CONTENTS.
| CHAPTER I. | ||
| SUICIDES OF THE ANCIENTS.—ANCIENT LAWS AND OPINIONSON THE SUBJECT OF SUICIDE. | ||
Examples of antiquity no defence of suicide—Causes of ancient suicides—Thesuicides of Asdrubal, Nicocles, Isocrates, Demosthenes, Hannibal,Mithridates, the inhabitants of the city of Xanthus, Cato, Charondas,Lycurgus, Codrus, Themistocles, Emperor Otho, Brutus and Cassius,Mark Antony and Cleopatra, Petronius, Lucan, Lucius Vetus, Sardanapalus,M. Curtius, Empedocles, Theoxena—Noble resistance of Josephus—Scripturesuicides: Samson, Saul, Ahitophel, Judas Iscariot,Eleazar, Razis—Doctrines of the stoics, Seneca, Epictetus, Zeno—Opinionsof Cicero, Pliny, on suicide—Ancient laws on suicide | p. [1]-29 | |
| CHAPTER II. | ||
| WRITERS IN DEFENCE OF SUICIDE. | ||
Opinions of Hume—Effect of his writings—Case of suicide caused by—Thedoctrines of Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Montaigne examined—Originof Dr. Donne’s celebrated work—Madame de Staël’s recantation—Robertof Normandy, Gibbon, Sir T. More, and Robeck’s opinionsconsidered | p. [30]-35 | |
| CHAPTER III. | ||
| SUICIDE A CRIME AGAINST GOD AND MAN.—IT IS NOT ANACT OF COURAGE. | ||
The sin of suicide—The notions of Paley on the subject—Voltaire’s opinion—Issuicide self-murder?—Is it forbidden in Scripture?—Shakspeare’sviews on the subject—The alliance between suicide and murder—Has axman a right to sacrifice his own life?—Everything held upon trust—Suicidea sin against ourselves and neighbour—It is not an act of courage—Opinionof Q. Curtius on the subject—Buonaparte’s denunciationof suicide—Dryden’s description of the suicide in another world | p. [36]-44 | |
| CHAPTER IV. | ||
| ON THE INFLUENCE OF CERTAIN MENTAL STATES IN INDUCINGTHE DISPOSITION TO SUICIDE. | ||
Moral causes of disease—Neglect of psychological medicine—Mental philosophya branch of medical study—Moral causes of suicide—Tables ofFalret, &c.—Influence of remorse—Simon Brown, Charles IX. of France—Massacreof St. Bartholomew—Terrible death of Cardinal Beaufort, fromremorse—The Chevalier de S——. Influence of disappointed love—Suicidefrom love—Two singular cases—Effects of jealousy—Othello—Suicidefrom this passion—The French opera dancer—Suicide fromwounded vanity—False pride—The remarkable case of Villeneuve, asrelated by Buonaparte—Buonaparte’s attempt at suicide—Ambition—Despair,cases of suicide from—The Abbé de Rancé—Suicide from blindimpulse—Cases—Mathews, the comedian—Opinion of Esquirol on thesubject—Ennui, birth of—Common cause of suicide in France—Effectof speculating in stocks—Defective education—Diffusion of knowledge—“Socialism”a cause of self-destruction—Suicide common in Germany—Werter—Goëthe’sattempt at suicide—Influence of his writings on Hackman—Suicidefrom reading Tom Paine’s “Age of Reason”—Suicide toavoid punishment—Most remarkable illustrations—Political excitement—Nervousirritation—Love of notoriety—Hereditary disposition—Is deathpainful? fully considered, with cases—Influence of irreligion | p. [45]-107 | |
| CHAPTER V. | ||
| IMITATIVE, OR EPIDEMIC SUICIDE. | ||
Persons who act from impulse liable to be influenced—Principle of imitation,a natural instinct—Cases related by Cabanis and Tissot—The suicidalbarbers—Epidemic suicide at the Hôtel des Invalids—Sydenham’sepidemic—The ladies of Miletus—Dr. Parrish’s case—Are insanity andsuicide contagious? | p. [108]-114 | |
| CHAPTER VI. | ||
| SUICIDE FROM FASCINATION. | ||
Singular motives for committing suicide—A man who delighted in torturinghimself—A dangerous experiment—Pleasures of carnage—Dispositionxito leap from precipices—Lord Byron’s allusion to the influence of fascination—MissMoyes and the Monument—A man who could not trusthimself with a razor—Esquirol’s opinion of such cases—Danger of ascendingelevated places | p. [115]-120 | |
| CHAPTER VII. | ||
| OF THE ENTHUSIASM AND MENTAL IRRITABILITY WHICH, IFENCOURAGED, WOULD LEAD TO SUICIDE. | ||
Connexion between genius and insanity—Authors of fiction often feel whatthey write—Metastasio in tears—The enthusiasm of Pope, Alfieri, Dryden—Effectsof the first reading of Telemachus and Tasso on MadameRoland’s mind—Raffaelle and his celebrated picture of the Transfiguration—Theconvulsions of Malbranche—Beattie’s Essay on Truth—Influenceof intense study on Boerrhave’s mind—The demon of Spinello andLuther—Bourdaloue and his violin—Byron’s sensitiveness—Men do notalways practise what they preach—Cases of Smollett, La Fontaine, SirThomas More, Zimmerman—Tasso’s spectre—Johnson’s superstition—Concludingremarks | p. [121]-129 | |
| CHAPTER VIII. | ||
| PHYSICAL CAUSES OF SUICIDE. | ||
Influence of climate—The foggy climate of England does not increase thenumber of suicides—Average number of suicides in each month, from1817 to 1826—Influence of seasons—Suicides at Rouen—The Englishnot a suicidal people—Philip Mordaunt’s singular reasons for self-destruction—Causesof French suicides—Influence of physical pain—Unnaturalvices—Suicide the effect of intoxication—Influence of hepatic diseaseon the mind—Melancholy and hypochondriasis, Burton’s accountof—Cowper’s case of suicide—Particulars of his extreme depression ofspirits—Byron and Burns’s melancholy from stomach and liver derangement—Influenceof bodily disease on the mind—Importance of payingattention to it—A case of insanity from gastric irritation—Dr. Johnson’shypochondria—Hereditary suicide, illustrated by cases—Suicide fromblows on the head, and from moral shocks communicated to the brain—Dr.G. Mantell’s valuable observations and cases demonstrative of thepoint—Concluding remarks | p. [130]-161 | |
| xiiCHAPTER IX. | ||
| MORAL TREATMENT OF SUICIDAL MANIA. | ||
Diseases of the brain not dissimilar to affections of other organs—Earlysymptoms of insanity—The good effects of having plenty to do—Occupation—Dr.Johnson’s opinion on the subject—The pleasure derivedfrom cultivating a taste for the beauties of nature—Effect of volition ondiseases of the mind—Silent grief injurious to mental health—Treatmentof ennui—The time of danger, not the time of disease—The Walcherenexpedition—The retreat of the ten thousand Greeks under Xenophon—Influenceof music on the mind in the cure of disease—Cure of epidemicsuicide—Buonaparte’s remedy—How the women of Miletus were curedof the disposition to suicide, and other illustrations—Cases shewing howeasily the disposition to suicide may be diverted—On the cure of insanityby stratagems—On the importance of removing the suicidal patient fromhis own home—On the regulation of the passions | p. [162]-194 | |
| CHAPTER X. | ||
| PHYSICAL TREATMENT OF THE SUICIDAL DISPOSITION. | ||
On the dependence of irritability of temper on physical disease—Voltaire andan Englishman agree to commit suicide—The reasons that induced Voltaireto change his mind—The ferocity of Robespierre accounted for—Thestate of his body after death—The petulance of Pope dependent onphysical causes—Suicide from cerebral congestion, treatment of—Advantagesof bloodletting, with cases—Damien insane—Cold applied to thehead, of benefit—Good effects of purgation—Suicide caused by a tapeworm—Earlyindications of the disposition to suicide—The suicidal eye—Ofthe importance of carefully watching persons disposed to suicide—Cunningof such patients—Numerous illustrations—The fondness for aparticular mode of death—Dr. Burrows’ extraordinary case—Dr. Conollyon the treatment of suicide—Cases shewing the advantage of confinement | p. [195]-220 | |
| CHAPTER XI. | ||
| IS THE ACT OF SUICIDE THE RESULT OF INSANITY? | ||
The instinct of self-preservation—The love of life—Dr. Wolcott’s death-bed—Anecdoteof the Duke de Montebello—Louis XI. of France—Singularxiiideath of a celebrated lawyer—Dr. Johnson’s horror of dying—Theorgan of destruction universal—Illustrations of its influence—Sir W. Scott,on the motives that influence men in battle—Have we any test of insanity?—Mentalderangement not a specific disease—Importance ofkeeping this in view—Insanity not always easily detected—Is lowness ofspirits an evidence of derangement?—The cunning of lunatics—Esquirol’sopinion that insanity is always present—Moral insanity—The remarkablecase of Frederick of Prussia—Suicide often the first symptom of insanity—Casesin which persons have been restored to reason from loss of blood,after attempting suicide—The cases of Cato, Sir Samuel Romilly, LordCastlereagh, Colton, and Chatterton, examined—Concluding remarks | p. [221]-245 | |
| CHAPTER XII. | ||
| SUICIDE IN CONNEXION WITH MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE. | ||
The importance of medical evidence—The questions which medical men haveto consider in these cases—Signs of death from strangulation—Singularpositions in which the bodies of those who have committed suicide havebeen found—The particulars of the Prince de Conde’s case—On the possibilityof voluntary strangulation—General Pichegru’s singular case—Themelancholy history of Marc Antonie Calas—How to discover whethera person was dead before thrown into water—Singular cases—AdmiralCaracciolo—Drowning in a bath—The points to keep in view in casesof suspicious death—Was Sellis murdered?—Death from wounds—Thecase of the Earl of Essex | p. [246]-264 | |
| CHAPTER XIII. | ||
| STATISTICS OF SUICIDE. | ||
Number of suicides in the chief capitals of Europe from 1813 to 1831—Statisticsof death from violence in London from 1828 to 1832—Numberof suicides in London for a century and a half—Suicides in Westminsterfrom 1812 to 1836—Suicide more frequent among men than women—Modeof committing—Influence of age—Effect of the married state—Infantilesuicides—M. Guerry on suicides in France—Cases—Suicideand murder—Suicide in Geneva | p. [265]-279 | |
| xivCHAPTER XIV. | ||
| APPEARANCES PRESENTED AFTER DEATH IN THOSE WHOHAVE COMMITTED SUICIDE. | ||
Thickness of cranium—State of membranes and vessels of brain—Osseousexcrescences—Appearances discovered in one thousand three hundred andthirty-eight cases—Lesions of the lungs, heart, stomach, and intestines—Effectof long-continued indigestion | p. 280-282 | |
| CHAPTER XV. | ||
| SINGULAR CASES OF SUICIDE. | ||
Introduction—Contempt of death—Eustace Budgel—M. de Boissy and hiswife—Mutual suicides from disappointed love—Suicide from mortification—Mutualsuicide from poverty—A French lady while out shooting—Afisherman after praying—Determination to commit if not cured—Extraordinarycase after seduction—Madame C. from remorse—M. dePontalba after trying to murder his daughter-in-law—Young lady in a pet—SirGeorge Dunbar—James Sutherland while George III. was passing—Lancetgiven by a wife to her husband to kill himself—Servant girl—Curiousverses by a suicide—Robber on being recognised—A man whoordered a candle to be made of his fat—After gaming—Writing whilstdying—From misfortune just at a moment of relief—Curious paperswritten by a suicide—By heating a barrel in the fire—By tearing out thebrains—Sisters by the injunction of their eldest sister—Mutual frompoverty—Girl from a dream—Three servants in one pond—Indifferenceas to mode—By starvation—A man forty-five days without eating—Mutualof two boys after dining at a restaurateur’s—By putting head underthe ice—By a pair of spectacles—By jumping amongst the bears—Younglady from gambling—Verses by a suicide—To obtain salvation—A loverafter accidentally shooting his mistress—Mutual attempt—M. Kleist andMadame Vogle—Richard Smith and wife—Love and suicide—Bishop ofGrenoble—Suicide in a pail of water—Mutual suicide of two soldiers—LordScarborough—A man who advertised to kill himself for benefit offamily—The case of Creech, and the romantic history of Madame deMonier—Suicide of M. ——, after threatening to kill his brother—Twoyoung men—Two lovers—Homicide and suicide from jealousy—Cure ofpenchant for suicide—Attempt at prevented—Man in a belfry—Attemptat—The extraordinary case of Lovat by crucifixion | p. [283]-334 | |
| xvCHAPTER XVI. | ||
| CAN SUICIDE BE PREVENTED BY LEGISLATIVE ENACTMENTS?—INFLUENCEOF MORAL INSTRUCTION.—CONCLUSION. | ||
The legitimate object of punishment—The argument of Beccaria—A legalsolecism—A suicide not amenable to human tribunals—Evidence atcoroners’ courts ex-parte—The old law of no advantage—No penal-lawwill restrain a man from the commission of suicide.—Verdict of felo-de-sepunishes the innocent, and therefore unjust—All suicides insane, andtherefore not responsible agents—The man who reasons himself intosuicide not of sound mind—Rational mode of preventing suicide by promotingreligious education | p. [335]-340 | |
ERRATA.
Page 46, for “mens conscia” &c. read mens sana in corpore sano, and for “Horace” read Juvenal.