VARIATIONS OF SUICIDE-RATE 195 



unable to influence the adjoining State of Bavaria, in wHch the 

 rate is but 60 ? How conies it that Hamburg should stand out 

 so markedly, one black spot in the midst of a comparatively- 

 fair landscape ? How comes it that Posen should contrast so 

 flagrantly with the adjacent provinces ? Posen has a suicide- 

 rate of 704 per million ; it is bounded by three provinces — ^West 

 Prussia, Brandenburg, and Silesia ; the suicide-rates of these 

 provinces are respectively 107-5, 204-7, and 158-4 per million. 



It is evident from all this that imitation does not exercise any 

 appreciable influence on the social rate of suicide. We do not 

 deny that some individual cases may be determined by it, 

 although the role of suggestion in such cases must also be taken 

 account of ; and suggestion is by no means the same thing as 

 imitation. But we are not discussing the individual suicide : 

 we are occupied here solely with suicide as a social factor, and 

 we have satisfied ourselves that imitation does not in any way 

 influence the variations in the suicide-rate of society. 



That the social rate of suicide is dependent for its variations 

 on other factors we will now endeavour to demonstrate. We 

 shall find that the phenomena of the variation of the suicide- 

 rate in adjacent provinces, which imitation cannot explain, 

 become explicable when we consider an important feature in 

 the social life of these provinces. We have selected Central 

 Europe purposely ; because an examination of its suicide-chart not 

 only suffices to refute the theory that imitation is a determining 

 factor in the suicide-rate, but also gives us a clue to the meaning of 

 those variations which we have noticed, and which imitation can- 

 not explain. For Central Europe is noteworthy for the hetero- 

 geneous religious beliefs of its inhabitants ; and we shall see that 

 the nature of the religious belief is a very important element in 

 determining the liability of a given community to suicide. 



The figures given on p. 197 show the respective liability 



of Catholic and Protestant communities to suicide ; and we see 



that the liability of Catholic communities to suicide is very 



13—2 



