52 
signifying a particular form of disease. Inherent qualities in the 
individual and mass lead to these changes as regularly and surely 
as do others inherent in the plant itself, first to autumn tints, 
then shedding of the leaf, and to the varying manner in which 
according to their kind fruits ripen, decay, and finally drop to 
earth. Certain forms of disease have what may be termed 
double crops during the year ; but the general rule is as stated. 
In illustration of these remarks I instance laryngitis, bron- 
chitis, and asthma, as diseases of the first or coldest quarter ; 
small-pox and suicide as the disease peculiar to the second 
quarter, for no doubt self-destruction is a disease.* Nervous 
affections, intestinal disorders, and, among children, thrush in 
the third or hottest quarter ; scarlatina, pneumonia, diphtheria, 
and what in recent years has been designated typhoid fever, 
in the fourth quarter. 
Tabular View of Diseases According to Season in England. 
Standard taken as 10. 
Months. 
1st Quarter. 
Diseases. 
2nd 
Quarter. 
Diseases. 
3rd Quarter. 
Diseases. 
- - * 
4th Quarter. 
Diseases. 
Asthma. 
1 Bronchitis. 
1 
Laryngitis. 
Small-pox. 
Suicide. 
Diarrhoea. 
Enteritis. 
Thrush. 
Scarlatina. 
Diphtheria. 
1 Typhoid 
Fever. 
Pneumonia. 
January 
23 
21 
12 
13 
9 
3 
10*5 
8 
11 
10 
98 
14 
February 
18 
18 
13 
12-5 
6 
3 
7 
8 
7 
11 
11 
1 1*5 
March 
16 
16 
14 
11 
11 
2*5 
10*5 
6 
6 
9 
9*8 
14 
April 
7 
11 
9 
13-5 
13 
3 
9*8 
6 
6*5 
9 
9 
10 
May 
5 
9 
10 
14 
13 
4 
6 
8 
65 
8 
8 
85 
June 
6 
7 
6 
12-5 
14*5 
10 
10 
10 
8 
9*5 
7 
6 
July 
4 
6 
4 
8 
11 
40 
16 
19 
9 
9 
9 
5 
August 
4 
2 
4 
8 
11 
34 
13 
19*5 
10*5 
10 
12 
5 
September ... 
4 
6 
5 
8 
8 
13*3 
12 
8 
14 
10*5 
12 
S 
October 
7 
9 
7 
8 
9*5 
7 
10 
9 
16 
11 
14 
10 
November ... 
15 
16 
9 
9 
8*5 
4 
7 
8 
15 
13 
13 
16 
December ... 
18 
18 
12 
11 
9*5 
3 
9 
8 
10*5 
11 
10*8 
16 
* When we find that the hot, bright months of summer are those in which 
suicidal tendency prevails most, we seem to recognise physical, rather than 
psychical, influences. Suicide, also, is more common in the daytime than 
at night ; it is particularly so at 8 a.m., at noon, and at 3 p.m. Strangely, 
also, it is more prevalent on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 
as compared with Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (except among women, with 
whom this disease is most prevalent on Sunday). See the observations by 
Guerry in France, quoted by Dr. Henry Morselli, in his book on Suicide , 
p. 76. (Published by Kegan Paul & Co., 1881.) 
