3 io THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



himself up, for the air found its way through, the slit in the carti- 

 lage into the tissues about the wound, and in a few seconds the 

 emphysema extended as low as the clavicles and so high that his 

 features lost all expression. He refused food and resisted nutri- 

 tive enemas and shortly died of exhaustion. 



The question, " Is suicide an evidence of insanity?" is one which 

 has given rise to much discussion. In olden times it seems always 

 to have been considered a crime, and very severe laws were enacted 

 against it. The Hebrews did not bury the bodies of suicides until 

 after sunset, thus treating them as they did executed criminals. 

 The Armenians cursed and burned the house in which the suicide 

 had lived. At Thebes their bodies were burned and no funeral 

 rites allowed ; while the Greeks, on the contrary, among whom it 

 was the custom to burn the bodies of those who died a natural 

 death, buried suicides immediately, as they thought it a wrong to 

 contaminate fire, which they deemed a holy element, by burning 

 in it the bodies of those who had been guilty of self -slaughter. In 

 England it was formerly attended by some of the consequences of 

 felony,* hence the term/eZo de se. All of the personal property 

 which the party had at the time of committing the deed, even in- 

 cluding debts to him, was forfeited to the crown, and his remains 

 were interred, without the rites of Christian burial, in the public 

 highway, with a stake driven through the body. In fact, every- 

 where was the act proscribed and considered a crime, until the 

 present century, when it began to be regarded by many writers as 

 a positive proof of insanity. Esquirol says, " I believe that I have 

 proved that all suicides are mentally diseased " ; and Dr. Wins- 

 low, one of the greatest authorities on this subject, supports Dr. 

 Rowley's assertion that " suicide should ever be considered an act 

 of insanity." On the other hand, Blandf ord, Griesinger, Bucknill, 

 Tuke, Gray, and nearly all modern authorities think that suicide 

 is often committed by people in whom no disease of the brain ex- 

 ists. Indeed, Dr. Gray went much further, and in one of his lect- 

 ures said, " Suicide, though always an unnatural act, is, in the 

 large proportion if not in the majority of cases, committed by 

 persons who are entirely sane." Whether it is or is not the act of 

 insanity can only be determined by a careful inquiry, as there 

 are many cases to support either side of the argument, and each 

 one must be a "law unto itself." For instance to be insane 

 enough to commit suicide does not imply that a man must be a 

 raving lunatic, "cutting strange antics before high Heaven," 

 which make his madness apparent to the most unpracticed ob- 

 server. Indeed, in many instances the attempt at suicide is the 



* The new penal code makes it in this State a felony to attempt to commit suicide. 

 Lawrence Ballard was sentenced to one year's imprisonment under this section, on Febru- 

 ary 8, 1883. This was the first conviction for the crime in New York under the new code. 



