SUICIDE IN AUSTRALIA I A STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF THE FACTS. 235 



inter se, and between country and country, can be satis- 

 factorily made only by deducing for each group the pro- 

 portion or relative number committing suicide (say the 

 number per million in the group). These numbers disclose 

 the frequency of suicide at different ages, and thus the age 

 at which the tendency is most strongly expressed. Since 

 the total number of persons in any age-group ordinarily 

 diminishes with increase of age and differs both from period 

 to period as well as from country to country, the absolute 

 numbers of suicides at various ages are of little interest : 

 it is the relative numbers which are significant. The 

 absolute numbers have therefore not been given. 



In the following table, the results as given by Prof, von 

 Mayr 1 where not already in the required groups, have been 

 computed, and multiple results have been combined so as 

 to furnish a single series of values. 2 



In column (12) the simple average is given, including 

 Australia, for purpose of comparison. It is not weighted 

 in any way. 3 The results in column (11) for Australia shew 

 that, as in most other lands, the growth of the suicidal 

 tendency with age is retarded with woman during the child- 

 bearing period of married life. 



1 Statistik und Gesellschaftslehre, Moralstatistik, Bd. in, pp. 313-316. 



2 This has been done by regarding the frequency given as the ordinate 

 corresponding to the middle of the period as abscissa. A continuous 

 curve then passed through all the points enables the frequency for any 

 other middle value to be determined. Any theoretical defect of this 

 method is far less than the range of uncertainty in the data. The com- 

 bination of results has been effected by -weighting according to the num- 

 ber of years of observation, but without regard to increasing population. 

 The result will suffice for the present purpose. 



3 The unweighted average does not express the tendency of the groups 

 of nations included (considered as an integral group) but rather the mean 

 of the habits of different races in different localities and under different 

 conditions. 



