first marked by great physical excitement, the latter accompanied or preceded by sadness, moroseness, and love of solitude. Curious cases are related in illustration of this doctrine, amongst others we remark that of an English nobleman who cast himself into the crater of Vesuvius. A German in the same year, not being able perhaps to travel so far, threw himself into a smelting furnace. Several cases are recorded of individuals who formed the desperate resolution of starving themselves. It appears that in many instances the most trifling circumstance has driven these reckless beings to the commission of this desperate action. The case of a young Parisian author of the name of Escoupe, who suffocated himself because one of his dramatic productions had been severely criticised, is well known. A German student destroyed himself because he had a club-foot, and another youth put an end to his existence in consequence of his not having been allowed to put on his Sunday clothes. Dr. Schlegel has given a curious table of the means of destruction resorted to according to the several ages of individuals, and we give the following abstract:

In classing 9000 cases of suicide which happened in Paris between the years 1796 and 1830, Dr. Schlegel concludes that what he terms the "philosophic suicide," is that which is perpetrated after deliberation, during the night or shortly before sunrise; whilst when it is not the result of premeditation, it occurs during the day.

The choice between shooting and hanging may be accounted for on the same grounds. A young man, in a fit of frantic passion, from disappointed love, or losses at play, will probably, on his return home, seize a pistol and blow out his brains; whereas hanging needs reflection and some preparation and precaution, which would alone suffice to bring a reflective creature to a proper sense of his folly, unless predetermined to destroy himself by "philosophic suicide."

It appears in these accounts that suicide in France has greatly increased since the revolution. The average number during the last forty-two years being 409, the number in Paris being 1639 annually. Dr. Schlegel informs us that there exists a society in Paris called, "Society of the Friends of Suicide." It consists of twelve members, and a lot is cast annually to decide which of them is to destroy himself in the presence of the others. Certain qualifications and testimonials were required before a candidate could be admitted into this amiable club:

1. He must prove himself a man of honour.

2. He must have experienced the injustice of mankind, been injured by a dear friend, or betrayed by a mistress or a wife.

3. He must have experienced, for some considerable time, a miserable vacuity of soul, and a discontent with every thing in the world.

This association reminds me of a ball that was established in Paris after the reign of terror, called Le Bal des Victimes, to which no person could be admitted unless they had had a near relation guillotined.

Dr. Schlegel has also given the following statistical table of the proportion of suicides to various populations-both as regarding counties and principal cities:

According to our ingenious author, drunkenness is the chief cause of suicide in England, Prussia, and Germany; love and gambling in France; whilst bigotry, or the fear of dying without having received the sacrament, he supposes, prevents it in Spain, where, comparatively speaking, suicide is seldom heard of.

The same remark may apply to Italy, where a Roman lady, having heard of such an action, exclaimed, Dev' essere un forestiere; gli Italiani non sono tanto matti." She was right, the suicide was a melancholy German tailor.

In India, where the doctrine of predestination is generally prevalent, it is calculated that in one year there were forty suicides in a population of 250,000, twenty-three of which were females.

Arntzenius quotes Gall's opinion, that suicide arises from too great a predominance of the organ of cautiousness. Combe and other phrenologists are of opinion, that with this predominance a deficient development of hope and a large destructiveness must be conjoined.

It has been remarked that in Spain and Portugal, where insanity is comparatively rare, malconformation of the brain and consequent idiotism are very frequent.

Since the peace it may be more difficult to arrive at any conclusion on the subject of increase of lunacy, founded on the admission of lunatics into public and private establishments, since emigration has carried so many families and operatives of every description abroad, many of whom, from various disappointments and vexations, might have been predisposed to insanity.

It appears that in 1836 there existed in England and Wales 6402 lunatics, 7265 idiots-13,667 lunatics and idiots. Of paupers alone, or lunatics and idiots, there were 1.00098 of the total population, or 1 in 1024.

However, according to the most probable calculation, the number of lunatics in England amounts to about 14,000, out of which about 11,000 are paupers. Idiots are nearly as numerous as lunatics. Sir A. Halliday states the former to amount to 5741, and the latter to 6806. To this it must be observed that many harmless idiots are allowed to remain in their usual residence. In Wales it appears that idiots are to lunatics in the proportion of seven to one. The difficulty of obtaining any certain information on this subject, however, is such, that it is scarcely possible to decide the question. with any chance of a probable certainty.

In regard to the prevalence of lunacy in other countries, the following are curious statistical statements:

In Spain, in 1817, according to the report of Dr. Luzuriaga, there only existed in the asylums of Toledo, Granada, Cordova, Valencia, Cadiz, Saragossa, and Barcelona, 509 lunaticsonly fifty were in the hospitals of Cadiz, sixty in that of Madrid, and thirty-six in the kingdom of Granada.

In Italy, in twenty-five asylums in Turin, Genoa, Milan, Brescia, Verona, Venice, Parma, Modena, Bologna, Ferrara, Florence, Sienna, Lucca, and Rome, Mr. Brierre only found 3441 patients. The population of these parts of Italy amounting to about 16,789,000 inhabitants, which gives one lunatic to 4879 persons.

Scott, who accompanied Lord Macartney's embassy to China, observed that very few insane persons were to be found there. Humboldt states that madness is rare amongst the natives of South America. Carr made the same remark in Russia. In Spain and Italy, religious melancholy, and that most vexatious species of insanity called erotomania, are the

more common.

rare.

In the savage tribes of Africa and America insanity is very Dr. Winterbotham affirms, that among the Africans near Sierra Leone, mania is a disease which seldom if ever occurs. Idiotism was likewise a rare phenomenon among them. Among the negro slaves in the West Indies it is scarcely known, and during three years' residence in the Bahamas, only one case of monomania fell under my observation. Amongst the native races of America it scarcely exists. From these observations we may conclude, with Esquirol, that insanity belongs almost exclusively to civilized races of men, that it scarcely exists among savages, and is rare in barbarous countries. To what circumstance are we to attribute this exemption? Possibly it may be attributed to simplicity in living, which predisposes to less disease and morbid varieties of organization, and to the absence of that refined education which exposes man to the artificial wants and miseries of high civilization. It is moreover probable that the constant occupation which the existence of the savage requires to satisfy his absolute necessities, does not leave him leisure time to ponder over gloomy ideas and fictitious sufferings. In addition to these circumstances, Dr. Pritchard has justly remarked, that we might also conjecture that congenital predisposition is wanting in the offspring of uncivilized races. The same

author admits the probability of the brain receiving a different development in the progeny of cultivated races, or of those whose mental faculties have been awakened.

Various professions have been supposed to exercise much influence on the intellectual faculties. The following observations at the Salpétrière during one year may tend to illustrate this subject:

According to the prevalence of the ideas connected with their former pursuits do we observe the hallucination of these unfortunate persons to be of a different character. Dr. Abercrombie relates the case of a Scotch clergyman, who was brought before a jury to be what is called in Scotland cognosced, or declared incapable of managing his affairs. Amongst the acts of extravagance alleged against him was, that he had burnt his library. When he was asked by the jury what account he would give of this part of his conduct, he replied in the following terms: "In the early part of my life I had imbibed a liking for a most unprofitable study, namely, controversial divinity. On reviewing my library, I found a great part of it to consist of books of this description, and I was so anxious that my family should not be led to follow the same pursuits, that I determined to burn the whole." He