SCIENCE. 



21 



The most interesting portion of the volume, is the one 

 relating to the influence of race and nationality as deter- 

 mining the suicidal rate. We have always believed that 

 a most important contribution to the elucidation of the 

 problem of suicide could be made from this side of the 

 question. And it is to be regretted that the talented writer 

 before us has not added to the numerous tables, which 

 render his volume, a mine of valuable information, one 

 showing in four columns, the name of the nation, the pro- 

 portion in same per million, the proportion of each form 

 of insanity, and the suicidal rate. We believe that a notic- 

 able parallelism would be observed in these columns. 

 The Germanic race preponderates over all others, and the 

 German and Scandinavian branches divide the supremacy. 

 The Anglo-Saxon stock has, however, gained by its long 

 separation from the German mother, and its admixture 

 with other races, for its suicidal tendency is much smaller. 

 The Celto-Romans, on the whole, show a small suicidal 

 rate, this increases, however, with the geographical ap- 

 proach to the Germanic borders, and the fact is of start- 

 ling interest, that as keen an analyst as Morselli, attributes 

 the higher suicidal rate in France and Belgium to the re- 

 mote, continuous and the in modern times as persistent 

 invasion of German elements sweeping up the valleys of 

 the Scheldt, Seine, Somme, Meuse and even that of the 

 Loire ! The lowest suicidal rate is found among the Scla- 

 vonic peoples. Morselli in this part of the work fails to 

 refer to the fact that the Bohemians, isolated from the 

 Sclavonic parent stocks by an ocean of German States, 

 have lost the relative immunity of suicide, just as the An- 

 glo-Saxons have gained in this respect by separation from 

 the "suicidal" race. The general conclusion, however, 

 would seem to be flattering to the nations having most 

 suicides. Savage peoples commit suicide only under the 

 stress of hunger, but as civilization progresses a thousand 

 new motives arise, with the mental needs. The reflection 

 is not made directly by the author, but it can be read be- 

 tween the lines, that a similar reason accounts for the les- 

 ser proportion of suicides among Catholics as compared 

 with Protestants. Judaism has a very favorable 

 influence ; but this is an exceptional instance, it 

 being the only religion tied up in a single race. A very 

 interesting fact, is that other conditions duly considered, 

 the votaries of that creed which is in a great minority in 

 a given country, show a lesser number of suicides ; the 

 reason given by Legoyt is that the intolerance of the sur- 

 rounding population exercises a sort of moral coercion, 

 making the dissenters desirous to avoid giving any excuse 

 for harsh criticisms. 



As to social influences, it is concluded from the general 

 parallelism of suicide and criminality that a deterioration 

 of morals is favorable to suicide. To this there are how- 

 ever some marked exceptions, especially in southern Italy, 

 where grave crimes are common and suicide is rare, and 

 a revision of the question induces Morselli to modify the 

 conclusion ordinarily held by saying that in those coun- 

 tries "where crimes against property predominate, sui- 

 cides are more frequent than where crimes of blood are 

 frequent." Remarkably enough it is found, with regard 

 to the influence of economical conditions, that it is not the 

 exact period of economical crisis, but a subsequent one 

 that shows an increase of suicide. The influence of the 

 Austrian crisis of 1858-1859 was shown by an increase 

 of suicides in 1860-1861. The Franco-Prussian war of 

 1870-71 led to more suicides in 1872-1873. 



Without any question the most interesting part of the 

 volume consists in its appended " suicidal " maps. These 

 are maps of Europe and of the individual European 

 countries, exhibiting by the intensity of shading, the pro- 

 portion of suicides in the population. On glancing over 

 the map of Europe it is seen in a moment, that the 

 highest proportion is found in Saxony ; in the neighbor- 

 hood of Paris and of Vienna. It is not alone race but 

 also the density of the population which exert an import- 

 ant influence here, and as the contest for existence natur- 



ally culminates in the -destruction of the weak, the only 

 advice the author is able to give as a preventive against 

 suicide, is " to develop in man the power of well-ordering 

 sentiments and ideas by which to reach a certain aim in 

 life ; in short, to give force and energy to the moral 

 character." 



While we venture to regard this advice as a fruitless 

 one, believing that in view of the author's earlier conclu- 

 sions expressed in the same volume, all the good advice 

 and training that might be given would not materially 

 change the suicidal ratio. We can only commend the 

 perusal of the work to the reader as alone calculated to 

 furnish an adequate conception of the vast array of use- 

 ful facts gathered by its author, illustrative ot many 

 profitable lessons in sociology and ethnology. That in a 

 treatise dealing with the statistics of so many lands and 

 with authorities who have written in so many tongues, 

 an occasional error should creep in, is not to be marveled 

 at, and it is only where such errors are made the basis of 

 conclusions that the reviewer considers it his duty to call 

 attention to them. 



It is stated, in speaking of the influence of religion on 

 suicides, that in Saxony half the population are Catholics. 

 The fact is that Saxony is one of the most intensely 

 Protestant countries in the world, the stronghold of the 

 Reformation, and a land in which the slight vestige of 

 Catholicism (not consisting of one-twentieth of the pop- 

 ulation among its votaries), is only maintained by the 

 court which is Catholic since the time of the libertine, 

 Augustus the Strong. Ed. C. Spitzka. 



The Sun : by Professor C. A. Young, with numer- 

 ous illustrations. International Scientific Series. D. 

 Appleton & Co., New "York, 1881 , pp. 321, i2mo. 

 It is an extremely fortunate thing when we have a 

 book on a special subject, written by a man who has 

 himself made capital discoveries in this subject and who, 

 at the same time, has a culture wide enough to appre- 

 ciate the philosophical relations of his special subject to 

 science in general. 



If at the same time the whole exposition is written in 

 a graceful style, perfectly plain and easy to follow, and 

 dignified as well, we have special reason to be gratelul. 

 Professor Young is the descendant of a line of professors, 

 and lucid exposition is natural to him, as we find from 

 this work. It is not necessary to say that in the other 

 degrees mentioned Professor Young is precisely the one 

 person to whom we should first look as authority. 



There are certain things which an author can best say 

 for himself. In Professor Young's preface we find this : 

 " I have tried to keep distinct the line between the cer- 

 tain and the conjectural, and to indicate as far as possi- 

 ble the degree of confidence to be placed in data and 

 conclusions." 



Throughout the work we have found this carried out 

 consistently, not as a task, but as a natural outcome of 

 the author's method of thought. 



The work opens with an introduction which treats of 

 the sun's relation to life and activity upon the earth. In 

 this section (page 18) the accepted beliefs with regard to 

 the sun's constitution are laid down. This is a point of 

 departure. 



Chapter I. deals with the distance, dimensions and 

 mass of the sun. The low density ot the sun 

 is quoted as showing the strong probability that the sun 

 is mainly a mass of vapor or gas, powerfully condensed 

 in the central portions by the superincumbent weight, 

 but prevented from liquefaction by an exceedingly high 

 temperature. 



Chapter II, deals with the methods of studying the 

 solar surface. 



Chapter III. relates to the Spectroscope and to the solar 

 spectrum in general. 

 On page 87 we have a table of the twenty-two elements 



