Child Suicides.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XXXIX, Issue 2083, 9 March 1908, Page 6

Child Suicides.

The suicide of a thirteen-year-old girl, unable to face a reprimand, at Hampstead, London, recently, is an example, according to a well-known psychologist, of the neurotic and overprecocious tendency of the age, “ That suicide for inadequate reasons is on the increase is common knowledge," he continued, “ but the most striking fact revealed by statistics is the number of young children who in the last few years have put an end to their lives. During 1001 eleven children of about the age of ton committed suicide, and in 1005 six cases of self-destruction in children of the same ago, and 118 cases between ten and fifteen years of age were recorded. In most of these cases the fear of reprimand for some slight neglect of duty seems to have been the cause. “ Despair caused by failure to keep up with school duties is a fruitful case of suicide among German children, over GOO of such cases having been traced by Professor Eulenberg, of Berlin, within the past twelve years. In liussia, another great centre of child suicide, political and Socialistic activity is common among the school children, and over-precocious ideas are a cause of self-destruction.

In England, unrequited affection or petulance at not being taken seriously in their youthful love affairs is the commonest cause of suicide among children of ffteen or sixteen.