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—Anecdote of the Duke de Montebello—Louis
XI. of France—Singular death of a celebrated lawyer—Dr.
Johnson’s horror of dying—The organ of destruction
universal—Illustrations of its influence—Sir W. Scott, on
the motives that influence men in battle—Have we any test of
insanity?—Mental derangement not a specific disease—Importance
of keeping this in view—Insanity not always easily detected—Is
lowness of spirits an evidence of derangement?—The cunning
of lunatics—Esquirol’s opinion that insanity is always
present—Moral insanity—The remarkable case of Frederick of
Prussia—Suicide often the first symptom of insanity—Cases
in which persons have been restored to reason from loss
of blood, after attempting suicide—The cases of Cato, Sir
Samuel Romilly, Lord Castlereagh, 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 have to consider in these cases—Signs of death from
strangulation—Singular positions in which the bodies of those
who have committed suicide have been found—The particulars of
the Prince de Condé’s case—On the possibility of voluntary
strangulation—General Pichegru’s singular case—The melancholy
history of Marc Antonie Calas—How to discover whether a person
was dead before thrown into water—Singular cases—Admiral
Caracciolo—Drowning in a bath—The points to keep in view in
cases of suspicious death—Was Sellis murdered?—Death from
wounds—The case 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—Statistics of death from violence in London from 1828
to 1832—Number of suicides in London for a century and a
half—Suicides in Westminster from 1812 to 1836—Suicide more
frequent among men than women—Mode of committing—Influence of
age—Effect of the married state—Infantile suicides—M. Guerry
on suicides in France—Cases—Suicide and murder—Suicide in
Geneva p. 265-279

CHAPTER XIV.

APPEARANCES PRESENTED AFTER DEATH IN THOSE WHO
HAVE COMMITTED SUICIDE.

Thickness of cranium—State of membranes and vessels of
brain—Osseous excrescences—Appearances discovered in one
thousand three hundred and thirty-eight cases—Lesions of the
lungs, heart, stomach, and intestines—Effect of long-continued
indigestion p. 280-282