Note 88 — SUICIDE.

It is not for us in this place to argue the question whether excessive severity of punishment does or does not defeat its punishment; as more injury is done by inducing that illegal mercy which is here complained of, than benefit is derived by terror of the unexecuted sentence of the law: the subject is in abler hands; we shall, therefore, content ourselves with suggesting, that coroners should be far more strict in their examination of the bodies of persons supposed to be felo de se; nay, that anatomical inspection of the great cavities should be absolutely required in all cases. We will not maintain with a French author on Medical Jurisprudence, that the signs of insanity can often be discovered on dissection; though we can imagine some cases, as where there has been an excessive determination of blood to the brain, in which this inspection may be satisfactory; (See vol. 1, p. 327). Fourcroy and Durande have also found, on dissecting persons who had committed suicide, hardness of the liver, and gall stones; and Foderé observes that, in failure of other evidence, such appearances deserve to carry some weight. But benefit would still result from the practice; first from the general horror in which dissection is held, for if the dread of an ignominious burial, however remote the chance of its infliction, can be supposed to discourage this offence, under the existing law, the certainty of personal mutilation would operate in the proposed alteration. It is related, that when suicide had become so frequent among the Roman ladies, as to threaten ill effects to the commonwealth, the Senate decreed that the bodies of all who died by their own hands should be exposed naked in the public ways.

The effect of the decree was an immediate cessation of the crime; possibly the same result might be produced by the dread of dissection.