Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 58.djvu/620

612 to a temperature of eighty-five degrees, but above that point they fall off very rapidly. This fact, however, is not hard to account for, since a considerable amount of energy is required to be objectionably out of order, and at such conditions of heat this seems hardly available.

—Considering the liability that accidental conditions affect the validity of our curves at their extremes, the results shown in Fig. 4 prove conclusively that low conditions of pressure are accompanied by excesses in suicides, with corresponding deficiencies for the reverse barometrical readings. We can not, however, suppose that it is the actual density of the atmosphere which produces this marked effect. A difference of pressure as great as that between the two extremes for New York City would be experienced in going to the Adirondacks, and five times as great in a trip to Colorado, without producing tendencies to personal annihilation, so we must look for our explanation elsewhere. It is probably to be found in the relation which exists between atmospheric pressure and some other weather states—possibly storms. The peculiar mental and physiological conditions which prevail for a considerable period just preceding violent storms or marked changes of weather have long been recognized, and it may be that in them we have the solution. Persons afflicted with gout or rheumatism, or even corns, can 'feel' the approach of such meteorological conditions, and certain mental peculiarities are probably just as prevalent. Many weather proverbs are based upon the unusual activities of members of the animal kingdom at such times, and as a storm is often preceded by a low condition of the barometer, we have perhaps an explanation of their cause. More work, however, must be done to demonstrate this as a scientific fact.

—The results of the study of suicide for this condition (Fig. 5) are in themselves conclusive, but directly opposite to those found in similar studies made for Assault and Battery, Deportment in the Public Schools and the New York City Penitentiary, and the behavior of the insane. For suicide the excesses are for high humidities; for the others mentioned they were for low.

The showing for suicides seems to be what would be naturally expected if we were to theorize on the matter, as those unendurable 'sticky' days, when one feels it his prerogative to be 'out of sorts,' are usually of high humidity. There are some interesting conclusions to be drawn here by a comparison of this curve with that for precipitation. The latter showed deficiencies of suicide for rainy days, while this gives an excess for humid ones. Now, all rainy days are humid, but not all humid days are rainy, and our logical conclusion must be that the excesses shown by the present figure must have been for the humid variety, yet