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    SOCIETY IN ALGIERS. 103

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    Second Abticxe. Al Attempts Geria As Aga...

    real cause of a determined suicide or horrible murder , one must examine tlie state of healthof the criminal or patientthe state of the

    to atmosp think here when , or a the man changes deliberatel , of the hangs wind . himself For instance in , his , own what house is one ,

    behind his own door , coolly kicking y away the chair by which he mounted to put his head in the rope noosebecause his wife refused

    to cook him a starling for supper which he , had shot and set his heart on eating that evening ? I had to examine this case , and

    there was no other motive to be found on most careful investigation into his life and the events of the day . " This man was a German ,

    have he and had I console certainl staye d d y him in do his not self own believe very country easil he would y ; with probabl have lager y committed , at beer home , and , this he thoug would act ht if

    nothing Sometimes of his when disappointment the wind blows . from the desertmen are seized

    with a sudden , fury , and will rush out into the public , ways and kill the first whom they meet .

    Some person places predispose to suicide . We believe they are those which are particularly exposed to the wind . Several

    Customhouse officers have committed suicide , within my memory , in the fort on Point Pescade . This fort is situated on a most melancholy

    and desolate place , on a rock out in the sea , under which runs a vast cavernthought bthe natives to be haunted by djinsor evil

    sp and irits the . strange Probabl , look y , the y of noise the seals of when the sea they rushing lift their into heads the , above cave ,

    the water in the twilight , and utter their melancholy bark , combined with the solitude and the roaring of the wind , affects the

    imagination , and produces some kind of superstitious terror approaching In one of to the insanit corridors y . of the new barracks above the Casbah _,

    we remember that a number of soldiers were seized with an unaccountable mania to commit suicide . Some succeeded in the attempt ,

    and the commander of the garrison applied to me for advice . I examined it , and found that the wind blew down the corridor in a

    way to give dizziness in the head , particularly when it came from the desert . It seemed as if a number of strange and unknown

    voices were calling you , and it was not astonishing that these poor soldierstransported from their own country into a strange land ,

    should be , seized with melancholy , and inclined to commit suicide . The commander ordered that this room should never be used

    again . Very often men in Algiers have chosen the slowest and most painful method of putting an end to their lives : some

    have killed themselves by mutilating their bodies and cutting themselves ( so to speak ) in ieces . Among other casesI remember

    a Custom up -house officer in the p fort on the Point Pescade , who first of of , in

    all cut his throat with a razorthen broke the blade a penknife his stomachand struck himself , in the same place with a large knife . ,

    After having tided _ag-ain to kill himself by these means , and not suc-

    Society In Algiers. 103

    SOCIETY IN ALGIERS . 103

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Oct. 1, 1860, page 103, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01101860/page/31/