Fire Arms are used chiefly in Italy and Switzerland; they form the fifth means in order of frequency in England. In the neighbourhood of the military frontiers of Austria and Germany they are a frequent means of death.
Cut Throat occupies about the same position as drowning in England and Ireland; but in no other country is it anything like so common. It is beyond all other wounds the most common. Opening of the veins is an almost forgotten practice.
Falls from a height are a specially favoured means of destruction with the Italians; it is neglected by all other nationalities.
Poison is another mode of killing very popular among the Anglo-Saxons, especially in England and the United States. Some poisons are very easily procured by anyone, because they are used in the arts, whilst others are difficult to be obtained, and are seldom used for suicidal purposes, except by medical men and chemists.
The poisons most frequently used are: Opium, morphia, and their preparations; prussic acid, cyanide of potassium (used in photography), and essential oil of bitter almonds (used in cookery); carbolic acid and its preparations, the disinfectant liquids; oxalic acid (used in the arts, to clean metals); strychnia and its preparations, the vermin-killing powders.
Less frequently used are lunar caustic; the mercurial salts; the vegetable narcotics; the mineral acids; preparations of arsenic, phosphorus, and its preparations, chiefly vermin killers; and salts of copper.
Suffocation by carbonic acid gas was first used in Paris. Closed charcoal stoves are common in France, and it is easy to destroy life by means of them in a small room. The practice is spreading in France, and has taken root in Germany also.
I now subjoin tables of the means employed in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and in London, and in Europe generally.
English Suicides tabulated according to Means.
| Means, | 1881. | 1882. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male. | Female. | Male. | Female. | |
| Railways and other vehicles | 44 | 6 | 51 | 5 |
| Fire-arms | 118 | 4 | 121 | 2 |
| Cut throat | 279 | 60 | 264 | 56 |
| Cuts and stabs | 16 | 2 | 23 | 3 |
| Falls from a height | 27 | 13 | 20 | 21 |
| Burns, scalds, explosions | 2 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Drowning | 271 | 172 | 240 | 179 |
| Hanging | 474 | 111 | 528 | 120 |
| Strangling | 37 | 12 | 30 | 9 |
| Suffocation by vapours | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Poison | 147 | 81 | 117 | 111 |
| Other causes | 59 | 17 | 47 | 13 |
| Total | 1,476 | 479 | 1,446 | 519 |