Suicide

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Oct 17, 1906

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 40.

Suicide.—A medical writer in the New York Medical Record, referring to the increase of suicide as "civilization" increases, tells us that all statistics are unreliable as "there are many cases of suicide reported as being due to other causes." On account of uncertainty and the feelings of the relatives, the physician certifies the cause as "heart failure," "apoplexy," etc. Men cling to life, (1) from fear of death; (2) a belief in happiness from living; (3) the belief that suicide is a moral wrong; (4) a fear that death may not be a total annihilation. The two first reasons are readily overcome; but not the last two. When all are overcome in the mind of the person, suicide is easy. It is rare, he tells us, that an invalid ever commits suicide. The trouble lies with the mind and soul.