SUICIDE IN AUSTRALIA I A STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF THE FACTS. 231 



The great range of frequency, viz., from Ireland with 

 only 34 per million, to Switzerland with say 230 — nearly 

 seven times the frequency for Ireland — is worthy of note, 

 also that Australia occupies approximately the mean 

 position between these extremes. 



It is obvious from the table that mere locality on the 

 earth's surface, (latitude), or«average annual temperature, 

 etc., has no marked influence on the suicidal frequency, 

 and it would also appear that the influence of race is 

 negligible. Probably social and economic conditions are 

 the most potent factors governing the phenomenon of 

 suicide. 



Respecting the question whether the suicidal tendency 

 is or is not growing, it may be pointed out that it is clear 

 from the above table that there is a fairly steady increase 

 in the frequency of suicide in the civilised world. If we 

 multiply the numbers in the preceding table by the popu- 

 lations and divide by the sum of the populations the 

 quotients will furnish a general result, shewn in the last 

 line of the table, and this result will roughly exhibit the 

 general tendency. From this it would appear that suicide 

 is decidedly on the increase, but also that the rate of 

 increase is steadily diminishing. 



Thus the number of suicides per million per annum (S) 

 for the civilised world generally would appear to be roughly 

 given for any year by the formula 



(3)...S = 112 + 2*2 (T- 1873) - 0'022 (T-1873) 2 

 in which T is the year in question. This would imply that 

 the rate per million per annum (dS/dT) is increasing as 

 expressed by the following formula, viz.: — 



(4)...dS/dT = 2'2 - 0*044 (T - 1873); 

 which gives for the rate of increase per million per annum 

 for 1873, 2*20 and for 1910 only 0'57, a very considerable 

 reduction of the rate of increase, and one which indicates 

 that there is some likelihood of its ceasing. 



