and the department of the Seine, which contains only one thirty-second of the population, presenting us, as I have said, with one-sixth of the illegitimate children, presents us also with one-sixth of the suicides. The most suicides are committed in the north, the least in the south, just the inverse of what happens in respect to murders and assassinations; and it seems an invariable law* that precisely in those provinces where people are most tempted to kill one another, they are the least tempted to kill themselves. Strange to say, the number of suicides committed in one year amounts to almost the total number of crimes against the person,† and, excluding infanticide, to more than three times the number of murders and assassinations: so that, if a person be found dead, and you have only to conjecture the cause, it is three times as proba * With the exception of Alsace and Provence. + Number of suicides 1800; crimes against the person 1865. Number of murders, assassinations, &c. 679 118 561 3 1683 Suicides 1800; i. e. more than three times the amount of murders! The height of each Column corresponds with the extent of the numbers indicated below, and refers to the Scale of Division placed on the left. ble that he died by his own hand as by that of another person! It is hardly necessary to observe, that the number of suicides really committed must be far more numerous than those which can be furnished by official documents. Monsieur Guerry has given a table of the different sentiments uppermost in the minds of different individuals, at the time when they have deprived themselves of existence. The table is formed according to the papers found on the persons of the deceased. 6 Here we find men- fearing to want courage,'— feeling that they are become reckless on earth,' disgusted with life, insulting the ministers of religion, thinking of debauch and libertinage,'-' wishing to have their letters published in the newspapers,'—' boasting that they die men of honour,'-' giving instructions for their funerals.'-Mark what these sentences contain! Mark the vanity, the frivolity which do not shrink before the tomb. Mark the passions, so light, so ridiculous, so strong! -the passions which point a pistol to the brain, and dictate at the same moment a paragraph to the Constitutionnel !' * * This paper seems, for some reason or other, the paper in which suicides are most anxious to be recorded. Sentiments expressed in the writings of persons having committed Suicide. CITY OF PARIS. That they enjoy their reason. That one has a right to deliver oneself from life when life is a burthen. That they have come to the deter mination after much hesitation. Agonies of their mind. That they were confused in their ideas. The horror inspired by the action which they are about to commit. Pre-occupied with the pains they are about to suffer. Fear to want courage. Regret to have yielded to temptation. Prayer to be pardoned their faults. Desire to expiate a crime. That they are become reckless on earth. Disgust of life. Reproaches to persons of whom they think they have a right to complain. Kind expressions to persons, &c. Adieus to their friends. Desire to receive the prayers of the church. Insult to the ministers of religion. Belief in a future life. Thoughts of debauch and libertinage. Materialism. Prayer not to give publicity to their suicide. Wish to have their letters published in the newspapers. Reflections on the misery of human life. Belief in a fatality. Prayer to their children to pardon the suicide they are committing. That they die men of honour. Regret not to be able to testify their gratitude to their benefac tors. Talk of the hopes which they see vanish. Regrets for life. Prayers to their friends to bestow some tears upon their memory. Regrets to quit a brother, &c. Prayer to conceal the nature of their death from their children. Solicitude for the future of their children. Incertitude of a future life. Confidence in divine mercy. Prayer to their friends to keep a mesh of hair, a ring, in remembrance of them. Desire to be buried with a ring or other token of remembrance. Request as to the manner they would be buried. Fear to be exposed at the Morgue. Reflections on what will become of the body. Desire to be carried directly to the cemetery. Prayer to be buried with the poor. M. Guerry has a large collection of these papers, which published simply as they are, would be one of the most interesting of modern publications. |