8o2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



another illustration. Had Enoch Arden found that the only way in 

 which his return could be kept secret, and his wife and family saved 

 from misery, was by the sacrifice of his life, would he deserve condem- 

 nation if he had sought death ? 



It will be observed that the question has been discussed from an 

 altruistic standpoint. This, of course, excludes Ridley and Latimer. 

 It excludes all those who, threatened with death by disease, and whose 

 life can be saved only at the price of some operation excruciatingly 

 painful, decline to pay the price. It excludes all those who turn to 

 death as a refuge from their own sufferings. 



But, viewed in the light of pure altruism, when does suicide become 

 justifiable ? Each person must give answer for himself. Every indi- 

 vidual is sole judge of the circumstances which justify a surrender of 

 life. It is true that from this opinion orthodoxy dissents. It reasons 

 thus : " Man has been placed upon the earth by God for some good 

 purpose : it is fitting that he remain there until granted leave to return. 

 Let him not enter the presence of his Maker unsummoned." But the 

 same reasoning will serve the most selfish and cowardly egoism. Let 

 the three hundred at Thermopylae take to their heels, crying out that 

 they will wait until God calls them. Let Arnold von AVinkelried 

 leave the field, protesting that he will not usurp the prerogative of the 

 Almighty by assiiming control of his own life. Let the men at sea 

 cling to the floating fragment to the last, comforting themselves with 

 the assurance that they have no right to determine for themselves 

 whether their Maker has summoned them. Let the engineer abandon 

 his train with the conviction that his duty to the Author of his being 

 requires him to preserve his life. Certainly orthodoxy does not mean 

 what it says. It cries aloud, " Wait until God calls you " ; but adds, 

 sotto voce, "Use your own judgment as to what constitutes a call." 

 If it commands men not to take their own lives, it qualifies the com- 

 mand by urging them to lay down their lives for others. In fact, the 

 assertion that men should wait until God summons them is merely 

 putting the case in different language. For who is to decide what 

 constitutes a summons? Evidently the individual himself. But to 

 say that every one must determine for himself what constitutes a sum- 

 mons from God is to say that each person is sole judge of the circum- 

 stances which justify a voluntary termination of life. 



From the Roman who, devoting himself and the enemy to the in- 

 fernal gods, rushed to death to bring victory to his companions, to the 

 suicides at the shrine of Juggernaut ; from these to the man who "lays 

 down his life for his friend " ; from this to the engineer who sacrifices 

 himself for the passengers ; from this to the man who dies that thou- 

 sands may be made happy ; from this to the man who refuses to live 

 when his life makes others miserable ; from this to the man who turns 

 to death to avoid becoming a burden to his friends— the descent is 

 steady and connected. The last case may claim relationship with the 



