty, so we cannot help believing that\nhe is also good\u2014not implacable, not like such wretches as men are,\nnot taking delight in the misery of his creatures; for which reason\nwe resign up our breath to him without any terrible apprehensions,\nsubmitting ourselves to those ways which in his goodness he shall\nplease to appoint after death. We also believe in the existence of\nunbodied natures, and think we have reason for that belief, although\nwe do not pretend to know their way of subsisting. We are not ignorant\nof those laws made _in terrorem_, but leave the disposal of our bodies\nto the wisdom of the coroner and his jury, the thing being indifferent\nto us where our bodies are laid. From hence it will appear how little\nanxious we are about a \u2018_hic jacet_.\u2019 We for our part neither expect\nnor desire such honours; but shall content ourselves with a borrowed\nepitaph, which we shall insert in this paper:\n\n  \u2018Without a name, for ever silent, dumb;\n  Dust, ashes, nought else is within this tomb;\n  Where we were born or bred it matters not;\n  Who were our parents, or have us begot.\n  We \u2018were, but are not.\u2019 Think no more of us,\n  For as we are, so you\u2019ll be turn\u2019d to dust.\u2019\n\n\u201cIt is the opinion of naturalists, that our bodies are at certain\nstages of life composed of new matter; so that a great many poor men\nhave new bodies oftener than new clothes. Now, as divines are not\nable to inform us which of those several bodies shall rise at the\nresurrection, it is very probable that the deceased body may be for\never silent as well as any other.\n\n  (Signed,) \u201cRICHARD SMITH,\n            \u201cBRIGET SMITH.\u201d\n\n\nA lady and gentleman visited an hotel in the neighbourhood of Paris,\nand ordered dinner to be prepared in a private room. The lady, who\nappeared only nineteen years of age, was most magnificently attired.\nThe gentleman was observed to pay her marked attention, and addressed\nher with the most endearing epithets. The dinner consisted of every\nluxury of the season. After drinking a large quantity of wine, the\ngentleman requested that they should not be disturbed, and he was heard\nto lock the door. Half an hour afterwards, a report of a pistol was\nheard in the room. The master of the hotel was alarmed. The assistance\nof the police was obtained, and the door of the room in which the\nlady and gentleman had dined forced open. The lady was found on the\nfloor dead, and the gentleman a short distance from her, in the last\nstruggle of death. Two pistols were found near the bodies. It appeared\nthat they had agreed to commit mutual suicide, and each being provided\nwith a loaded pistol, fired at and killed each other. On the table\nwas found a piece of paper, on which were written with a pencil the\nfollowing words:\u2014\u201cWe, H***d and Maria **, were enamoured of each other.\nCircumstances beyond the control of man prevent our alliance. We have\nno alternative but separation or death; and believing death to be one\neternal dream of bliss, we, after much meditation, have determined to\nkill each other. We affix our signatures to this document.\n\n  \u201cH***D,\n  \u201cMARIA **.\u201d\n\n\nTwo devoted lovers, disappointed in obtaining the consent of their\nparents to their union, resolved upon dying. They experienced some\ndifficulty in deciding how to effect their purpose. The lady expressed\nan abhorrence of pistols, and the gentleman was equally repugnant to\nthe rope. After much hesitation, they agreed to throw themselves into\nthe river, and stated their intention to a friend, who, thinking they\nwere merely joking, observed\u2014\u201cWell, I think you will find the water\nvery cold; I should advise you to put on warm clothing before you jump\nin.\u201d In the evening they were missing, and on searching the river, they\nwere discovered, tied to each other, quite dead.\n\nThe suicide of Sir R. Croft has often been alluded to. He attended\nthe late Princess Charlotte in her confinement, and her much lamented\ndeath, although not owing to any want of skill on his part, preyed\nmuch on his mind, and drove him to the rash act. He fancied he saw the\nspirit of the princess glide through his room. The sight of an open\nrazor on the table first suggested the idea of self-destruction to\nhim. He was a physician of great skill, and was much beloved by all who\nknew him.\n\nA bishop of Grenoble affords an instance of suicidal ingenuity. He\ntook a rod on which his bed-curtains hung, and suspended it across by\na stick, which communicated with the trigger of his fowling-piece. He\nthen sat quietly down, with his feet hanging over the rod, and placing\nthe muzzle of the gun in his mouth, held it fast. He had nothing more\nnow to do than to drop his leg upon the rod, when the gun went off, and\nthree bullets entered his brain.\n\nThe fortitude which suicides display is amazing. A servant girl of the\nDean of\u2014\u2014, who had always borne a most excellent character, was accused\nby the family of theft. She immediately repaired to the wash-house,\nimmersed her head in a pail of water, and was found dead in that\nposition. What must have been the courage of this poor creature, who,\nwhen writhing under the lash of a false accusation, kept her head under\nwater, despite the horrible sense of suffocation that must have come on!\n\nA French soldier of the name of Bordeaux, being determined to put an\nend to his life, persuaded a comrade, called Humain, to follow his\nexample. They both repaired to an inn at St. Denis, and bespoke a good\ndinner. One of them went out to buy some powder and balls. They spent\nthe day (Christmas) together with great cheerfulness, called for more\nwine; and, about four o\u2019clock in the evening, blew out their brains,\nleaving some empty bottles, their will, a letter, and half-a-crown, in\naddition to the amount of their bill.\n\nThe following letter was addressed by Bordeaux to the lieutenant of his\ntroop, and was as follows:\u2014\n\n\u201cSIR,\u2014During my residence at Guise, you honoured me with your\nfriendship. It is time to thank you. You have often told me that\nI appeared displeased with my situation. I was sincere, but not\nabsolutely true. I have since examined myself more seriously, and\nacknowledge that I am disgusted with every state of man, the whole\nworld, and myself. From these discoveries a consequence should be\ndrawn,\u2014if disgusted with the whole, renounce the whole. The calculation\nis not long,\u2014I have made it without the aid of geometry. In short, I\nam about putting an end to the existence that I have possessed for\nnear twenty years, fifteen of which have been a burden to me; and from\nthe moment that I have ended this letter, a few grains of powder will\ndestroy this moving mass of flesh, which we vain mortals call the king\nof beings. I owe no one an excuse. I deserted. That was a crime; but\nI am going to punish it, and the law will be satisfied. I asked leave\nof absence from my superior officers, to have the pleasure of dying at\nmy ease. They never condescended to give me an answer. This served to\nhasten my end. I wrote to Bord to send you some detached pieces I left\nat Guise, which I beg you will accept. You will find that they contain\nsome well chosen literature. These pieces will solicit for me a place\nin your remembrance. Adieu, my dear lieutenant! Continue your esteem\nfor St. Lambert and Dorat. As for the rest, skip from flower to flower,\nand acquire the sweets of all knowledge, and enjoy every pleasure.\n\n    \u2018Pour moi, j\u2019arrive au trou,\n    Qui n\u2019echappe ni sage ni fou,\n    Pour aller je ne sais o\u00f9.\u2019\n\n\u201cIf we exist after this life, and it is forbidden to quit it without\npermission, I will endeavour to procure one moment to inform you of it;\nif not, I shall advise all those who are unhappy, which is by far the\ngreater part of mankind, to follow my example. When you receive this\nletter, I shall have been dead at least twenty-four hours.\n\n  With esteem, &c.\n  \u201cBORDEAUX.\u201d\n\n\nLord Scarborough exhibited the same nonchalance in the act of killing\nhimself as he did when he resigned his situation as master of the\nhorse. He was reproached in the House of Peers with taking the king\u2019s\npart because he had a good place at court. \u201cMy Lords,\u201d said he, \u201cto\nprove to you that my opinion is independent of my place, I resign it\nthis moment.\u201d He afterwards found himself in a perplexing dilemma\nbetween a mistress whom he loved, but to whom he had promised nothing,\nand a woman whom he esteemed, and to whom he had promised marriage.\nNot having sufficient resolution to decide which to choose, he killed\nhimself to escape the embarrassment.\n\nPerhaps the coolest attempt at self-destruction on record, the _chef\nd\u2019\u0153uvre_ of a suicide, is one related by Foder\u00e9. An Englishman\nadvertised extensively that he would on a certain day put himself to\ndeath in Covent Garden, for the benefit of his wife and family. Tickets\nof admission a guinea each.\n\nVoltaire states that Creech, the translator of Lucretius, wrote on\nthe margin of the manuscript, \u201cRemember to hang myself after my\ntranslation is finished,\u201d and he accordingly did so.[84] Zimmerman\nasserts that he committed suicide in order to escape from the contempt\nof his countrymen, in consequence of the ill-success that attended the\ntranslation of Horace, which followed Lucretius. Mr. Jacob, however,\nobserves, in reply to the statement of Zimmerman, that Creech did not\nhang himself until seventeen years after the appearance of his Horace.\nHis death was attributed at the time to some love affair, or to his\nmorose and splenetic temper.\n\nThe history of the unfortunate _Madame de Monnier_ is full of interest.\nIt has been asserted that her death was the result of an ardent passion\nfor Mirabeau; but we think it has clearly been established that, at\nthe time of her suicide, she had abandoned all claim to his affection,\nand had formed a strong attachment to a person who, although highly\nrespectable in point of rank, was very inferior to herself. It is well\nknown that Mirabeau had a _liaison_ with Madame de Monnier, the wife of\nthe Marquis de Monnier, whom she abandoned. After residing seven years\nwith her seducer, mutual jealousies and suspicions arose, and all\nintercourse between them ceased. After the death of her husband, the\nMarquis de Monnier, she became enamoured of M. Edme. Benoit de Poterat,\na retired captain of cavalry, a widower, thirty-five years of age.\nThe lovers were mutually captivated, and they agreed to marry. Before\nthis happy event, however, could be arranged, the ill health of M. de\nPoterat forced him to quit the country, and Madame de Monnier resolved\nto terminate her own existence. She often conversed with her intimate\nfriend Dr. Ysabeau on the effects of suffocation from charcoal wood.\nShe asked whether death necessarily ensued? The doctor replied, that\nwhen suffocation was gradual and incomplete, instances had been known\nof persons saved by the instinctive effort of introducing air into the\nroom. On the death of M. de Poterat, which took place on the 8th of\nSeptember, 1789, Madame de Monnier was overcome with grief. Dr. Ysabeau\nand his wife did all they could to console her, but without effect.\nBeing alone one day, she collected her papers, tied them in bundles,\nsealed them, wrote a letter containing her last directions, and entered\na closet, the smallness and closeness of which she considered well\nsuited to the design she had long resolved to carry into execution.\nShe then closed and carefully calked the door and the window. Two\nchafing dishes full of charcoal, which she had just lighted, were then\nplaced by her, one on each side of the arm chair upon which she seated\nherself. In order to prevent her purpose from being counteracted by\nany instinctive effort of nature, she bound her legs, first under and\nthen above her clothes. She then tied one of her arms to the chair, and\nfixed the other, and in this position calmly awaited death. When it was\ndiscovered that she had attempted suicide, M. Bousseau, Procureur du\nRoi of the Bailliage, proceeded to the house, attended by a surgeon,\nwho, without adopting the most simple means of resuscitation, commenced\nopening the body, on the supposition that she was _enceinte_. In the\nmeanwhile, a messenger was dispatched for Dr. Ysabeau, who rode full\ngallop towards Madame de Monnier\u2019s house; but he arrived too late; the\noperation had been performed, and life was extinct. From the symptoms\nwhich were present before the ignorant and barbarous surgeon commenced\nthe operation, Dr. Ysabeau expressed a firm belief that he could have\nrestored her to animation.[85]\n\nM.\u2014\u2014, aged twenty-seven, a native of Burgundy, who was equally favoured\nby nature and by fortune, fell passionately in love with a young lady.\nFor a long time he solicited in vain the consent of his parents to the\nmatch, but at length love triumphed. Scarcely a month had elapsed after\nhis marriage, when he was seized with a lowness of spirits, a disgust\nof life, and a frightful desire to commit suicide. Everything which\nthe tenderness of a young and loving wife, and the solicitude of the\nwhole family, by whom he was loved, could suggest, was done to disperse\nthese gloomy ideas, and reconcile him to life; but the unfortunate\nfellow was too deeply sunk in his melancholy. He at length quitted\nBurgundy, and went to Paris with his brother to consult a physician.\nThe day after he had arrived, he went to M. Esquirol, made known his\nsad state to him, assuring him that his weariness of life was not the\nresult of any physical disease, of any disappointment, or of any moral\npain; affirming, on the contrary, that he was surrounded with nothing\nbut subjects of contentment. His brother confirmed this declaration.\nHe left M. Esquirol, and promised to return the next day and commit\nhimself to his care in his establishment. The next day arrived, the\nyoung man went out at six o\u2019clock in the morning, purchased a pair of\npistols, and returned at seven. He then proposed to his brother to set\nout together for Rouen; but he reminded him of the promise he had given\nto M. Esquirol, adding, to prevent his changing his mind, that he had\nmonths suitable to go. At that instant M.\u2014\u2014 took out his two pistols,\nand placing the mouth of one of them at his brother\u2019s forehead, said,\n\u201cIf you do not consent to go with me immediately, I will instantly blow\nout your brains with this pistol, and afterwards kill myself with the\nother.\u201d The brother, on hearing this, fell at his feet in a swoon, and\nwhen he recovered, he no longer saw his unfortunate relative who had\nthreatened him, and he trembled lest he should have gone to some secret\nplace to terminate his life. He at once gave notice to the police, and\ndemanded that the most active of their body should be sent in search of\nhim. On his part, he neglected nothing which could give him any clue to\nhis discovery; he inquired of his friends and his acquaintances, but\nheard nothing of him until the next day, when he received intelligence\nfrom the police that the body of a man shot through the head, had been\nfound in the forest of Seuart. It was that of his unfortunate brother.\n\nM. Escousse, author of a drama called Faruck le Maure, about twenty,\nand M. Lebras, about fifteen, both united by the closest ties of\nfriendship, and each of a melancholy turn of mind, committed suicide\nat Paris. They had often complained of the miseries of this world, and\ntalked of the necessity of quitting it. M. Escousse wrote the following\nnote to his friends:\u2014\u201cI shall expect you at half-past eleven o\u2019clock;\nthe curtain will be raised; come, and we will at length arrive at the\n_d\u00e9nouement_.\u201d The young Lebras arrived at the appointed time, the\ncharcoal was ignited, and the two friends expired together.\n\nA young woman of Marseilles, remarkable for her beauty, formed a\nconnexion with a cabinetmaker, whose parents objected to their union.\nThey were found quite dead, clasped in each other\u2019s arms, having been\nsuffocated by a quantity of burning charcoal. They were both dressed in\nthe most elegant manner, and must have spent many hours at their toilet\npreparing for their last adieu.\n\nThe following case related by Gall cannot easily be paralleled. The\nfirst lieutenant of a company in which a man named Prochaska served\nbecame enamoured of the wife of the latter; but she resisted all his\nentreaties. The officer, irritated by this obstinacy, was guilty of\nsome injustice to the husband. Prochaska appeared dejected and morose,\nbut the following day he appeared at the dinner table and seemed\nquite tranquil. A few days afterwards he and his wife attended the\nconfessional and took the sacrament. He dined in good spirits, and\ntook a few glasses of wine. In the evening, he and his wife went out\nto walk, and he expressed himself in terms of great affection for her.\nHe asked her, however, if she had made a candid and full confession to\nthe priest; and on being answered in the affirmative, he coolly plunged\na poniard in her breast; seeing that she was not instantly dispatched,\nhe cut her throat across, in order to release her from her sufferings.\nHe now repaired to his house, and seizing his two children, who were\nin bed asleep, he actually hacked them in pieces with a hatchet.\nHaving committed these three murders, he repaired to the main guard,\nand with the most perfect coolness and deliberation detailed the whole\nparticulars of the bloody deed. He concluded in these words:\u2014\u201c_Let the\nlieutenant now make love to my wife if he pleases!_\u201d Shortly after\nthis, he stabbed himself to the heart.\n\nA young lady threatened, without ceasing, to kill herself, and made\nmany attempts at it. An old uncle with whom she lived, tired by her\nrepeated menaces, proposed a walk in the country; and taking her to\nthe brink of a piece of water, he commenced undressing himself. \u201cNow,\nniece,\u201d said he, \u201cthrow yourself into the water, and I will follow\nafter you.\u201d He continued pressing her, and pushed her towards it; but\nafter some struggling, she cried out that she was unwilling to die, and\nwould never more talk of killing herself.\n\nA young woman, married to a churlish husband, and who, although the\nmother of many children, was unhappy in domestic life, determined to\nfall by her own hands. She threw herself into a part of the river\nsufficiently deep for the execution of her project, but a man,\npassing by, drew her out, and compelled her to go home. The necessary\nattentions were paid her, and she recovered; but it was observed that\nshe stood in much dread of water, and felt a pain even in going into a\nbath. She, besides, had a fit of melancholy at the time in which she\nendeavoured to drown herself. This fit lasted two or three months; it\nwas followed by a month of great excitement, and then she remained calm\nduring the remainder of the year.\n\nThe bell of the church at Fressonville, in Picardy, was heard to sound\nat an unusual hour, and in a very extraordinary manner. The people\nhastened to make inquiry, and found a man suspended from the clapper.\nHe was immediately cut down, and after some time restored to life. No\nmotives are assigned for the act.\n\nA person of melancholy temperament, and who detested his parents on\naccount of their injustice towards him, had recourse to the chase as\na diversion from his domestic sorrows. One day, being weary, he lay\ndown in the shade by the side of his weapon and his dog, the faithful\ncompanion of his misfortunes, and fell into a profound sleep. He awoke\nin an agitated state of mind, and the idea occurred to him of making an\neternal sleep follow the temporary one he had so much enjoyed. Pleased\nwith this, he got up, increased the charge of his fowling-piece, and\nwas about to blow out his brains, when he sensibly reflected in this\nmanner\u2014\u201cWhat! am I about to shorten my days because my unjust and\nunnatural parents deprive me of their property? This is to give them\ntheir utmost desire, and to abandon to them that which they cannot take\nfrom me.\u201d\n\nMatthew Lovat was born at Casale, a hamlet belonging to the parish\nof Soldo, in the territory of Belluno. His father\u2019s name was Mark,\nand being in poor circumstances, the son was employed in the coarsest\nlabours of husbandry. His education and habits must have been in\naccordance with his station; but it appears that, being attracted by\nthe comfortable and easy circumstances of the rector and curate,\nthe only persons in the parish who lived without manual labour, he\nplaced himself under the latter with the desire of entering the\npriesthood. From him he learned to read and write a little, but he\nwas too poor to gratify this inclination, and betook himself to the\ntrade of a shoemaker. Whether this disappointment had any effect on\nLovat we cannot tell, but he never became expert at his trade, and was\ndistinguished for his gloominess and silence. When he grew older, he\nbecame subject to attacks of giddiness in the head in the spring, and\nto eruptions of a leprous character. Except this gloominess and his\ngreat attention to religious exercises, nothing remarkable was noticed\nabout Lovat until July, 1802. At this period he performed an operation\nupon himself, which subjected him so much to the ridicule of his\nneighbours that he was compelled to remain within doors, and to refrain\neven from going to mass. He left the village in November, and went to\nVenice, where he had a younger brother, who recommended him to a widow,\nwith whom he lodged until the 21st of September in the following year,\nworking regularly as a shoemaker, and without exhibiting any signs of\ninsanity. On that day he made his first attempt to crucify himself.\nHaving constructed a cross out of the wood of his bed, he proceeded\nto nail himself to it in the middle of the street, called the Cross\nof Biri, and was only prevented by some persons who seized him as he\nwas about to drive the nail through his left foot. He was interrogated\nas to his motives, but would give no answer, except on one occasion,\nwhen he said that the day was the festival of St. Matthew, and that\nhe could not explain further. A few days after this had happened, he\nleft Venice, and went to his native village, but returned soon after,\nand continued working at his trade for nearly three years without\nexhibiting further signs of his malady. Having taken a room in a third\nstory in the street Delle Monache, his old delusion again seized him,\nand he commenced making at his leisure hours the machine on which he\nintended to accomplish his purpose, and providing the nails, ropes,\nbands, crown of thorns, &c. He perceived that it would be difficult\nto nail himself firmly to the cross, and therefore made a net, which\nhe fastened over it, securing it at the bottom of the upright beam a\nlittle below the bracket he had placed for his feet, and at the ends of\nthe two arms. The whole apparatus was securely tied by two ropes, one\nfrom the net, and the other from the place where the beams intersected\neach other. These ropes were fastened to the bar above the window, and\nwere just sufficiently long to allow the cross to lie horizontally upon\nthe floor of his apartment. Having finished these preparations, he next\nput on his crown of thorns, some of which entered his forehead; and\nthen, having stripped himself naked, he girded his loins with a white\nhandkerchief. He then introduced himself into the net, and seating\nhimself on the cross, drove a nail through the palm of his right hand\nby striking its head against the floor until the point appeared on the\nother side. He now placed his feet on the bracket he had prepared for\nthem, and with a mallet drove a nail completely through them both,\nentering a hole he had previously made to receive it, and fastening\nthem to the wood. He next tied himself to the cross by a piece of\ncord round his waist, and wounded himself in the side with a knife\nwhich he used in his trade. The wound was inflicted two inches below\nthe left hypochondre, towards the internal angle of the abdominal\ncavity, but did not injure any of the parts which the cavity contains.\nSeveral scratches were observed on his breast, which appeared to have\nbeen done by the knife in probing for a place which should present no\nobstruction. The knife, according to Lovat, represented _the spear of\npassion_.\n\nAll this he accomplished in the interior of his apartment, but it was\nnow necessary to shew himself in public. To accomplish this, he had\nplaced the foot of the cross upon the window sill, which was very\nlow, and by pressing his fingers against the floor, he gradually drew\nhimself forward, until the foot of the cross overbalancing the head,\nthe whole machine tilted out of the window, and hung by the two ropes\nwhich were fastened to the beam. He then, by way of finishing, nailed\nhis right hand to the arm of the cross, but could not succeed in fixing\nhis left, although the nail by which it was to have been fixed was\ndriven through it, and half of it came out of the other side.\n\nThis took place at eight o\u2019clock in the morning. Some persons by whom\nhe was perceived ran up stairs, disengaged him from the cross, and put\nhim to bed. A surgeon in the neighbourhood who was called in ordered\nhis feet to be put in water, introduced some tow into the wound in the\nhypochondre, which he said did not reach the cavity, and prescribed\nsome cordial.\n\nLuckily, Dr. Bergierri, to whom we are indebted for the particulars\nof this case, was passing near, and came immediately to the house.\nWhen he arrived, his feet, from which but a small quantity of blood\nhad flowed, were still in water; his eyes were shut; he gave no answer\nto the questions of those around him; his pulse was convulsive; his\nrespiration difficult; he was, in fact, in a state which required the\nmost prompt means of assistance. Having obtained permission of the\ndirector of police, who had come to the spot to ascertain what had\nhappened, he had him removed by water to the Imperial Clinical School\nat the Hospital of St. Luke and St. John, of which he then had the\nsuperintendence. The only observation Lovat made while being conveyed\nwas to his brother Angelo, who was lamenting his extravagance; he\nreplied, \u201c_Alas! I am very unfortunate_.\u201d His wounds were examined\nafresh on his arrival at the hospital, and it was quite evident that\nthe nails had entered at the palm of the hand, and passing between the\nbones of the metacarpus without doing them much injury, had gone out of\nthe back. The nail which fastened the feet first entered the right foot\nbetween the second and third bones of the metatarsus, and then passed\nbetween the first and second of the left foot, laying them open and\ngrazing them. The wound in the hypochondre was found to extend to the\npoint of the cavity.\n\nThe patient all this time was quite docile, and did everything that was\nrequired of him. The wounds in the extremities were treated with fresh\noil of sweet almonds and bread and milk poultices, renewed several\ntimes a day. Some ounces of the mixture cardiaca opiata and a little\nvery weak lemonade were taken at intervals during the first six days.\nOn the fifth day the wounds of the extremities suppurated, and on the\neighth, that in the hypochondre was perfectly healed.\n\nDr. Bergierri frequently questioned him as to the motives he had\nin crucifying himself, and always received the same answer\u2014\u201c_The\npride of man must be mortified; it must expire on the cross_.\u201d Lovat\nseldom spoke; he sat with his eyes closed, and a gloomy expression of\ncountenance. The impression on his mind that he must crucify himself\nwas very deep. He seemed fully persuaded that this was an obligation\nimposed on him by the will of the Deity, and wished to inform the\ntribunal of justice that this was his destiny, in order that they might\nnot suspect that he had received his death from any other hand than his\nown. He had expressed these ideas on a paper which he wrote before his\nattempt, and which afterwards fell into the hands of Dr. B.\n\nHe did not complain much of pain during the first seven days, but\non the morning of the eighth he suffered severely; this, however,\nwas soon removed by the remedies had recourse to. In the course of a\nshort time Lovat was completely restored to bodily health, but his\nmind retained until his death the same melancholy caste, although he\nnever had another opportunity of putting his sanguinary project into\nexecution.[86]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\nCAN SUICIDE BE PREVENTED BY LEGISLATIVE ENACTMENTS?\u2014INFLUENCE OF MORAL\nINSTRUCTION.\u2014CONCLUSION.\n\n\n  The legitimate object of punishment\u2014The argument of\n  Beccaria\u2014A legal solecism\u2014A suicide not amenable to human\n  tribunals\u2014Evidence at coroners\u2019 courts, _ex-parte_\u2014The old\n  law of no advantage\u2014No penal law will restrain a man from\n  the commission of suicide\u2014Verdict of _felo-de-se_ punishes\n  the innocent, and therefore unjust\u2014Are suicides insane, and\n  therefore not responsible agents?\u2014The man who reasons himself\n  into suicide not of sound mind\u2014Rational mode of preventing\n  suicide by promoting religious education.\n\nThe only legitimate object for which punishment can be inflicted is\nthe prevention of crime. \u201cAm I to be hanged for stealing a sheep?\u201d\nsaid a criminal at the Old Bailey, addressing the bench. \u201cNo,\u201d replied\nthe judge; \u201cyou are not to be hanged for stealing a sheep, but _that\nsheep may not be stolen_.\u201d Every punishment, argues Beccaria, which\ndoes not arise from absolute necessity is unjust. There should be a\nfixed proportion between crimes and punishments. Crimes are only to be\nestimated by the injury done to society; and the end of punishment is,\nto prevent the criminal from doing further injury, as well as to induce\nothers from committing similar offences.\n\nThe act of suicide ought not to be considered as a crime in the\nlegal definition of the term. It is not an offence that can be\ndeemed cognizable by the civil magistrate. It is to be considered a\nsinful and vicious action. To punish suicide as a crime is to commit\na solecism in legislation. The unfortunate individual, by the very\nact of suicide, places himself beyond the vengeance of the law; he\nhas anticipated its operation; he has rendered himself amenable to\nthe highest tribunal\u2014viz., that of his Creator; no penal enactments,\nhowever stringent, can affect him. What is the operation of the law\nunder these circumstances? A verdict of _felo-de-se_ is returned, and\nthe innocent relations of the suicide are disgraced and branded with\ninfamy, and that too on evidence of an _ex-parte_ nature. It is unjust,\ninhuman, unnatural, and unchristian, that the law should punish the\ninnocent family of the man who, in a moment of frenzy, terminates his\nown miserable existence. It was clearly established, that before the\nalteration in the law respecting suicide, the fear of being buried\nin a cross-road, and having a stake driven through the body, had\nno beneficial effect in decreasing the number of suicides; and the\nverdict of _felo-de-se_, now occasionally returned, is productive of no\nadvantage whatever, and only injures the surviving relatives.\n\nWhen a man contemplates an outrage of the law, the fear of the\npunishment awarded for the offence may deter him from its commission;\nbut the unhappy person whose desperate circumstances impel him to\nsacrifice his own life can be influenced by no such fear. His whole\nmind is absorbed in the consideration of his own miseries, and he even\ncuts asunder those ties that ought to bind him closely and tenderly to\nthe world he is about to leave. If an affectionate wife and endearing\nfamily have no influence in deterring a man from suicide, is it\nreasonable to suppose that he will be influenced by penal laws?\n\nIf the view which has been taken in this work of the cause of\nsuicide be a correct one, no stronger argument can be urged for the\nimpropriety of bringing the strong arm of the law to bear upon those\nwho court a voluntary death. In the majority of cases, it will be\nfound that some heavy calamity has fastened itself upon the mind,\nand the spirits have been extremely depressed. The individual loses\nall pleasure in society; hope vanishes, and despair renders life\nintolerable, and death an apparent relief. The evidence which is\ngenerally submitted to a coroner\u2019s jury is of necessity imperfect;\nand although the suicide may, to all appearance, be in possession of\nhis right reason, and have exhibited at the moment of killing himself\nthe greatest calmness, coolness, and self-possession, this would not\njustify the coroner or jury in concluding that derangement of mind was\nnot present.\n\nIf the mind be overpowered by \u201cgrief, sickness, infirmity, or other\naccident,\u201d as Sir Mathew Hale expresses it, the law presumes the\nexistence of lunacy. Any passion that powerfully exercises the mind,\nand prevents the reasoning faculty from performing its duty, causes\ntemporary derangement. It is not necessary in order to establish the\npresence of insanity to prove the person to be labouring under a\ndelusion of intellect\u2014a false creation of the mind. A man may allow\nhis imagination to dwell upon an idea until it acquires an unhealthy\nascendency over the intellect, and in this way a person may commit\nsuicide from an habitual belief in the justifiableness of the act.[87]\nIf a man, by a distorted process of reasoning, argues himself into a\nconviction of the propriety of adopting a particular course of conduct,\nwithout any reference to the necessary result of that train of thought,\nit is certainly no evidence of his being in possession of a sound mind.\nA person may reason himself into a belief that murder, under certain\ncircumstances not authorized by the law, is perfectly just and proper.\nThe circumstance of his allowing his mind to reason on the subject\nis a _prima facie_ case against his sanity; at least it demonstrates\na great weakness of the moral constitution. A man\u2019s _morale_ must be\nin an imperfect state of development who reasons himself into the\nconviction that self-murder is under any circumstances justifiable.\n\nWe dwell at some length on this subject, because we feel assured that\njuries do not pay sufficient attention to the influence of passion in\noverclouding the understanding. If the notion that in every case of\nsuicide the intellectual or moral faculties are perverted, be generally\nreceived, it will at once do away with the verdict of _felo-de-se_.\nShould the jury entertain a doubt as to the presence of derangement,\n(and such cases may present themselves,) it is their duty, in\naccordance with the well-known principle of British jurisprudence, to\ngive the person the benefit of that doubt; and thus a verdict of lunacy\nmay be conscientiously returned in every case of this description.\n\nHaving, we think, clearly established that no penal law can act\nbeneficially in preventing self-destruction,\u2014first, because it would\npunish the _innocent_ for the crimes of the _guilty_; and, secondly,\nthat, owing to insanity being present in every instance, the person\ndetermined on suicide is indifferent as to the consequences of his\naction,\u2014it becomes our province to consider what are the legitimate\nmeans of staying the progress of an offence that undermines the\nfoundation of society and social happiness.\n\nIn the prevention of suicide, too much stress cannot be laid on the\nimportance of adopting a well-regulated, enlarged, and philosophic\nsystem of education, by which all the _moral_ as well as the\nintellectual faculties will be expanded and disciplined. The education\nof the intellect without any reference to the moral feelings is a\nspecies of instruction calculated to do an immense amount of injury.\nThe tuition that addresses itself exclusively to the perceptive and\nreflective faculties is not the kind of education that will elevate\nthe moral character of a people. Religion must be made the basis of\nall secular knowledge. We must be led to believe that the education\nwhich fits the possessor for another world is vastly superior to\nthat which has relation only to the concerns of this life. We are no\nopponents to the diffusion of knowledge; but we are to that description\nof information which has only reference \u201cto the life that is, and not\nto that which is to be.\u201d Such a system of instruction is of necessity\ndefective, because it is partial in its operation. Teach a man his\nduty to God, as well as his obligations to his fellow-men; lead him to\nbelieve that his life is not his own; that disappointment and misery\nis the penalty of Adam\u2019s transgression, and one from which there is\nno hope of escaping; and, above all, inculcate a resignation to the\ndecrees of Divine Providence. When life becomes a burden, when the\nmind is sinking under the weight of accumulated misfortunes, and no\ngleam of hope penetrates through the vista of futurity to gladden the\nheart, the intellect says, \u201cCommit suicide, and escape from a world of\nwretchedness and woe;\u201d the moral principle says, \u201cLive; it is your duty\nto bear with resignation the afflictions that overwhelm you; let the\nmoral influence of your example be reflected in the characters of those\nby whom you are surrounded.\u201d\n\nIf we are justified in maintaining that the majority of the cases\nof suicide result from a vitiated condition of the moral principle,\nthen it is certainly a legitimate mode of preventing the commission\nof the offence to elevate the character of man as a moral being. It\nis no legitimate argument against this position to maintain that\ninsanity in all its phases marches side by side with civilization and\nrefinement; but it must not be forgotten that a people may be refined\nand civilized, using these terms in their ordinary signification, who\nhave not a just conception of their duties as members of a Christian\ncommunity. Let the education of the _heart_ go side by side with the\neducation of the _head_; inculcate the ennobling thought, that we\nlive not for ourselves, but for others; that it is an evidence of\ntrue Christian courage to face bravely the ills of life, to bear with\nimpunity \u201cthe whips and scorns of time, the oppressor\u2019s wrong, and the\nproud man\u2019s contumely;\u201d and we disseminate principles which will give\nexpansion to those faculties that alone can fortify the mind against\nthe commission of a crime alike repugnant to all human and Divine laws.\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n\n[1] C\u00e6sar\u2019s reply on being told of Cato\u2019s death was reported\nto be\u2014\u201cCato, I envy thee thy death, for thou hast envied me the\npreservation of thy life;\u201d on which Plutarch remarks, \u201cHad Cato\nsuffered himself to be preserved by C\u00e6sar, it is likely he would not so\nmuch have impaired his own honour, as augmented the other\u2019s clemency\nand glory.\u201d But Cato\u2019s own idea was, that it was an insupportable\ninstance of C\u00e6sar\u2019s tyranny and usurpation that he should \u201cpretend\u201d to\nshew clemency in saving lives over whom he had no legal authority.\n\n[2] The affection and resolution of an obscure private soldier was\nvery remarkable, who, standing before Otho with his drawn sword, spoke\nthus\u2014\u201cBehold in my action an instance of the unshaken fidelity of all\nyour soldiery. There is not one of us but would strive thus to preserve\nthee,\u201d and immediately he stabbed himself to the heart. Many private\nsoldiers, after Otho\u2019s death, gave the same proof of fidelity to their\ndeceased lord.\u2014_Plutarch\u2019s Life of Otho._\n\n[3] It is said that the night before the battle the same spectre\nappeared to Brutus, but vanished without saying anything.\n\n[4] Tac. An. xvi.\n\n[5] At Anchiale, there was a monument erected to the memory of\nSardanapalus. It consisted of an image carved in stone work, and having\nthe thumb and the finger of the right hand joined, as if making some\nsound or noise with them. On the monument was inscribed these words in\nAssyrian characters: \u201cSardanapalus, the son of Anacyndarax, founded\nAnchiale and Tyre in one day. Eat, drink, and be merry. As for the\nrest, it is not worth the snap of the finger.\u201d\n\n[6] Varro _de Ling. Lat._, lib. iv.\n\n[7] 1 Samuel, xxxi.\n\n[8] This is the only case of suicide recorded in the New Testament.\nJudas\u2019s conduct is condemned in the strongest language; he is called in\nthe Gospel of St. John (vi. 70,) \u201ca devil, and the son of perdition;\u201d\nand in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, at the 25th\nverse, after the account given of his violent death, he is said to have\ngone _to his own peculiar place_. (\u0395\u1f30\u03c2 \u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u03c4\u03cc\u03c0\u03bf\u03bd \u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u1f34\u03b4\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd.)\n\nVirgil thus alludes to the \u201cplace of punishment\u201d allotted to those who\nsacrifice wantonly their own lives:\u2014\n\n  \u201cProxima deinde tenent m\u00e6sti loca, qui sibi letum\n  Insontes peper\u00eare manu, lucemque perosi\n  Projec\u00eare animas. Qu\u00e0m vellent \u00e6there in alto\n  Nunc et pauperiem et duros perferre labores!\n  Fas obstat. Tristique palus inamabilis und\u00e2\n  Alligat, et novies Styx interfusa co\u00ebrcet.\u201d\n\n  (\u00c6NEIS, lib. vi. ver. 434 et seq.)\n\n  \u201cThe next in place and punishment are they\n  Who prodigally throw their souls away:\n  Fools, who, repining at their wretched state,\n  And loathing anxious life, suborn their fate:\n  With late repentance now they would retrieve\n  The bodies they forsook, and wish to live;\n  Their pains and poverty desire to bear,\n  To view the light of heaven and breathe the vital air.\n  But fate forbids, the Stygian floods oppose,\n  And with nine circling streams the captive souls inclose.\u201d\n\n  (DRYDEN.)\n\n[9] Macc. i. 6.\n\n[10] There is something sublime in the stern copiousness with which the\nstoics dwelt particularly on the facility with which suicide may be\ncommitted. \u201cAnte omnia cavi, ne quis vos teneret invitos: PATET EXITUS.\nSi pugnare non vultis, licet fugere. Ideoque ex omnibus rebus, quas\nesse vobis necessarias volui, nihil feci facilius, quam mori. Attendite\nmodo et videbitis quam brevis ad libertatem et quam expedita ducat\nvia. Non tam longas in exitu vobis quam intrantibus, moras posui,\u201d\n&c.\u2014_Seneca de Providentia_, in fine. Vide epistle lxx.\n\n[11] Epistles xii. and lxx.; and De Ir\u00e2, lib. iii.\n\n[12] Corpus Juris Civilis, lib. xlviii. tit. xxi. parag. 3.\n\n[13] Vide Potter\u2019s Antiquities.\n\n[14] Universal Geography, vol. iii. p. 155.\n\n[15] It is generally believed that Rousseau killed himself by taking\narsenic; but this has been denied. Judging from the character and\ndisposition of the man, we should feel disposed to credit the statement\nrespecting his voluntary death. Rousseau always maintained that\nthe following stanza of Tasso had a direct application to him, and\naccurately described his feelings and position in the world\u2014\n\n  \u201cStill, still \u2019tis mine with grief and shame to rove,\n  A dire example of disastrous love;\n  While keen remorse for ever breaks my rest,\n  And raging furies haunt my conscious breast,\n  The lonely shades with terror must I view,\n  The shades shall every dreadful thought renew:\n  The rising sun shall equal horrors yield,\n  The sun that first the dire event revealed;\n  Still must I view myself with hateful eye,\n  And seek, though vainly, from myself to fly.\u201d\n\n[16] _Duverger de Haurane_, abbot of St. Cyran, regarded as the founder\nof Port Royal, wrote, in the year 1608, a treatise on suicide, which\nhas, says Voltaire, become one of the scarcest books in Europe.\n\nHe says the decalogue forbids us to kill. In this precept, self-murder\nseems no less to be comprised than murder of our neighbour. But if\nthere are cases in which it is allowable to kill our neighbour, there\nlikewise are cases in which it is allowable to kill ourselves. We must\nnot make an attempt upon our lives until we have consulted reason. The\npublic authority, which holds the place of God, may dispose of our\nlives. The reason of man may likewise hold the place of the reason of\nGod,\u2014it is a ray of the eternal light.\n\nVoltaire, disposed as he was to advocate the right of committing\nsuicide whenever a man considered death preferable to a dishonourable\nlife, had sufficient sagacity to see through the glaring sophistry of\nSt. Cyran\u2019s reasoning on this point. The same author says, \u201cA man may\nkill himself for the good of his prince, for that of his country, or\nfor that of his relations.\u201d\n\n[17] It is evident that the great dramatist considered that suicide was\nopposed to the divine will.\n\n  \u201cAgainst self-slaughter\n  There is a prohibition so divine,\n  That cravens my weak hand.\u201d\n\nAgain, he says\u2014\n\n  \u201cOr that the Everlasting had not fixed\n  His canon \u2019gainst self-slaughter!\u201d\n\n[18] Warder\u2019s \u201cLetters from the Northumberland.\u201d\n\n[19] London Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. v. p. 51.\n\n[20] In a table given by Professor Caspar, of Berlin, one hundred and\nthree cases of suicide are attributed to mental affections; thirty of\nthese may be classed under this head, and thirty-two under that of fear\nand despondency combined.\n\n[21] The massacre of St. Bartholomew lasted seven days, during which\nmore than 5000 persons were slain in Paris, and from 40 to 50,000 in\nthe country. During the execution, the king betrayed neither pity nor\nremorse, but fired with his long gun at the poor fugitives across the\nriver; and on viewing the body of Coligni on a gibbet, he exulted with\na fiendish malignity. In early life, this monster had been noted for\nhis cruelty: nothing gave him greater pleasure than cutting off the\nheads of asses or pigs with a single blow from his _couteau de chasse_.\nAfter the massacre, he is said to have contracted a singularly wild\nexpression of feature, and to have slept little and waked in agonies.\nHe attributed his thirst for human blood to the circumstance of his\nmother having at an early period of his life familiarized his mind with\nthe brutal sport of hunting bullocks, and with all kinds of cruelty. It\nis recorded that, when dying, he actually sweated blood.\n\n[22] Hist. Eccles. edit. Duaci, 1622, pp. 643-4.\n\n[23] Meaning the Duke of Gloucester.\n\n[24] King Henry, Act 3.\n\n[25] Dr. Johnson\u2019s Rasselas.\n\n[26] Go\u00ebthe, in allusion to one of his own early attachments.\n\n[27] Love, it is said, often turns the brains of the Italians, even the\nmen. M. Esquirol says, \u201cFrenchmen seldom go mad from love. A Frenchman\noften kills himself in a sally of passion and feeling, but is seldom in\nlove long enough to go mad about it.\u201d\n\n[28] \u201cLove.\u201d\n\n[29] O\u2019Meara\u2019s \u201cVoice from St. Helena,\u201d vol. i. p. 57.\n\n[30] \u201cLife of Napoleon,\u201d vol. viii. p. 244.\n\n[31] It is worthy of remark that the judge who condemned, as well as\nthe disciple who betrayed, our Saviour, were both driven by despair to\nsuicide. The fate of Judas is recorded in the Gospel; the concluding\nscenes in the life of Pontius Pilate are related by two learned\nhistorians (_Josephus_ and _Eusebius_). The former says that \u201cPontius\nPilate, after having exercised great cruelties in his government of\nJud\u00e6a, was, before the Roman Emperor (Caligula), stripped of all his\ndignities and fortunes, and banished to Gaul, where it is said he\nsuffered such extreme hardships of body and despair of mind, that,\nafter lingering for two years, he became his own executioner.\u201d\n\n[32] Lessing.\n\n[33] On Lunatic Asylums.\n\n[34] Vide Mathews\u2019 Life, by his widow, vol. ii. p. 158.\n\n[35] Dr. Haslam.\n\n[36] \u201cRevue M\u00e9dicale,\u201d Dec. 1821.\n\n[37] Under the heathen mythology, it was believed that the struggles of\ndeath continued till Proserpine had cropped the hair on the crown of\nthe head, as victims were treated at the altar. Virgil has preserved\nthis opinion in the fourth book of the \u00c6neid, where he gives so fine a\npicture of the dying agonies of Dido.\n\n[38] It is only by reasoning physiologically that we can conclude that\nthe act of dying is not a painful process. In proportion as death\nseizes its victim, so must consciousness be suspended. What can be more\npainful to the beholder than to witness the convulsive struggles, and\nthe foaming at the mouth, of a person in an epileptic fit, who, when\nrestored to consciousness, has no recollection of what has occurred? He\nremembers the premonitory indications, and that is all. Death is but\nan epileptic struggle. A phenomenon attends the dying moment which we\ndo not recollect to have seen noticed. A man who fell into the water,\nand who rose several times to the surface, had a consciousness of the\nhopelessness and awfulness of his situation; he felt that death was\ninevitable. With this conviction on his mind, he saw presented to him\na picture of his past life; the minutest action in which he had been\nengaged was brought in a kind of tableau before him. Circumstances that\nhad long been forgotten were conjured from his brain, and he had a\nbird\u2019s-eye view of his past career. Possibly, this may occur to every\nperson at the moment of dying. The expressions of those placed under\nsuch circumstances would indicate as much.\n\n[39] Foreign Quarterly Review, vol. xvi.\n\n[40] Vol. xxi. for 1837.\n\n[41] It is related by Lord Bacon, in his \u201cHistoria Vit\u00e6 et Mortis,\u201d\nthat a friend of his, who was particularly anxious to ascertain\nwhether criminals suffered much pain in undergoing the sentence of\nthe law, on one occasion suspended himself by the neck, having for\nthat purpose thrown himself off a stool, on which he supposed he could\nreadily remount, when he had carried his experiment sufficiently far\nto satisfy his curiosity. The report goes on to state, that the loss\nof consciousness which followed would have led to a fatal termination\nof the experiment, had not a friend accidentally entered the apartment\nin time to save the life of the adventurous experimentalist. Foder\u00e9\nrelates a similar incident of one of his fellow-students. This young\nman, after an argument respecting the cause of death in hanging,\nresolved personally to gratify his curiosity, by passing a ligature\nround his neck, and attaching it to a hook behind the door. To\naccomplish this, he had raised himself on tip-toe, and now gradually\nbrought his heels to the ground. He soon lost all consciousness,\nbut was cut down by a companion, who discovered him, in a state of\ninsensibility, very soon after the commencement of the experiment,\nand by the prompt application of remedial measures he was finally\nrecovered. From cases of this description we learn that the first\neffect experienced in hanging is the appearance of a dazzling light\nbefore the eyes, accompanied by tingling in the ears. These sensations\nare, however, momentary, for insensibility and death rapidly close the\nscene.\n\n[42] Gazette Litteraire.\n\n[43] Foreign Literary Gazette.\n\n[44] In 1806, upwards of sixty voluntary deaths took place at Rouen,\nduring June and July, the air being at that time remarkably humid and\nwarm; and in July and August of the same year, more than three hundred\nwere committed at Copenhagen, the constitution of the atmosphere\npresenting the same characteristics as it did at Rouen. The year 1793,\npresented in the town of Versailles alone the horrible spectacle of\nthirteen hundred suicides.\n\n[45] This was Philip Mordaunt, cousin-german to the celebrated Earl of\nPeterborough, so well known to all European courts, and who boasted of\nhaving seen more postillions and kings than any other man. Mordaunt\nwas young, handsome, of noble blood, highly educated, and beloved by\nthose who knew him. He resolved to die. Preparatory to his doing so,\nhe wrote to his friends, paid his debts, and even made some verses on\nthe occasion. He said his soul was tired of his body, and when we are\ndissatisfied with our abode, it is our duty to quit it. He put a pistol\nto his head and blew out his brains. An uninterrupted course of good\nfortune was the only motive that could be assigned for this suicide.\n\n[46] M. Falret.\n\n[47] Dict. des Sciences Med., vol. liii.\n\n[48] Previous to Cowper\u2019s attempt at suicide, he had fallen into the\ncompany of two sophists, who both advanced claims to the right of\nself-destruction, and whose fallacious arguments won him to their\npernicious views, which were, besides, aided by his recollection of\na certain book containing similar reasoning, which, however weak in\nitself, now seemed to his disordered mind irrefragable.\n\n[49] Dr. J. Johnson.\n\n[50] Vide Dr. Conolly.\n\n[51] Wordsworth.\n\n[52] The _possunt quia posse videuntur_ feeling is not sufficiently\nencouraged by medical philosophers in treating mental affections.\n\n[53] History of Music.\n\n[54] Edinburgh Medical Trans.\n\n[55] Lib. xii. cap. 51.\n\n[56] When Pope was on his death-bed, Bolingbroke observed to the\nweeping attendants, \u201cI have known Pope these thirty years; he was the\nkindest-hearted man in the world.\u201d\n\n[57] Prior to the more urgent symptoms developing themselves, he\nappeared to be endeavouring to recollect Dr. B., and addressed him as\nDr. Death.\n\n[58] A medical student, twenty years of age, was seized with mania,\narising from the presence of worms in the intestines. He felt the most\nacute pains in the different regions of his body, appearing to him\nas if persons were driving arrows into him, more particularly in the\npalms of his hands and soles of his feet. This caused him to utter most\ndistressing cries, to seek to be alone, and prevented him from walking.\nThe intolerable pains and madness left him as soon as the worms were\nexpelled.\n\n[59] \u201cWhen powerful feelings or passions are in active operation, in\nthe insane or in the sane, they draw the muscles of the face into\nparticular forms; and, if they continue for a length of time to be\ngreatly predominant, they impress upon the countenance an appearance\nindicative of the character. This is felt and acted upon unconsciously\nin the common intercourse of life. A good countenance is a letter of\nrecommendation; and we have, in spite of ourselves, an unfavourable\nfeeling towards a stranger where this is absent. Now in the generality\nof suicidal cases, the desponding feelings are in constant and active\noperation; hence there is usually a melancholy and gloomy expression of\ncountenance. This arises from no mysterious cause peculiar to insanity,\nbut is perfectly intelligible on common physiognomical principles; but\nthere are numerous instances where the most experienced physician would\nbe unable to detect, by inspection only, the slightest mark of either a\ndisposition to suicide or insanity. The absence of this expression must\nnot, therefore, induce us to suppose that this disposition does not\nexist.\u201d\u2014SIR W. ELLIS.\n\n[60] Ellis on Insanity.\n\n[61] Indications of Insanity.\n\n[62] Journ. Gen. de M\u00e9decine, Juillet, 1822.\n\n[63] \u201cPain is an evil; death, the deprivation of every hope or comfort\nin this life. No man in his senses will burn, drown, or stab himself;\nfor these all produce what are called evils; neither can any of these\nactions be executed without the probability of pain in the convulsive\naction or struggles of death. As no rational being will voluntarily\ngive himself pain, or deprive himself of life, which certainly, while\nhuman beings preserve their senses, must be acknowledged evils, it\nfollows that every one who commits suicide is indubitably _non compos\nmentis_, not able to reason justly, but is under the influence of false\nimages of the mind; and therefore suicide _should ever be considered an\nact of insanity_.\u201d\u2014DR. ROWLEY.\n\n[64] Lowness of spirits ought to be regarded and treated as insanity,\nsays Ellis, and not dreaded as its forerunner. For it is at this stage\nthat suicide is resorted to. Should this not be the case, specific\nhallucinations may speedily appear, and the agony of mind will be\nendured as a consequence of bankruptcy, the unfaithfulness of a friend,\nthe persecutions of enemies, or the ravages of an incurable disease.\nNo demonstration of the untenableness of such grounds, no picture of\nbrighter and happier circumstances, will avail to refute or encourage.\nThe sufferer clings to his hoarded misery. There is generally great\nloss of physical strength in cases of this kind, and the pale emaciated\ncountenance, dull and sunken eye, and listless dejected form, tell as\nplainly as the querulous complaint, or the long intricate description\nof sorrows and anticipated evils, to what class the patient belongs.\n\n[65] Vide Lord Dover\u2019s Life of Frederick, and Ray on Med. Juris.\n\n[66] Dr. J. Johnson.\n\n[67] Hill on Insanity.\n\n[68] This was no doubt an hallucination of the senses. On another\noccasion, when in the House of Commons, Lord Castlereagh fancied\nhe saw the same \u201cRadiant Boy.\u201d Does not this fact establish that\nhis lordship\u2019s senses were not always in a healthy condition? It is\npossible that when impelled to suicide he laboured under some mental\ndelusion.\n\n[69] Notes to Metzger.\n\n[70] Annales de Hyg. pub. et de M\u00e9d. L\u00e9g. tom. v. p. 156.\n\n[71] We have availed ourselves of Dr. Taylor\u2019s translation of the\nparticulars of the prince\u2019s death, which are recorded with much\nminuteness in the \u201cAnnales d\u2019Hygi\u00e8ne Publique, et de M\u00e9decine L\u00e9gale.\u201d\n\n[72] Foder\u00e9, vol. iii. p. 167; from the Causes C\u00e9l\u00e8bres. See also\nGrimm\u2019s Historical and Literary Memoirs, (from 1753 to 1769,) vol. ii.\npp. 41, 117, and 166.\n\n[73] Travels in Asia, Africa, &c.\n\n[74] To which may be added, anticipation of punishment, or disgrace\nfrom misconduct.\n\n[75] M\u00e9d. L\u00e9gale, iv. \u00a7 948; and Smith on Med. Jurisprudence.\n\n[76] The committee made no report. Lord Delamere undertook to draw it\nup, but before he did so, parliament was prorogued. Bishop Burnet, who\nhas given the particulars of the case with great minuteness, says, he\nhad no doubt that the Earl of Essex committed suicide. He was subject\nto fits of deep melancholy, and maintained the lawfulness of suicide.\nThis is also Hume\u2019s opinion.\n\n[77] This is confirmed by the fact that within the jurisdiction of the\nmetropolitan police, the two districts in which the greatest number of\nsuicides were committed or attempted, in 1836 or 1837, were those of\nthe Regent\u2019s Park and Stepney, through both of which the Regent\u2019s Canal\nruns. This circumstance tends to shew that drowning is the mode of\nsuicide most frequently resorted to in London, and that a canal offers\ngreater facilities for that purpose than the river.\n\n[78] The disposition to suicide may be manifested very early in life.\nM. Falret knew a boy, twelve years old, who hanged himself because\nhe was only twelfth in his class. A similar case occurred at the\nWestminster school about seventeen years ago. Harriet Cooper, of Huden\nHill, Rowly-Regis, aged ten years and two months, upon being reproved\nfor a trifling fault, went upstairs, after exhibiting symptoms of grief\nby sighing and sobbing, and hung herself with a pair of cotton braces\nfrom the rail of a tent bed. A girl named Green, eleven years old,\ndrowned herself in the New River, from the fear of correction for a\ntrifling fault. Dr. Schlegel states, on the authority of Casper, that\nin Berlin, between the years 1812 and 1821, no less than thirty-one\nchildren, of twelve years of age and under, committed suicide, either\nbecause they were tired of existence or had suffered some trifling\nchastisement.\n\n[79] \u201cOh, supreme God, who inhabitest the highest heavens, heal my\nafflictions; as with the wretched in hell, the joyful in heaven, shew\nmercy to the guilty.\u201d\n\n[80] Dr. Moore\u2019s Travels through France, vol. i. let. 32.\n\n[81] Hufeland\u2019s Journal.\n\n[82] Hist. de l\u2019Acad. Roy., 1769.\n\n[83] Paris and the Parisians, by Mrs. Trollope.\n\n[84] Voltaire observes, that if Creech had been translating Ovid, he\nwould not have committed suicide.\n\n[85] We refer our readers, for a minute and deeply interesting account\nof this unfortunate woman\u2019s career, to a work from which we have\ngleaned the above facts; the particulars of her life will be perused\nwith great interest.\u2014Vide \u201cMemoirs of Mirabeau, by himself,\u201d vol.\niii. chap. xi.\n\n[86] Vide Frontispiece.\n\n[87] A singular case of this kind was brought under the notice of the\nWestminster Medical Society by Dr. Stone, as an argument in favour of\nthe possibility of a person committing suicide when in possession of a\nsane mind.\n\n\n\nT. C. Savill, Printer, 107, St. Martin\u2019s Lane, Charing Cross.","title":"The Anatomy of Suicide","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":116208}