Felo-De-Se
309 Art. VIII? :Author: William R. HUGGARD, B.A., M.D., Assistant Medical Officer, Sussex and Brandenburgli House Asylums, Hammersmith.
J- wo essays of great interest on suicide have recently appeared in our American contemporary.* Mr. Palmer’s paper is really a criticism of a judgment given in one of the New York courts. The judge ” deliberately held, in an action upon a life insurance policy, that suicide per se was evidence of insanity, and so ruled in the case before him, and that the burden of proof that the felo-de-se was not insane was upon the defendant. That judge would, of course, have ruled, if the question had arisen in respect to the ancient Stoic or Epicurean philosophers who destroyed themselves, claiming the act to be one ol heroism, that they were all insane.”
Dr Gray’s object in discussing the subject is different. The moral barrier is, he thinks, the main safeguard against the suicide of sane people; and it is a barrier that has not sufficient stress laid upon it. Even in the insane the horror of suicide inculcated by Christianity counts for something. ” On my way to lecture this morning I cut from the newspaper this slip, an entire column, headed ‘ Gone from home or life; flight from real or imaginary ills.’ And this is the record, in this city, of one day: five suicides, three of them manifestly insane people wandering about at will, and two not insane. Those insane were, or ought to have been, under the care of some physician or responsible person, for even this newspaper gives a history of disordered health and mental depression in all of them. But it all goes in as neivs followed by no comments. Five murders would have startled this great city to its centre, but these five self-murders do not make even a ripple on the social surface. This goes to show that suicide is of such common occurrence as not to attract attention beyond that given to an ordinary acci- dent, or that it is accepted, after all, as a justifiable mode of getting out of the world.” And he quotes the case of a boy * “Suicide not Evidence of Insanity,” by 0. H. Palmer, New York. Eead before the Medico-Legal Society of the City of Now York. “Suicide,” by John P. Gray, M.D., LL.D., Professor of Psychological Medicine and Jurisprudence, Superintendent of the New York State Lunatic Asylum, Utica; being a series of Lectures delivered at Bellevue Hospital Medical School, March 1878. Both of these papers are published in the American Journal of Insanity, April and July 1878.
310 FELO-DE-SE.
thirteen years old who attempted to commit suicide by shooting himself. The injury, however, did not prove fatal. Dr Gray says: ” There was no condition of mental clouding, as he de- liberately purchased the pistol and arranged his duties; and, as he said to me, made up his mind that he could not do what was required of him, and that he would rather kill himself than be constantly talked to. He had not taken into consideration the moral question, and was quite startled when I told him it was wicked. He said the papers did not say so about Mr. (a respectable citizen who had killed himself a few days before).” This is an apt case, and it illustrates the state of public feeling with regard to the act. The boy did not consider the act wicked, neither in fact do the public. They regard it rather as foolish. The law looks on suicide as a kind of murder. But do the same feelings arise within us when we read that a man has deliberately planned and executed the murder of his neigh- bour, and when we read that a woman, sinned against, an out- cast, branded by the finger of scorn, and treated with contumely by those who were once her companions?when we read that she has fled from the misery and wickedness of life, vainly (as some think) seeking in death a period to her sorrow and to her crime ? Or when we read of a man, poverty stricken in his old age, bed- ridden, racked with incurable pain, and though surrounded by devoted children that half starved themselves to supply him with what comforts they might, has by his own act for ever departed from the troubles and the pains of this world ? Are cases of this kind to be looked on as the consummation of wickedness ? Are they to be looked on as in themselves evidence of insanity ? Or are they to be looked on as the deliberate and sane determi- nation of persons borne down with remorse, with affliction, or with pain ?
In endeavouring to clear up the subject we shall find it best to consider first with some little detail whether suicide is in itself evidence of insanity.
This view has been put forward by some writers, and indeed it seems to be the view generally taken by coroners’ juries. This doctrine seems to have sprung out of the command, ” Thou shalt not kill,” which has been generally interpreted to condemn suicide. Whether the command bears this meaning or not will be considered presently in examining whether suicide is always a wicked act. But however that may be, the doctrine has been pretty widely accepted. The consequence was that it seemed wholly incomprehensible that any man in his right mind could deliberately commit as the last act of his life a crime that in- volved everlasting torment. That a man should live a life of villany and commit without remorse crimes of the greatest magnitude, excited no surprise. He was supposed to have before liis mind the intention of future repentance. But that a Bane man should do an act that was construed as defying God, and that made repentance impossible?this was deemed in- credible. The Church held out no hope of mercy to the sinner that hurried himself into the presence of his Maker. It was no excuse that his misery was greater than lie could endure. He lacked faith in the good providence of God, and he must perish. It is not to he wondered at that men who are not theologians should recoil with horror from a verdict that not merely blackens the reputation of one whom they know to have been blameless through life, and whose chief sin consisted in sinking beneath his misfortunes, but also seems to sentence him to everlasting torment. Mental depression is eagerly made out to be equivalent to insanity, and the jury consider that at least they have taken the merciful view of the case; they have averted an undying stigma from the family of the deceased, and they have done no one any harm.
I may remark in passing that those very people who charge suicides with madness because of their incomprehensible temerity, often inconsistently charge them with cowardice at the same time. It is very extraordinary that anyone can be blind to so glaring a contradiction. I can account for it only by supposing it is due to over-great anxiety to heap obloquy from all sides upon the act.
There is generally a history of depression ; and, as I have remarked, an attempt is always made to prove that the victim really suffered from melancholia. But many people whose sanity has never been questioned have committed suicide. Samson and Judas Iscariot no doubt suffered from depression; we do not, however, therefore call them insane, 01 say that they were not responsible for their acts. Mr. Palmer cites many cases of great interest. Men 011 the verge of bankruptcy have insured their lives heavily: before the next premium fell due they have committed suicide in such a way as to make it appear that they had been murdered. In this way they hoped to swindle the insurance company for the aggrandisement of their families. Several cases are given in detail in his essay. He describes also some Eastern customs which are worth quoting in full. ” Even under British rule in India to-day, suicide is very common, and more or less tolerated of necessity by the autho- rities. Among the many castes in that countiy is one held in high esteem by reason of the great importance of the service its members perform as carrier-messengers and mail-carriers. Strange as it may seem, suicide has been the protection of this caste against brigands and highwaymen from time immemorial
A peculiar and terrific custom of this caste is maintained as a necessary safeguard to its calling. A carrier who has been robbed is deemed to have been despoiled of what is a thousand times dearer to him than life, his honour; and in the presence of the robber, after vainly giving him full warning and an oppor- tunity to restore the property stolen from him, he kills himself; thereupon the whole caste of the carrier rises as one man and swears a remorseless vendetta against the thief, his family, kins- men, friends, and village, until the last soul of them is exter- minated. There is no other atonement. The carrier, entering the service of the public, bound himself, by the most solemn and fearful oaths, under the sanction of his religion, to protect his caste and to punish any attempt to dishonour one of its mem- bers ; the Brahmins consecrated this service by pronouncing the most appalling anathemas against the transgressor, and so the custody and transportation of property by one of their caste passed into a law. At this day, a package, however valuable, in the hands of one of these men is safer than though guarded by an army; much safer than public moneys under the control of politicians, or trust funds in the care of some savings banks. It might be a blessing if we had a similar caste in this country to declare a relentless vendetta against the thieves and robbers. ” There is another Brahmin custom executed by this carrier caste, which may be termed a short and effectual way for the collection of debts. In many of the provinces of Malabar, the carrier will become security for the payment of debts by pledging his life to the creditor, for proper consideration, that the debtor shall fulfil his obligations. If, on the day of payment, the creditor is not satisfied, the carrier goes and sits quietly on the debtor’s verandah, and calls upon him to pay on the spot. If he refuse, the carrier makes a few incisions in his breast with his dagger, and in a loud voice gives notice that if, by sundown, the debt is not paid, he will plunge the dagger into his own heart, leaving vengeance to his caste. This process never fails; the debtor cannot escape. Neither the ingenuity of lawyers, nor the weakness of judges, nor the stupidity of jurors can save him. No bills of exceptions or dilatory motions can postpone the day of payment.
” The hari-kari custom of the Japanese is familiar to all, but there is another custom peculiar to them which perhaps is not so generally known. The man who resents an insult by dis- embowelling himself, goes out of the world in the happy belief that he can at once come back as an avenging spirit and work his enemy tenfold more harm in that way; that he can hover about his path, make his plans miscarry, bring sickness and all sorts of evil upon him, and control his destiny to an evil end.” From these cases it is evident enough that even at the present day suicide must not be looked on as always an insane act. In the case of insurance company swindlers, great injustice would arise from so looking on it. The question is an in- teresting and an important one too, how shall we tell sane from insane suicides. What warrants the belief in insanity ? and what are the motives that lead sane people to the deed ? It is not possible to lay down any one criterion applicable in all cases. Dr Gray attempts to do so. This is what he says:? ” I have already said that the essential distinction between suicide of sane and insane was a delusional state of mind in the latter; and growing out of this there is a difference in what naay be denominated the invasion or development of the intent. I have never seen a case of suicidal attempt, where the person was insane, however mild the type, which was not preceded by more or less disturbance of physical health and mental oscillation. This is sometimes the case in the sane, but is far from being a rule. You will find that in most cases of de- veloping suicide, in insanity, there is not only the disturbance of health and mental oscillation, but the mental condition is a tendency to depression?to a painful mental state. In the majority of such cases the early symptoms are misleading to one not familiar with them. Therefore, I desire to impress them on your minds. Such persons become reticent, retiring, timid, fearful, apprehensive, self-condemning, morbidly con- scientious ; they may say they are too much trouble to their friends and family, and especially they may desire to be alone, or at least withdraw from society. This is a characteristic group of mental phenomena which should demand your recog- nition. From this mental state distinct delusions are soon formed, and they are likely to be of a character to suggest ideas of suicide.”
This statement requires some qualification. Acute maniacs and persons suffering from a kind of epilepsy (epilepsia lawee) occasionally destroy themselves ; yet they do not invariably suffer from delusions. Again, there is what is generally known as insane impulse. This so-called insane impulse is in most cases I believe not properly speaking an insane impulse; it is rather an impulse springing from a normal constituent of the mind ; but of this more shall be said presently. Of course it may occur in the diseased mind. In that case it is perfectly legitimate to speak of it as insane. With these exceptions, Dr Gray’s opinion is sound. Delusion is the main point of distinction between the suicide of the sane and of the insane. It is a well and long-established law of the healthy human mind that any idea that engrosses the attention tends to work itself into the actuality. The thought of some muscular action is apt to be followed by the action itself. For example, ” To think is to speak low”; the thinking a word tends to put into action the muscles of articulation. The idea is in fact the actuality in a weaker form. The idea of yawning suggested by seeing another yawn, or even by reading of yawning, has in itself a power to transform itself into the very action. This law is far-reaching in sweep, and explains many of the deepest secrets of our nature. At present I am concerned with only a very small portion of its influence. Most of us have felt, when on the edge of some high precipice, an inclination to throw ourselves from our lofty position. The idea of leaping down is so strongly suggested that an effort has to be made to restrain us from destruction. It is usual to call this ” giddiness ” or ” vertigo.” It is really the principle of Fascination. Many people, chiefly impressible people, tell us that they dare not watch a train coming up to a platform. They feel that if they do they must inevitably throw themselves beneath the approaching mpnster. Now if these people were exposed to the same circumstances without the possibilit}’ of turning away from the suggestion, is it not likely that the suggestion would accomplish its own end? In this way is explained the fre- quency of unpremeditated suicides in places of imposing danger. It is not that the victim is paralysed by fear. The active energies are really exerted; exerted, however, not for self-pre- servation but for destruction. The idea of precipitation is so strongly suggested that it becomes the sole and engrossing idea of the mind, and the transformation of it into the action is speedily effected.
But is it not an abuse of language to call these people insane ? We do not call every impressible or impulsive person mad. By insanity we understand a deviation from a person’s normal mental health. These people present no deviation from their normal state. It is part of the healthy condition of their minds to receive impressions and suggestions vividly, and to transform them readily into act. Unless, in fact, we establish an absolute standard of sanity, and take as the type of mental health a character altogether devoid of foolishness and of weakness, we are bound to consider these people sane. A posi- tion of appalling danger commands the attention of the most lethargic. To one not lethargic, to one keenly alive to the outside world and to the pleasures of life, such a position does more. It casts out all other thoughts, it imprints itself on the mind with terrible reality as inevitable destruction; there is no thought of turning aside; there is no thought of any but one thing. Can we wonder at the issue ? Certainly no one that has in the slightest degree attended to the working of the inner life will be surprised at it.
In this case then a person in his usual mental state kills himself without premeditation. The insane aspect of the same psychical part of our nature is seen in epidemic madness. There have been epidemics of madness of various kinds. A dancing mania was prevalent at one time ; a suicidal at another. In these cases the idea underlying the impulse is fixed; not a suddenly suggested and transient idea. These, however, need not detain us longer.
The cases just noticed have been ones of sudden impulse. But cases are of frequent occurrence where self-destruction is a deliberate act. It is our business now to examine very briefly these cases, with a view of discovering, as far as possible, the psychological condition of the mind that leads to the fatal deed. Apart from suicide through sudden impulse, it may be laid down as a general rule that pain of some kind is the determining cause.
Mention has already been made of those scoundrels who, when ruin is approaching, endeavour to swindle insurance com- panies. They have no hope for themselves; their position is irretrievable. Ashamed to act the part of honest men, and take the consequences of their previous folly or ill-luck, as the case may be, they not merely desert their post in the hour of need, but attempt in dying to defraud their fellow-men. Their crimes unhappily are beyond the reach of human laws, but no words can too strongly condemn their wickedness. The carriers of India too have been noticed. With them the act is a duty, a part of their morality, inculcated by religion.
Deep remorse and despair are nearly akin to a morbid state of mind. Notwithstanding this, we have examples of their power in men of sound mind. Criminals condemned to die have often endeavoured by destroying themselves to avoid having their sentence carried out in the legal manner. They know that in any case they are doomed, and they wish to escape the ignominy of a public death. No doubt in these cases despair is the chief mover. Possibly, too, even at such a solemn moment there may be a spice of revenge in depriving their enemies of a sup- posed gratification. For suicides of this kind of course we have no sympathy; though we certainly cannot feel surprised at their action.
There is another class of people, common enough in France, though happily not often found in England?I mean lovers that shoot themselves because of some quarrel or momentary disap- pointment with their sweethearts. Some petty jealousy, or perhaps a jilting, unsettles these poor noodles. They have a sickly and despicable kind of self-love, which leads them to try to immortalise their constancy and devotion, and at the same time inflict a petty retaliation on one unable to appreciate their greatness. These people, indeed, deserve no sympathy. They deserve nothing but contempt.
Another worthless class of suicides consists of those wretches that have some real misfortune to bear, that have some helpless and dependent ones, and nevertheless desert them in the time of their greatest need. These seem to me to be the cases really in the public mind when suicide is stigmatised as cowardice. Cowardly such conduct undoubtedly is, and the enormity of it is aggravated by the slur that falls on the family. The survivors are the only ones to suffer by the disgrace that belongs to the crime; the ignominious burial affects only them. We now turn to another state of mind leading to suicide, which does not strike us with the same horror. Severe bodily pain, long-continued and without hope of relief, weighs heavily on the mind. Suppose, too, there is no one dependent?no one to provide for. In such a case it seems a harsh judgment that pronounces him guilty of one of the most heinous crimes known to English law who has sunk beneath an accumulated load of misery, and has by his own act terminated his pain, injuring no man but himself, if, indeed, he does injure himself. If he sins at all, surely his sin is not a sin against his fellow- men. The relation of the question to Scripture will be con- sidered now.
Is there not a kind of fatalism, or rather feticliism, under- lying the ordinary interpretation of the law of Gfod ? It is assumed that God determines the destiny of all, and that man has merely to sit by and wait the appointed time. This view is indeed held at the present day by many very good, and in other respects intelligent, people. Some persons have carried this doctrine so far as to look on an army as the embodiment of unbelief. Prayer, say these people, is the proper weapon against foes; the Lord will defend His own. In like manner the Peculiar People consider it a gross want of faith to have recourse to a medical man in sickness; and in proof of their assertion they cite a command quite as appro- priate to their case as the Sixth Commandment is to suicide. The spirit of the Ten Commandments is plain. They are intended to enforce a devout, reverential, and pious attitude towards God, and a righteous life towards man.
Notwithstanding the Commandment, we think it right in many cases to take the life of our fellow-men. Nay, we are directed to do so. The law, then, is not absolute ; it admits of exceptions, and this confirms what I have just said about the general spirit of the Commandments. Now, what is the object of the law, ” Thou shalt not kill,” as shown by the exceptions ? The object evidently is to make secure what men generally cling tenaciously to and value most. Nowhere in the Bible is there anything, so far as I am aware, to substantiate the belief that the Sixth Commandment refers to killing one’s self.
We have no reason to think that Samson thought he was doing wrong in committing suicide. On the contrary, we have reason to think not merely that he considered that he was doing right, but that God approved of his intention. He prayed to God to be strengthened ” only this once,” and added, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Thereupon his strength returned; seizing the pillars he bowed himself with all his might, and was crushed beneath the falling pile. F rom this, of course, it does not follow that suicide is always right; it only shows that all who take the Bible as the rule of life must look 011 it as an act whose goodness or badness depends upon circumstances. “For a good man some would even dare to die. ho but a man of generous and noble mind would sacrifice his own life to save the life of a good man ? Is there any question here of lack of faith in God’s providence ? Is it not meant to be implied that it is one of the purest, loftiest, and holiest of deeds to lay down life for a good man, for a great principle, or for one’s country ? There are not wanting many well-known instances of this kind of self-sacrifice; instances that to this day, in spite of ill-founded Christian prejudice, are held up by Christian parents as examples of lofty-minded goodness. Hie case of Codrus, the last King of Athens, may be taken as an illustration. When the Dorians invaded Attica an oracle declared they should be victorious if they spared the life of the king. Codrus thereupon resolved to die for his country. He disguised himself and went into the enemy s camp, picked a quarrel with the soldiers, and was slain. It would be interesting to mention many other cases of distinguished virtue of a like kind; but as my object is merely to show that every case of suicide should, as regards the morality of the act, be judged upon its own merits, I must pass on.
Who would dare to call Lucretia mad ? And still more, who would dare to blame her ?
The principle that seems to be established is this. Suicide is in itself not to be regarded as irreverent towards God, or as hurtful to man. Nevertheless I believe it to be in many cases wicked, and in most cases foolish. It is wicked when the person thereby deserts a post of duty, and in doing so fails either to avert some harm or to accomplish some good for his fellows. To give examples is of course unnecessary. Seneca, a eulogist of suicide, who destroyed his own life when a fitting time, as he conceived it, came, was deterred hy this sense of duty from killing himself when he would have liked to do so. He says : ” Worn out with severe illness, I often thought of suicide, but was recalled by the old age of a most indulgent father; for I considered not how resolutely I could encounter death, but how he could bear up under loss of me.” Cicero, too, nobly says: ” The tears of my friends have prevented me from flying to death as my refuge.” In these cases, while it would have been base to give way to the temptation, it was noble to with- stand it.
As a last word for the morality, consider the power of the stronger emotions to bias the judgment. Hope, fear, love, to a great extent determine belief. In matters that closely affect our interests we are seldom guided altogether by the evidence before us. The lumen siccum intellectus is found only in men of the highest culture; and even these do not always consider dispas- sionately matters that affect themselves. What shall we say then of a person overwhelmed with anguish or with despair, or suffering, say, from malignant disease, dragging out with inde- scribable torture weary days and still more weary nights, loath- some alike to himself and to his dearest friends? Can we wonder if such an one offer up a hurried prayer to his God, and sever himself for ever from his earthly woe, persuading himself that at worst there will be an intermission to his torment, and that at best he may be forgiven ? Read the following painful case (and it is a common one), which occurred last year in the state of New York.
The daughter of a respectable farmer named Hoppin was seduced, under promise of marriage, by a young man of good family. The seducer then refused to marry the girl. She thereupon attempted to poison herself; she was, however, shortly afterwards discovered, and a fatal issue was averted. The fol- lowing letter, written just before she took the poison, was discovered:?
” Dear Parents, Brothers and Sisters,?Forgive me, but I have committed a great crime, and care not to live; I haven’t spent a happy day or moment for a number of months; I have tried to act natural, but found no pleasure anywhere ; there is one person who might have saved me from this; but he thought I was trying to deceive him. He knows why I die; God alone knows what I have suffered; oh, death is the only relief; you are all very dear to me, and it is hard to leave you, but it is best. I once enjoyed religion ; oh, that I had continued to serve God, I would not have been where I am now; oh, if I was the girl I was when I went to the Valley; I had always said I would never cause you any trouble; but I have fallen, and am for ever ruined. I hope you will all meet in heaven, I trust you will, but I shall never go there. Think of me as lost; I might have been a Christian now. The Bible says, the vilest sinner may return, hut it is better that I die than live as I am; you will soon for- get, and it is better that you should; tears prevent my writing, and I bid you Farewell for ever, ” Lina.
” My young friends will think I have done them great injus- tice in accepting their invitation, but I knew it was the last time, and I tried to forget the troubled future in so doing. ” Lina.”
This poor girl was not mad: her mind was swayed by power- ful emotions?remorse, despair, and affection. We can condemn her action as foolish; but we can hardly call it criminal. This leads me to speak of the law at present with regard to suicide. A verdict of felo-de-se involves disgrace and pecuniary loss to the surviving relatives. The person that commits the crime is not punished. The crime of those that are punished is kinship with the deceased. This law can never be a deterrent in those cases where suicide is a crime ; those who do the act criminally care little for their friends as a rule. Whilst in those cases where suicide is not a crime the action of the law is mani- festly unjust to all. It may be said that no harm ever really does come out of the law as it stands; a verdict of felo-de-se is never given. But why should we have our statistics falsified and our reason shocked by the stereotyped expression of ” temporary insanity” ? To escape having our feelings outraged by an unjust and purposeless vicarious punishment. It is no doubt a smaller evil that the verdict should be incorrect but harmless than that it should be correct but pregnant with injustice. There is no need for either evil. The remedy for criminal suicide is not to be found in punishments which cannot reach the defaulter. The true remedy is at present far off, but is, I trust, gradually approaching. It consists in a purer and loftier morality than is generally prevalent nowadays: not a morality of ceremony or of show; but a morality that really regards one’s neighbour as one’s self.
By way of summary the following conclusions may be enu- merated :? 1. Suicide is not evidence of insanity. 2. The suicide of sane persons does not always deserve to be regarded as criminal.
The law of suicide is not merely useless: it is unjust.
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