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HEREDITY AND SELECTION IN SOCIOLOGY 



of insanity by no means coincides in other points with the rate 

 of suicide ; and that, notably, the countries most afflicted with 

 insanity are not those most afflicted by suicide, nor vice versa. 

 Nevertheless, it is very remarkable that the maximum in the 

 rates alike of insanity in general, of suicide, and of alcoholic 

 insanity in particular, should be reached in June, while the 

 maximum in the rate of general paralysis is reached in May. 

 This coincidence between the rate of increase and decrease of 

 these different phenomena cannot be purely fortuitous, and it 

 shows us that some general cause, at all events, must underUe 

 the occurrence of all. 



Table G. — Statistics showing the Inpluence of Seasons on the 

 Rate op Insanity in General. "^ 



With the exception of February, we notice a regular increase 

 in the number of cases from January till June; and with the 

 exception of November, a correspondingly regular decrease from 

 June till December. What the precise causes are which deter- 

 mine these exceptional fluctuations in the second and eleventh 

 months of the year we are unable to say. But with these two 

 exceptions the rate of increase and decrease follows the same 

 course in the case of insanity as it does in the case of suicide. 



1 Statistics of the Prefecture of Paris, 1886-88. 



