SUICIDE IN AUSTRALIA: A STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF THE FACTS. 225 



SUICIDE IN AUSTRALIA. A STATISTICAL ANALYSIS 

 OF THE PACTS. 



By G. H. Knibbs, c.m.g., f.r.a.s., f.s.s., etc. 

 Commonwealth Statistician. 



[Read before the Royal Society of N. 8. Wales, September 6, 1911.'] 



SYNOPSIS. 



1. Introduction. 5. Seasonal fluctuation of suicide. 



2. Secular frequency. 6. Correlation of seasonal fluctu- 



3. Sex-ratio. ation with temperature. 



4. Variation of frequency with 7. Mode of suicide. 



age for each sex. 8. Conclusions. 



1. Introduction.— The course of suicide in Australia pre- 

 sents certain features which seem worthy of study by 

 sociologists. To these attention is drawn in the following 

 article, and comparisons are made with like phenomena in 

 Europe. Three things appear to call for special comment, 

 viz.: — 



(i) the constancy of the measure of the suicidal tendency; 



(ii) its constancy in respect of the relative numbers of 

 each sex ; and 



(iii) its periodicity, according to seasons or months. 



Each of these will be treated in its proper place in 

 this article. 



It may be added that the detailed information for a com- 

 plete analysis is not available for earlier years, and the 

 main deductions of a detailed character must perforce 

 depend on the occurrences in the last two decades. 



Regarded quantitatively, suicide does not figure promin- 

 ently among causes of death, thus for Australia in 1910 it 

 was only 0*1166 per 1,000 of the population, and was only 

 l'13°/> of deaths from all causes. But, as the expression of 

 determination to voluntarily part with life, it stands in 

 quite a special position as compared with death arising 

 from diseases, or from violence not self-initiated. 



O— Sept. 6, 1911. 



