194 
NATURE 
[ Dec. 29, 1881 
“Tt is to be noted that suicide and madness are not 
tnfluenced so much by the intense heat of the advanced 
summer season as by the early spring and summer, which 
setze upon the organism not yet acclimatised and still 
under the influence of the cold season. And this also 
applies to the first cold weather, as may be seen in the 
proportional figures of our statistical tables, perhaps better 
still in the second elevation, which all the curves, as 
shown by us, offer in the autumn months of October and 
November, when the change from the warm to the cold 
season is more severely felt by the human constitution, 
and especially by the nervous system.” 
It is a curious fact that everywhere suicides are com- 
mitted with greater frequency during the first third of any 
given month than during the second third, and during the 
second third than during the remaining third. Moreover 
of the first third, the first two days yield the largest pro- 
‘ portional number. ‘‘ From whence this fact proceeds is 
not Clear, unless it be that in the first days of each month 
debauchery, dissipation, orgies, especially in large cities, 
are more numerous.” 
Again, among men the first days of the week pre- 
dominate in respect of influences leading to suicide over 
the later—the order standing Tuesday, Thursday, Mon- 
day, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, Saturday. Among 
women, however, an inverse ratio obtains—the order here 
being Sunday, Friday, Thursday, Wednesday, Tuesday, 
Saturday, Monday. Doubtless the reason of this among 
men is that Saturday is usually pay-day, and “thus a day 
of joy, of material well-being, of moral quiet.” This lasts 
through Sunday, but with’ Monday men’s labour begins, 
with the after effects of satiated gluttony, inebriety, &c. 
On the other hand, “the high proportion [of suicides] 
among women on Sunday is of the greatest psychological 
interest.” 
As regards the time of day, the hourly distribution of 
suicides— 
“Is parallel to activity in business, to occupations 
and work, in short with the noise which characterises the 
life of modern society, and not with silence, quiet, and 
isolation. Petit and De Boismont then justly note that 
the influence of the diurnal hours is shown also in the 
predominance of those months which have the longest 
days, and are precisely, as we see, June, May, and July. 
Thus all the influences which we are studying join to- 
gether and mingle in one single and efficient synthesis, 
that is to say, the dependence ‘of man upon nature.” 
One of the most interesting chapters in the book is that 
on “Ethnic Influences,” a general summary of which is 
given in the appended table. 
On this it is remarked :— 
“The low position in point of numbers held by the 
English peoples, with regard to suicides, in comparison 
with the Germanic, whilst the first place in the civilised 
world as regards power and riches belongs to them with- 
out dispute, is astonishing; it is not modern Rome, it is 
not England, which gives the greater number of suicides.” 
And the divergence between England and the countries 
where the Celtic race remains most pure (Scotland, Ire- 
land, Wales), proves ‘the influence of the Germanic ele- 
ment infiltrated ””—the Celtic races being Jeast addicted 
to suicide, and the Germanic most so. 
Another very interesting section is that on religious 
influences. The Jews display “an habitual resistance to 
suicide, though the same cannot be said with regard to 
madness.” Again, “the Catholic nations, Italy, Spain, 
TABLE XIII.—Synopsis of the Ethnological differences of 
Suicide 
. 
4 ;| Per million. 
Eo 
au 
RACES AND Popula- | 23 
Groce CounrTRIEs. nis rE re: 
re average. 
PE Penman Cer). = ace) ere |X 784.741 468] 268 
candi- orway (1866-7 ee | 1,741,621 | 131] 745 . 
navia. | Sweden propr. and Gothia 1278 
(1866-75) +1. wee eee oes | 3.535799 | 297) 84 
Meckienhurel (1871- 75) esp 553,754) 95| 167 
G Lauenburg (1858-65) «.. «+ 49,704 8) 156 
a Oldenburg (1865-70) ... 315.995| 62) 198 
N aor Prussia and its conquests 150 
(L ow- (1871-75) .- eee ese 125,772,562 [3342] 133 
G — ) Hamburg (1873 77) he 388,618 | 113] 307 
erman). |) Bremen 87556) es 141,848 | 36] 245 
Ducal Hesse (4871) ; as 852,843 | 101! 160 
Bavaria (1871-76) «+ | 5,023,904] 450} go 
” Baden (1871-75) «-- +. + | 1,506,531 | 231) 157 
§ Wiirtemberg (1872-76) 1,881,505 | 294] 162 
ry Kingdom of Saxony 
2 (1871-76) ... ++ eee | 2,760,342 | 752] 299 
a Saxe-Altenburg (1858. -65) ++ 141,839 (i) 303 
£) Germans || Saxe-Meiningen (1860-67) .. 172.341 | (37)| 264 
4 ofthe ¢| Salzburg (1873-77) ++ + 153,159| 19] 120 |\ 165 
=| South. Upper Austria te 77) 1 736,557 | 81) 110 
| Lower Austria (1873-77) + | 1,990,708 | 539] 254 
o Styria (1873-77) - + | 1,137;990| IIS) 04 
Carinthia (1873-77) -- 337,604 | 34) 92 
Alsace-Lorraine (1856-60)... 1,531,804 | 230] 97 
Cantons — German - Swiss 
(1876)... 1,357,424 | 224) 165 
eee (excluding Wales) 
‘Anclos (1872-76) «. 21 290,596 |1538) 72 \ 
a United States of America... 38,000,000 | — | (32)| $70 
pele South Australian Colonies f 
(1872-76) 2. ss 208.950 | 19] go |, 
Netherlands (2869-72) 3,618,016 TAA 35 
lemish Prov. of Belgium.. | 1,342,297] 98) 74 
Flemings. Cire. d’Aurich eS Bey? | 
(1871 es 195.394 | — |(100) 
( ae yt 76) - men fuss erates 60] 52 ) 
cotlan ate ws ese | 3,360,000 | — | 35 
S| Celts. | Britain (1872- 76) <0 eaten 2,947, 348 | 221) 75 \ 80 
& Ireland (1831-41)-0 «+ + ,000] 79) 10 
3 France (1871-75) - ES 102,291 |5256| 150 
7 French Proy. of Belgium | 
¥ Celto- (1858-60) . 3-433,000 | 119) 35 6 
<\ Romans. French Swiss Cantons (1876) 1,401,420 | 284] 200 
3 Northern Italy (Cisalp 
4 (1864-76) . 11,813,515 | 500) 46 
} Western Peninsular and Lower italy 14,248,157 | 391] 26 
5 Roamans Spain (1866-70) .. + «+ 116,302,625] — | 17 |) 27 
| Italian-Swiss Cantons 211,401 | 21) go 
Eastern { Transylvania (2873 ™ 2,115,124] — | 80 \ 
Romans. Roumenia ... +++ | 4,000,000 | — | (25) (50) 
Slavs of { Russia (1875) +s. ees se 169,354,542 [1771] 30 
the Bohemia (1873-77) 5,140,544 | 863) 158 42 
North. | Moravia (1873-77) «= 2,017,274 | 289) 136 
S West Galicia- Buckovina (1873- 77) 5,958,083 | 589) 98 
$ Carniola (1873-77) | 466,334] 22) 46 
% | Slavsof }| Croatia and Slavonia \ 
the (1864-65) . or 876,009} — | 30/580 
South Dalaneiar (8c Jo- 61) ove 456,961 | — | 14 f 
Military Frontiers (1860: 61) 593,232|— | 31 
t ( Magyars ...| Hungary (1864-65)... «| 9,900,785] — | 52]) 62 
=) | Finns Finland (1869-76). 1,732,621 | 56) 31 | 
4/ and Norrland (1861-70) ... 529,128 | 31) 62 40 
< Letts. Russian Baltic Prov. ... 3,637,000 | — | (41) 
5 Slavo- { South-East Russia or 
Mongols. Caspia ase nee nee ate | _ — | (sr)} (6D 
and Portugal, stand on the last step of the scale of 
suicide, whilst those exclusively or mostly Protestant, 
take the first grade ; it suffices to cite Saxony, Denmark, 
Scandinavia, and Prussia. In countries of mixed re- 
ligions, the inclination towards suicide diminishes in 
direct ratio to the predominance of Catholicism . . . the 
most frequent order in which the various religions follow 
each other is thus: Protestants, Catholics, Jews ; and the 
next in order of frequency come Protestants, Jews, 
Catholics.” 
In this connection the following is perhaps worth 
quoting :— 
“The very high average of suicides among Protestants 
is another fact too general to escape being ascribed to 
