A STUDY OF SUICIDE. 307 



decreased within a single year by 1,300 self -sought deaths. In 

 the Hotel des Invalides an inmate hung himself upon a certain 

 cross-bar, and within a fortnight five more did the same thing, 

 although there had not been a single case of suicide in the estab- 

 lishment for two years before, and the threatened epidemic was 

 only averted by the removal of the fatal bar. 



Lord Bacon, in his " Essay on Death," says that, " after Otho, 

 the emperor, had slain himself, pity (which is the tenderest of 

 affections) provoked many to die out of mere compassion to their 

 sovereign." Plutarch tells us that the women of the ancient city 

 of Miletus, becoming melancholy over the absence of their hus- 

 bands and lovers, resolved to hang themselves, and vied with each 

 other in the alacrity with which they did the deed. Various 

 other epidemics have occurred in more recent times — viz., at 

 Rouen, in 1806 ; at Stuttgart, in 1811, etc. 



What might almost be called an epidemic prevailed in the 

 New York State Lunatic Asylum in July, 1850. According to the 

 report for that year, there were at one time twenty-eight persons 

 in the institution bent upon destroying themselves. There were 

 admitted during that month forty-four patients, nineteen of whom 

 were suicidal. The first successful attempt occurred on the 

 12th, and on the following day two more, who had been in the 

 asylum for a long time and had never shown suicidal tendencies, 

 attempted strangulation, and were so persistent that they were 

 only prevented from carrying out their designs by mechanical 

 restraint. On the 17th, 20th, and 22d other attempts were made 

 by various patients, and before the end of the month, at which 

 time it subsided, there had been fourteen distinct attempts by 

 eight persons, while several others, in whom the propensity was 

 strong, required constant watching to prevent them from accom- 

 plishing their object. 



These epidemics are, to a great extent, the result of the prin- 

 ciple of imitation, and it may be said that suicide is almost as 

 much the subject of fashion, as is dress or household decoration, 

 and that each particular method reigns for a time and then gives 

 way to some newer means. For instance, a man destroys himself 

 by plunging from the heights of a tower. The newspapers 

 graphically record the fact, and straightway a dozen more do the 

 same thing, and the practice is only stopped when some one who 

 is tired of life sends a bullet through his brain. This method is 

 then adopted until another takes a dose of carbolic acid, when 

 that in turn becomes the prevailing means. 



Another proof that suicide is often due to the faculty of imi- 

 tation is the fact that many cases are recorded of children com- 

 mitting the deed, without apparent cause, after having heard of a 

 case in which their interest was aroused. 



