INFLUENCE OF POLITICAL CRISES 



213 



great lesson, which is in itself sufficient to show that suicide is 

 a social phenomenon which obeys laws sui generis, difEerent from 

 those governing individual psychology — ^namely, that an era 

 of prosperity invariably brings about an increase in the suicide- 

 rate ; and that this increase is brusquely checked by the advent 

 of a crisis, whether political or commercial. Let us take the 

 three examples we have quoted : 



Thus, in the case of France, we see that the apogee of the Empire 

 of Napoleon III., from 1860 onwards, is marked by an immense 

 increase in the number of suicides. This increase remains con- 

 stant until 1867, when there is a slight fall, due to the crushing 

 of Austria and Denmark the year before, and to the tension 

 and preoccupation in the French political atmosphere brought 

 about by these events. The reaction of Sadowa did not last long ; 

 for we see in 1868 an abnormal rise in the suicide-rate, followed by 

 a brusque fall in 1869, a fall due to the preoccupations which pre- 

 ceded the outbreak of war in 1870. The rise in the rate in 1868 is 

 like an orgy between two depressions — those of Sadowa and Sedan. 



In Prussia the exuberance of national pride following on 

 the defeat of Austria in 1866 is reflected in the rise of the suicide- 

 rate in 1867, a rise of nearly 25 per cent., and which continues 

 until 1870. The decrease is still further marked in 1871. But 



