INFLUENCE OF CATHOLICISM ON SUICIDE 203 



the first ; and Silesia, on the other hand, with a population 

 equally divided between Protestants and Catholics, has a higher 

 suicide-rate than the average of the third category. But these 

 two exceptions do not in any way affect the validity of the 

 statistics. If we look at the average rate for each category, we 

 cannot avoid seeing the general suggestiveness of the statistics. 

 As the proportion of Protestant inhabitants decreases, the 

 average suicide-rate diminishes. The first category, with over 

 90 per cent, of Protestant inhabitants, shows an average suicide- 

 rate of 264'6 per million of inhabitants. The fourth category, 

 in which the proportion of Protestant inhabitants is only 30 per 

 cent., shows an average suicide-rate of 95"6 per million. It may 

 be objected that the high suicide-rate of Saxony is due to the 

 fact that this province is highly developed from the industrial 

 point of view. The conditions created by industrial develop- 

 ment and economic expansion, by intensifying the struggle 

 for Ufe and increasing the number of those who depend for 

 their existence on the work of their hands, undoubtedly 

 have a very great influence on the suicide-rate of society, 

 and tend greatly to augment it. But these conditions can 

 be counterbalanced by integrating factors operating in an 

 opposite direction. For the provinces of Westphalia and the 

 Rhine are very markedly industrial ; and yet Westphalia has a 

 suicide-rate of only 107 '5 per million, and the Rhine Rrovince 

 of lOO'S per million. On the other hand, Schleswig-Holstein, 

 Western Prussia, and Hohenzollem-Sigmaringen, are all of them 

 agricultural provinces ; industrial development may be said to 

 have attained about the same level in all three. Nevertheless, 

 Schleswig-Holstein has the very high suicide-rate of 312 per 

 million, whereas West Prussia has a suicide-rate of but 123 per 

 million, and Hohenzollem-Sigmaringen of 90 per million. 



It may be said that Morselli's figures concerning the compara- 

 tive geographical distribution of suicide mentioned on p. 194 do 

 not agree with those given in the above table. But, with the 



