6o8 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



cides, and May, which by common acclaim is one of the most delightful 

 of the calendar, should present a number surpassed only by sweltering 

 August, it is not easy to see. Yet such is the case for the five years 

 covered' by this study, and similar conditions have been demonstrated by 

 other students of the subject. Morselli, in his exhaustive treatise for 

 the European nations, finds that for thirty-two separate studies made by 

 him the maximum numbers were in June eighteen times and in May 

 eight times. In explanation of the fact he says, "Suicide is not in- 

 fluenced so much by the extreme heat of the advanced summer season as 

 by the early spring and summer, which seize upon the organism not yet 

 acclimatized and still under the influence of the cold season." There is 

 little doubt that the end of winter brings with it a depleted condition of 

 vitality, both nervous and physical; yet I am inclined to think that the 



Fig. 2. 



fact can not wholly account for the great increase in the later spring 

 months. In the conclusion of this paper the condition is again alluded 

 to, and at this point I would simply call attention to the fact that the 

 increase comes with the season of the year when rejuvenating Nature is 

 in her brightest mood. 



Character of the Day and Precipitation. — The terms 'clear/ 

 'partly cloudy' and 'cloudy,' as used by the Weather Bureau's characteri- 

 zation of weather states, have a definite and technical meaning. The 

 first is used to designate days on which the sun is obscured for three- 

 tenths or less of the hours from sunrise to sunset; the second from four- 

 tenths to seven-tenths of that period; and the third eight-tenths or more. 

 (See Fig. 2.) 



Under precipitation I have considered separately days which were 



