CHILD SUICIDE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2612, 21 September 1909, Page 5

CHILD SUICIDE.

INVESTIGATION IN GERMANY

Recently a case was recorded in France of a school suicide club, m which lots werd drawn, and the winner was cheerfully encouraged to justify his luck. That this is not an isolated 1 case is shown by the statement in the “Education Report for 1908,” that “cases of suicide among school children have increased in Germany to a degree that has induced the authorities to investigate the causes.” In a period covering twenty-three years 1152 cases were recorded in the public Press —very nearly one a week —and it is scarcely credible that over 800 of these were children under fifteen. One of the most peculiar phases is that, while the proportion of boys to girls was four to one below fifteen, there were only five cases of girls te 242 boys between the ages of fifteen and twenty. Fear of punishment was assigned as the cause for 330 cases; inherited mental disease was demonstrated in 70 cases; while 18 were attributed to “love.” “Anger,” “gambling,” “religious doubts,” “depressing literature,” are among the causes assigned, and the investigators emphatically blame the home for many cases. The report concludes:—“Harmonious education in school and home, and rational authoritative instruction in delicate subjects alone can counteract the baneful influence of erotic emotions during the time of adolescence.” Literature has something to do with the state of affairs in Germany, and it is a matter for debate whftther the oomic papers and “Deadwood Dicks” of the Australian youth are. after all, not a- good substitute for the Schopenhauer, alleged to be read by the young Germans.