was holding an empty bottle in one hand, and stated that
some two or three hours previously she had swallowed a
quantity of laudanum. As she was evidently very ill, the
divisional surgeon was sent for, and having administered
some coffee, ordered that she was to be kept awake.
When defendant was charged, she stated that the reason
why she attempted to take her life was she had neither
home nor friends.

I do not say that all people who commit suicide
are sane, no more than I say that all people who do
not commit suicide are sane. Insecurity of food
and shelter, by the way, is a great cause of insanity
among the living. Costermongers, hawkers, and
pedlars, a class of workers who live from hand to
mouth more than those of any other class, form the
highest percentage of those in the lunatic asylums.
Among the males each year, 26.9 per 10,000 go
insane, and among the women, 36.9. On the other
hand, of soldiers, who are at least sure of food and
shelter, 13 per 10,000 go insane; and of farmers
and graziers, only 5.1. So a coster is twice as likely
to lose his reason as a soldier, and five times as
likely as a farmer.

Misfortune and misery are very potent in turning
people s heads, and drive one person to the lunatic
asylum, and another to the morgue or the gallows.
When the thing happens, and the father and hus
band, for all of his love for wife and children and
his willingness to work, can get no work to do, it is

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