Spontaneous Generation

SPONTANEOUS GENERATION, abiogenesis, generatio spontanea or aequivoca, hypothesis about the origin of life from non-living matter. This hypothesis has various shades. Sometimes it refers to the primary origin of life, i.e., the possibility of S.g. extends to any geological time; sometimes it refers only to the history of the origin of life on earth; and finally, S.g. is attributed to the realm of other planets and further other solar systems. The question of the possibility of artificially creating living beings synthetically in the laboratory is closely connected to this hypothesis. The relevance of the question of S.g. did not diminish over the centuries, but sometimes acquired enormous dimensions, since in the struggle of materialism with religion and idealism, the sides inevitably sought in the problem of spontaneous generation an auxiliary weapon of great power. A whole range of views on S.g. belongs to the philosophers of antiquity. The most important among them in influence on the ideas of subsequent epochs and very characteristic of its time was the view of Aristotle, limiting the ability to S.g. only to lower animals—fish, worms, insects. As for higher animals and man, they originate exclusively by the reproduction of their own kind. These views were supported by Aristotle's successor Theophrastus, and in this he was by no means alone. These naive ideas of ancient philosophers lasted for more than a millennium, capturing not only the Middle Ages but almost the entire era of the Renaissance. Paracelsus (1493-1541) asserted in his work "De natura rerum" cases of S.g. in nature and even proposed a special fantastic recipe for the laboratory manufacture of a "homunculus". Van Helmont (1577-1644) persistently pointed to the method of obtaining sexually mature male and female mice by squeezing "juices" from a dirty shirt onto wheat grains. Grindel von Ach in his work "Micrographia curiosa" in 1687 depicts a frog that originated from dew and describes the methodology for obtaining all sorts of animals from soils and minerals. Against the background of such views of subsequent time, the most original work of William Harvey (W. Harvey) on reproduction in animals stands out brightly in 1651. Having found through special embryological studies that development never begins from the larva ("worm") or pupa stage, as was often assumed before him, but necessarily from the egg stage, Harvey proclaimed his famous principle—"Omne Vivum ex ovo" (all living from egg). Nevertheless, Harvey still experienced the pressure of traditional thought and considered it quite possible, and sometimes even mandatory, for S.g. of the eggs themselves. One can say that the religious-scholastic Middle Ages, perhaps precisely because of the state of extreme ignorance in which it forcibly held society, created in the Renaissance particularly favorable conditions for the easy acceptance of that part of Aristotle's doctrine that deals with the questions of S.g. After the publication of Harvey's work, we meet with remarkably simple and convincing experiments by Francesco Redi (F. Redi, 1668), proving the impossibility of S.g. in insects. Showing that eggs and larvae of flesh flies do not form from decaying meat when conditions for flies to access it are eliminated, Redi confirmed the basic principle of Harvey and for decades discredited the idea of S.g., although Redi himself did not finally free himself from the hypnosis of this idea, despite support in research by Vallisneri, Swammerdam, and Réaumur on reproduction in various insects, fish, and many other animals. A new stage in the history of the problem of S.g. became possible after the discovery by A. Kircher (A. Kircher, 1601-1680) and especially by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (Leeuwenhoeck, 1632-1723) of the previously unknown world of microscopic organisms. At magnifications available to microscopes of that time (150-200 times), these organisms appeared to be extremely simply constructed. They easily and abundantly appeared in various organic infusions in nature and in the laboratory, and the thought of S.g. of them became not only attractive but began to acquire significant justification. In the era of the Enlightenment, Buffon, Ross, and a number of other prominent naturalists often spoke in favor of S.g., and opinions sometimes went so far back as if the experiments of Redi and his like-minded ones had never existed. Between the followers of Redi and the representatives of the rising doctrine of S.g., a heated discussion arose, exacerbated by religious-political factors. Can recognition of S.g. violate the dogma of the creation of organisms by God? This seemingly naive question seriously agitated the 18th century, since the spread of atheism among the burgeoning bourgeois society took very broad and diverse forms. The ingenious experimental work of the abbé Needham, who investigated the ability to S.g. in such media as infusions of various seeds, mutton broth, etc., resolved this question contrary to the abbé's devotion to religion in an unfavorable direction for it. Boiling and corking vessels with the indicated solutions did not stop the appearance of microorganisms in them, which he reported as undeniable and extremely important scientific phenomena of S.g. However, the Italian abbé Spallanzani (Spallanzani, 1729-1799) after a series of unsuccessful experiments finally established in 1765 the cause of Needham's experimental errors—insufficiently prolonged boiling of solutions and imperfect corking of vessels, as a result of which embryos of microorganisms entered from the air. Interestingly, it was Spallanzani who refuted S.g. and thus as if supported the religious dogma—a far from religious, Voltaire-friendly, revolutionary-minded abbé-scientist, while Needham had to directly by experiments refute this dogma, and together with Buffon prove his devotion to religion by introducing into science the mystical concept of "productive force" as a divine factor organizing life in infusions. The further struggle of Needham and Spallanzani, although it ended with the complete triumph of the latter, was subsequently as if forgotten and it re-enacted in almost the same form but with the participation of other persons. Thus, the enterprising confectioner Appert introduced the industrial production of canned goods, so that the ideas of Spallanzani triumphed in practice. However, the famous physicist Gay-Lussac did not find oxygen in the tin cans. The air was altered, and both supporters and opponents of S.g. were forced, to avoid objections, to direct their attention to the development of such an experimental methodology in which the air would not change its normal, natural physical and chemical properties when attempting to sterilize it from microorganisms. Schulze (F. Schultze, 1833) passed air into a vessel with medium through sulfuric acid, Schwann (T. Schwann, 1836) through red-hot tubes, Schroeder and Dusch (Schroeder und Dusch, 1853) through cotton tampons. All these experiments did not solve the problem; they gave contradictory and inconsistent results and caused a number of objections. Especially heated debates unfolded around the question in connection with Pouchet's defense of S.g. By this time, Pasteur already had enormous experience acquired by him in studying the vital activity of microorganisms related to various industries (brewing, winemaking, etc.). Some scientific intuitive confidence arising in Pasteur from this, his religiosity, which could not reconcile with the possibility of S.g., and finally—the announcement by the Paris Academy of Sciences of a competition for a prize to "shed new light on the question of S.g. by fortunate experiments"—forced Pasteur to take up the solution of the problem. In a relatively short time, he managed to prove the impossibility at present of S.g. of microorganisms on various nutrient organic and inorganic media. In his work, in an even more perfect form, the position of Spallanzani about the entry of microorganisms from the air was proven. The polemic of Pasteur with Béchamp further clarified the methodology and strengthened Pasteur's conclusions. The question of S.g., however, did not subside. In the subsequent period up to the present day, the discussion has taken qualitatively new forms with almost completely absent cosmogonic elements. Vitalism and mechanistic materialism quite openly choose this problem as one of the most convenient arenas for struggle between themselves. Supporters of the vitalist direction with satisfaction perceived Pasteur's conclusions and expanded them to unhistorical, metaphysical forms up to the recognition of the eternity of life (eternal theory). Preyer asserted that living is in general not only eternal but also primary, which subsequently separated from itself the elements of the inanimate world. Reinke speaks of life as having no history, as a creation of cosmic intellect. Richter, who in 1821 had a predecessor in Salgues de Monlivet, developed ideas about the eternal existence of life and the transfer of germs of organisms in the universe by means of meteors and comets. The meteoritic theory was supported by Liebig, Wagner, Helmholtz, and Thomson (Lord Kelvin).

Arrhenius, in a series of brilliant works, presented convincing calculations and considerations regarding electrical and light factors, especially light pressure, which could contribute to the transport of the smallest germs in world space. The works of a number of physicists (Lebedev, Maxwell, Schwarzschild, Nichols and Hull, Poynting) justified this theory of cosmic zoism or panspermia, giving it incomparable advantages over the easily debatable meteorite theory. The objections, which came down to assumptions about the destructive effects of long-term exposure to low interplanetary temperatures and particularly intense ultraviolet rays there, seemed to fall one after another as a result of numerous experiments (Becquerel and others). However, Millikan's data on the even more destructive action of light waves of very high frequency in the extra-atmospheric regions on spores place insurmountable difficulties before the theory of panspermia. Vernadsky, without openly positioning himself as a supporter of panspermia, sidesteps the question of the origin of life on Earth by disregarding the high temperatures that the Earth passed through in its development, which completely eliminate the possibility of life. Vernadsky considers the question of such stages in the planet's development to be one of the cosmogonic prejudices. The biosphere—the outer shell of the Earth with its adjacent atmosphere—existed, in his opinion, in all geological epochs and is therefore a suitable environment for life, since it itself is a product of the vital activity of the organisms inhabiting it. Similar in some respects to vitalistic ideas were also developed by Henderson—a typical eclectic, combining mechanistic and vitalistic principles in his views. Against the eternity of life, mechanistic materialism put forward various arguments about S. z. in previous geological epochs of the most elementary ancestors of all modern organisms. He also put forward experimental attempts to create not only inorganic models with individual properties of living cells, but also attempts to synthesize living protein substances. Nägeli begins the history of the development of the organic world with primary beings (probions), which arose through S. z. from inorganic matter. Probions are very simple—they are albuminoid droplets of plasma. Pflüger put forward the so-called cyanic theory of the origin of life. During periods of high t° on Earth, compounds CN arose freely, which persisted until the stage of the Earth's cooling, when CN, polymerizing together with hydrocarbons, gave rise to living proteins. Max Verworn also stood on positions defending S. z. at the dawn of the evolution of life. Particularly valuable for characterizing the helplessness of mechanistic materialism are the views of E. Haeckel, who put forward a coherent theory of abiogenesis or archigony, i.e., S. z. of primary organisms (monera) from special protein jellies, primary slimes, bathybia, arising in the deep spheres of the ocean. Similar bathybia were allegedly soon discovered at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, which greatly strengthened Haeckel's position, arousing the thought of S. z. in our epoch, until special studies established their by no means protein nature. However, Haeckel failed to explain how the non-living can become living, acquire qualitatively new properties, including consciousness. Haeckel's appeal to hylozoism led him against his will into the camp of vitalists and almost nullified his entire vehement struggle against idealism and religion. Natural-philosophical efforts only harmed Haeckel. They received due evaluation in the works of Engels. Lenin's attitude toward hylozoism in general and toward Haeckel's hylozoism in particular is brilliantly developed in 'Materialism and Empiriocriticism' (vol. XIII, p. 37 and 61, 3rd ed.) and does not speak in favor of Haeckel, as many tried to interpret it. In the most recent times, E. Perré put forward the chlorophyll theory of S. z. He considers the initial stage of the development of life to be the spontaneous synthesis of chlorophyll substances, which then carried out metabolism and, as a consequence of the latter, the formation and accumulation of living matter. Besides extreme mechanismism, this theory suffers from an excess of unjustified assumptions. Very recently, Oparin proposed the carbide theory, according to which the compounds of carbon with metals (carbide compounds) formed in the hot stage of the Earth gave, upon meeting with water, hydrocarbon compounds, which were oxidized into alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, and various organic acids. In water, they entered into compounds with cyan and ammonia, and the matter proceeded to the formation of colloidal solutions, amines, and various salts of organic acids. The gel-like, mucous states of such colloids could serve as the prototype of living matter. The experiments of Bach and Curtius on the artificial production of colloids of this type, suitable for feeding molds, give Oparin's theory an extremely convincing form. Koltsov also expresses interesting thoughts (see Life, the problem of the origin of life on Earth) on the evolution of colloidal micelles as a special evolution of proorganisms. Already in Oparin, a tendency to consider abiogenesis under the conditions of the modern geological epoch is noticeable. To an even greater extent, we observe this in Koltsov. The latter considers the basic property of micelles to be their liquid crystal-colloidal structure, their properties of growth and reproduction. Based on these properties, it is possible to construct the beginnings of a theory of the physicochemical foundations of morphology (in which a number of general biological problems are included—phenomena of heredity, problems of growth, reproduction, bacteriophagy, immunity, and finally S. z.). Such universal properties of micellar nature, some of which were so widely demonstrated in artificial mechanistic models by supporters of S. z.—Traube, Förlander, Lehmann, Leduc, Herr, Büchli, Rumbler, Quincke, Littlefield, and many others, together with the successful works of Wöhler, Wurtz, and Wurtz on organic syntheses, and E. Fischer and Abderhalden on the synthesis of amino acids and polypeptides, and finally the discovery of special associative bonds of peptide compounds in protein—all this gives not only the key to the artificial creation of living matter, but also lends some legitimacy to raising the question of the possibility of S. z. of proorganisms even in the modern geological epoch. Whether these proorganisms survive, whether they are, as Allen thinks, devoured by true organisms at the very moment of their emergence—this is another question. It does not affect the hypothesis at its root. In this, one should constantly remember that the emergence of living matter (proorganisms) and the emergence of organisms are phenomena that are deeply different both quantitatively and qualitatively (see Life, definition of the concept 'life'). The thoughts of Engels on this are extremely instructive. Life, according to Engels, is inextricably linked with protein: 'Life is the mode of existence of protein bodies, the essential moment of which is the constant metabolism with the external nature surrounding them, which ceases together with the cessation of this metabolism, leading to the decomposition of protein.' Moreover, Engels considered protein itself to be necessarily living: 'If it ever becomes possible to chemically construct protein bodies, then they will undoubtedly exhibit phenomena of life and will carry out metabolism—however weak and short-lived they may be.' Further, Engels points out that 'at best' such protein bodies may possess only the 'lowest forms—and of course not the form of organisms.' Engels defended the fundamental possibility of the artificial creation of life and, in this matter objecting to Helmholtz, pointed out that the incompleteness and imperfection of knowledge at that time about proteins were the only reasons for the failure of corresponding experimental attempts. With the same right and in the same sense, one can oppose the pessimistic moods in modern science regarding this the criticism of those biochemical studies that sought to synthetically construct protein. Thus, Abderhalden synthesized a polypeptide from 19 amino acids, but did not detect in it not only phenomena of life, but even great similarity to natural proteins. The latter turned out to be very unexpected, but only not for dialectical materialism, since Engels indicated other paths and starting points for such research. But mechanistic-materialistic ideas about the possibility of the existence of dead protein bodies built on the type of peptide bonds led biochemistry of protein into a dead end, and they collapsed as soon as it was discovered that peptide bonds of amino acids do not even create 'dead' protein. The most recent works have clarified that proteins are built in a special, specific way, due to the so-called associative bonds based on additional valence. This explains the very specific structure of protein and the conditions of its existence, and also confirms the basic provisions of Engels that 'protein, not in a state of decomposition, exhibits phenomena of life' and that there is no life outside protein. The question of artificially reproducing the spontaneous generation of proorganisms is thus to a large extent a question of mastering the technique of reproducing associative bonds between peptide-built groups of amino acids.'

To the same extent are also valid the other statements of Engels in the polemic against the cosmists, who operated with the concept of eternal life. The idea of eternal life does not coincide, but contradicts the dialectical-materialistic understanding of nature as movement. Life is not eternal. It arose from lower forms of movement at a certain stage in the evolution of matter. It had a long prehistory in the development and complication of inorganic matter; "Such development takes place necessarily always when the corresponding conditions are present (therefore not everywhere and always)" (Engels). The dialectical-materialistic principles extremely enrich the problem of S. z. They to an even greater extent than was the case in mechanistic concepts, saturate the problem with general biological content and again force one to take into account the problem of S. z. as one of the most important questions of modern biology, from the development of which discoveries of enormous scientific POWER should be expected. A. Paredelsky. SUICIDE (suicidium), intentional termination of one's own life. S. can be carried out directly, by a direct method, by some violent action that stops one of the most important functions of the organism (blood circulation, respiration), or indirectly, sooner or later leading the organism to death (e.g. starvation). An even more indirect method is to involve another person who agrees to relieve a person of the burden of life by killing them, or finally the intentional commission of some crime punishable by death. Along with individual, collective S. is also observed when two persons (most often) or a whole group (less often) organize their voluntary death in one way or another, and often one person kills another (or others), after which he takes his own life. History and ethnography teach that S. is known from the most ancient times and is found among almost all peoples of the globe to this day. But its distribution among peoples and epochs is extremely uneven. In the Bible, representing the entire history of the Jewish people over several millennia, there is not even a name for this kind of death, recorded in only four cases. But the great civilized countries of antiquity—Greece and Rome—knew S. well, giving it at different times different moral and legal evaluations. One can think that the primitive peoples of antiquity also knew S., judging by the data of modern ethnography. A number of authors (Ling Roth, Hubner and others) cite facts of S. among the natives of Borneo, among some East African tribes, among Australians, etc., and the motives for these S. are in general completely identical with the motives for S. in civilized countries. The widely known hara-kiri, so common in Japan, existed in that country even in deep antiquity and remains in force to the present time. Being in a large number of cases purely an individual act, hara-kiri at the same time represents a transition to another category of the phenomenon under consideration—to S. customary, illuminated by custom, surrounded by an aura of bravery and even in certain cases prescribed by law. This includes S. of Indian widows and servants immediately after the death of their master, of ancient German elders and Danish warriors, who considered natural death from disease and old age shameful, surrender to the enemy, etc. What was the prevalence of S. in previous historical epochs is not known exactly. The fact that S. existed in the era of early feudalism (Middle Ages) is attested by mentions of it in the writings of the so-called Church Fathers (Eusebius, Chrysostom, etc.); a number of indirect considerations force one to recognize that in the era of the birth of industrial capital (Renaissance) and in the following centuries the number of S. increased and, naturally, concentrated on itself ever greater attention of legislators and philosophers. Each new generation, as Goethe said, as if posed this problem to itself anew. However, the question of S. for a long time remained outside of scientific consideration, being the subject only of religious-ethical and legal interests. The scientific study of S. began only with the appearance of statistics as a method of accounting for social regularities (works of Quetelet and others), i.e. from the beginning of the 20s of the 19th century for the central European countries. From this time the literature on S. continuously grows and in the present epoch (as shown by the monograph of N. Rost, 1927) includes about 4,000 titles. In the USSR more or less accurate statistics of S. were introduced only from 1922. The Russian bibliography of S., compiled by Teodorovich, contains 369 titles. Statistical figures in various countries do not have the same reliability for judging S. in its diverse regularities. Thus, in England, where S. entails various criminal and civil repressions, cases of S. and attempts at it are often concealed. In some states only completed S. are taken into account, in others unsuccessful attempts are also taken into account, which of course gives completely different pictures. It seems indisputable that each epoch for a given country and for the class structure of its society has its own specific coefficient of S. The more unique and in its social features unusual the historical physiognomy of a particular period, the more interesting it is to clarify the question of what is the movement of S. and what is the content of its predominant causes and motives. The extensive statistical literature on S. gives as a final result a rather limited number of firmly established conclusions, reducing to the following points and illustrated by corresponding tables (here the most typical are given): 1. In almost all civilized countries of the globe S. for the last century have been increasing from year to year, with the exception of Denmark and Norway, where, on the contrary, the percentage of S. shows some decrease, which, starting from the 60s of the 19th century, coincides with the vigorous anti-alcohol struggle undertaken in these states. Table 1 gives the number of S. per 1,000,000 population in various countries. About 80,000 S. fall annually on Central Europe, and the greatest accuracy of statistical figures is represented by the German countries. Some of them have long been noted as particularly unfavorable in terms of S. (e.g. Saxony). 2. It is firmly established that during major social movements, mainly victorious revolutions, the percentage of S. sharply falls, which was established in France in 1830 and 1848, in Germany in 1848-1866-1870. With the end of wars, as well as in the era of reaction, the number of S. increases again. The following table, where the number of S. from 1913-24 per 1,000,000 inhabitants is calculated, illustrates the movement of S. in countries participating in the world war (Table 2).

3. It has been established that major economic crises, bank failures, etc., have the most sharp and direct effect on the increase in S.; large fluctuations in food prices, unemployment, lockouts increase the percentage of S. At the same time, figures show that a sudden increase in prosperity (as was the case in Germany after the victorious war of 1870) also increases the percentage of S, since obviously the growth of enterprises and monetary capital sharpens competition, intensifies the struggle for existence, indirectly contributes to the development of alcoholism, etc. In Italy after its restoration in 1870 and the subsequent large capitalist growth, the percentage of S. gave a very significant, though short-lived, increase. 4. The number of women suicides is 3-4 times less than the number of male suicides. Thus, in England there were 29 women per 100 suicides (1924), in Germany-27.4 (1924), in Italy-26.9. In recent decades, the increase in the number of female S. occurs somewhat faster than the number of male S, however without violating the traditional difference between these two figures. This difference cannot be considered sufficiently clarified, but it is undoubtedly that here the predominant role is played by the greater traumatization of men in capitalist society than women, whose circle of activity is limited in the West by narrower family and personal interests. A significant role is played by the predominance of alcoholism, drug addiction, and venereal diseases in the male population. It is possible that a major restraining factor for women is motherhood, even in cases where their entire family environment is far from favorable. 5. The suicide rate increases with age, which is confirmed by the statistics of all European countries. In children under 15 years of age, suicides are rarely observed. Table 3 illustrates this data (for Prussia). Table 3. Committed S. in Prussia per 100,000 living in corresponding age groups. In the age 0-5 years 5-10 years 10-15 years 15-20 years 20-25 years 25-30 years From 10 to 15 years . . . 2.2 2.0 2.5 2.1 1.5 1.9 » 15 » 20 » 16.6 17.2 19.4 20.3 17.9 15.2 » 20 » 25 » 26.8 25.3 28.4 27.2 23.9 15.9 » 25 » 30 » 21.2 22.3 22.6 23.2 16.1 » 30 » 40 » 22.8 22.8 23.3 24.1 23.8 17.6 » 40 » 50 » 31.9 36.5 35.9 37.3 32.2 25.7 » 50 » 60 » 50.8 50.3 49.2 52.4 47.9 35.2 » 60 » 70 » 55.7 52.3 53.0 55.4 60.5 47.8 » 70 » 80 » 53.7 60.8 54.8 68.7 58.7 53.6 » 80 and above 55.5 63.1 70.2 74.1 67.5 Here the first maximum between 20 and 25 years attracts attention, usually explained by the call to military service, which in bourgeois countries gives a sharp increase in the percentage of S; on the other hand, these years are often associated with the first manifestations of mental illnesses (mainly schizophrenia), increasing the possibility of S. 6. Representatives of the so-called commercial class (according to Western European statistics and pre-war Russian statistics), as well as military personnel (however only in peacetime), give a higher percentage of S than those engaged in agriculture, crafts and other types of productive labor. 7. Single people commit suicide more often than family people and especially large families. There is no doubt that the family structure with its worries and hardships creates for a person more powerful complexes of life duties, more stable connections with others, cultivates the sense of duty in relation to the family and thus is a delay for the tendency to S. True, these strong family ties break in cases of aggravation of the life situation (chronic unemployment in capitalist countries affected by crisis). Table 4. Distribution of suicides by gender and marital status in the RSFSR for 1920-24. (according to Leibovich). Marital status Men absolute quantity Percentages Women absolute quantity Percentages Married (married) . . . Single (girls) . . . Widowers (widows) . . . Divorced . . . Unknown marital status....... 46.18 40.70 4.70 1.06 7.36 37.63 44.41 9.60 1.74 Total S. in daytime hours, i.e. the time of greatest tension in the struggle for existence. It was believed at the same time that the closer to night, the more so-called attraction to S weakens, which as if is replaced by the attraction to sleep,- this relative non-existence. Statistical data for the USSR for 1922-24. give the following picture of the distribution of suicides by hours-(in percent) (table 6): Table 6. Hours of suicides in the USSR for 1922-24. (according to Gernet). Hours 0-3 Hours 3-6 Hours 6-9 Hours 9-12 Hours 12-15 Hours 15-18 Hours 18-21 Hours 21-24 3.1 4.4 4.6 3.9 4.9 4.2 2.6 3.7 3.8 2.7 5.5 4.2 2.1 4.0 3.9 3.0 6.5 5.0 3.0 5.3 3.6 4.2 5.8 6.1 8. The highest percentage of S. falls on the summer months: June and July, after which there is a decrease, most pronounced in winter, and by spring the increase begins again. There is no exhaustive explanation for this fact. Attempts have been made (Durkheim) to reduce it to the increase in the length of day in spring and summer months, and consequently to the increase in the sum of all experiences, worries, difficulties associated with the social existence of a person (table 5). Numerous statistical studies are devoted to methods of S. Table 7 can serve as one of the examples of various summaries of this kind. The distribution of methods of S. changes, among other things, depending on gender: women significantly less often use the so-called bloody methods (firearms, piercing, cutting objects) than men, but more often resort to poisoning. In general, methods of S. depend and vary from a whole range of conditions. The predominance of hanging and drowning is explained by the accessibility of these methods, partly their painlessness. A significant influence is exerted by profession (firearms among military personnel, hunters, etc., poisoning among medical personnel), as well as a whole range of local conditions (poisoning by illuminating gas and falling from great heights in cities, and conversely, the absence of these methods in the province and villages). A detailed study of methods of S. is of interest from a forensic medical point of view, when it is necessary to differentiate suicide from murder. The greatest difficulties in this Table 5. Suicides by motives and months in men and women in the USSR (according to Tsert). January February March April May June July August September October November December Mental and nervous diseases: men ....... women....... Love and jealousy: men....... women....... Family troubles: men ....... women....... Aversion to life: men ....... women....... Material deprivation: men., women 3.5 4.5 6.7 7.1 6.2 3.9 3.2 7.7 6.2 7.3 5.9 10.0 7.6. 7.5 7.9 6.7 5.8 8.6 6.2 6.2 8.1 6.2 10.1 8.7 8.5 6.7 8.4 9.6 8.9 11.5 9.7 11.9 10.1 11.2 11.5 13.7 10.4-12.2 11.5 10.0 14.8 10.3 15.0 10.7 8.5 9.6 10.4 6.9 7.4 16.9 11.8 10.0 9.2 9.9 7.4 7.9 8.5 11.9 8.4 10.9 9.7 9.2 10.2 6.9 7.0 8.7 7.5 8.0 5.0 9.3 5.6 6.3 5.1 9.7 7.4 9.4 0.0 7.1 7.78.0 6.3 6.9 8.8 5.9 8.0 7.6 10.3 8.0 6.5 11.2 9.3 7.8 8.4 7.5 11.4 7.6 7.8 100 100 100 100 4.3 7.4 100 7.9 6.8 100 6.7 6.5 They tried to explain in the same way another statistical figure: the maximum percentage in this regard is poisoning, but S. with the help of firearms is also not 53% Table 7. Distribution of methods of S. by gender (Germany). 1911.

1912.

1913.

1914. Methods of S. Hanging........ Strangulation......... Drowning......... Gunshot wounds . . . Stabbing ....... Cutting the throat....... Opening veins....... Slitting the abdomen . . . Poisoning ..."..... Inhaling poisonous gases Being hit by a train . . . Jumping from a height .... Other methods........ 3 500 1859 20 87 30 304 95 158 84 11 284 112 38 118 3 346 4 Total 6 £94 12 028 6 504 292 136 48 117 3 504 2 119 2 383 1915. 3 493 6 477 89 2 476 4 554 241 2E5 61 109 2 222 rarely provides grounds for forensic examination. The starting point here is determining the distance from which the shot was fired. In S., the weapon is pressed against the body surface, which leaves characteristic burn marks. The presence of multiple gunshot wounds does not rule out this type of S, since loss of consciousness occurs in different cases at far from identical times, and therefore the perpetrator, not having lost consciousness and considering the attempt unsuccessful, immediately repeats it. Combined methods of S are not uncommon, when for example suicides combine poisoning with hanging, with drowning, etc. -The inventiveness of suicides in choosing the method of S. makes it impossible to list them exhaustively. Cases of S. from a machine gun, from a homemade rifle consisting of a metal tube with a wooden stock attached to it; then by hammering one or more nails into the head, piercing the heart with a hatpin, soaking clothing with kerosene followed by setting it on fire, and finally a case of self-explosion is described, where one pharmacist placed a mortar with nitroglycerin between his legs and then struck it with a pestle (his body was torn into small pieces, and the building collapsed) (Hoffman). The cruelty, senselessness or extravagance of such suicide methods suggests mental illness. Joint or collective S. on a large scale was used in Russia in the 17th and 18th centuries in the persecution of the so-called Old Believers. The last outbreak of such mass self-destruction was in 1896-97 in southern Russia in the Ternavsky khutors, where sectarian fanatics buried themselves alive in the earth in protest against the ongoing national census. S. of entire families often provides material for 'incident diaries' in the foreign press, with the cause of the catastrophe often being directly indicated as unemployment. The methods most often chosen in such cases are poisoning with illuminating gas, carbon monoxide, or one family member (usually the father) kills the others and then himself. For a time, the version of suicide clubs gained popularity, where people who intended to kill themselves gathered, where conversations and debates on this topic took place, deadlines were set, etc. However, these reports are significantly embellished by rumor and fictional inventions. Double S. have a completely different character, when people in a sexual relationship kill themselves. The methods for such S. are poisons, firearms and drowning (much less often hanging, with hanging in one loop also described). Such joint and double S. also occur among children. A whole epidemic of child S. swept through Russia (mainly in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev, Odessa and other centers) during the period of political reaction in 1907-08. Despite the extremely imperfect statistics of that time, a large amount of material was collected, especially in the first months of 1908, when 85 cases of S. of children and adolescents were registered in St. Petersburg alone. These cases were systematized in the monograph by V. K. Khoroshko ('Suicide of Children', M., 1909). The motives in a considerable number of cases were difficult school conditions, reflecting the specific features of the oppression and searches of the police-bureaucratic system; but there were also many family and personal motives (unhealthy eroticism of the reaction era), and undoubtedly all these reasons acted with particular acuity because there were no healthy distracting moments in the surrounding social atmosphere; there were also numerous cases of S. among students of private workshops and 'master enterprises' (materials of Dr. Zhbankov). Motives for suicides by profession in the USSR for 1922-24 are given in Table 8. The assessment of S. from the point of view of 'morality' and law has always varied depending on the era and nationality. Some ancient Greek philosophers (Aristotle) considered S. an unlawful act against the state, equating it to a criminal offense. Among the Athenians, the body of a suicide was mutilated, the right hand was cut off, etc. A whole epidemic of S. among girls in the city of Miletus was stopped only after an order was issued to display the naked bodies on the city square. In Rome during its decline S. was widespread and enjoyed a certain 'honor' (for example, the philosopher Seneca thanked nature for giving people only one door to enter life, but providing them with many diverse exits). When the prefect of Rome Lucius Piso killed himself, the historian Tacitus noted that he died the most natural death. The Tsarist Criminal Code deprived suicides of the legal force of their last statements and wills, and the body was denied funeral rites. In the criminal code of the RSFSR in arts. 141 and 153, the question is considered from a different point of view: measures of social protection have been developed against persons who have driven a person to suicide by their actions, who have assisted in carrying out their intention, who have incited them, especially if it concerns a minor or a person obviously unable to understand the significance of the act they are committing (art. 141). Article 153 speaks of suicide as a consequence of rape.-'Great classical philosophers interpreted the right to suicide differently: David Hume in a special treatise 'On Suicide' condemned it as an act of cowardice. Kant viewed it the same way. The pessimist Schopenhauer proved the inexpediency of suicide, since according to his metaphysics 'will' is ineradicable and therefore no freedom from suffering is achieved by suicide. The decadent Nietzsche glorified suicide: 'I celebrate my death, free death, coming to me when I want'. Externally close to this judgment are the statements of a number of poets of the so-called 'world sorrow' (Leopardi, Lenau, etc.). Of exceptional interest are the statements about suicide by Karl Marx, set forth in his article in the journal 'Gesellschaftsspiegel' for 1846. This article is an exposition and evaluation of the work of Jacques Peshé, based on materials from Paris police archives for the period 1817-1824 (Marx and Engels, vol. III). Marx first develops the thought that S. is by no means something 'unnatural' and that, on the contrary, in the nature of our society (Marx means bourgeois society) there is an increase in the number of cases of S. Speaking of contemporary Europe, K. Marx remarks: 'what kind of society is this, where one can experience the deepest loneliness, where a man gives in to an irresistible desire to deprive himself of life, and no one even suspects it'. 'I would like to know,' he continues, 'whether among the decisive motives for S. there are not some whose action could be foreseen... I found that, except for a radical reform of the current social order, all other attempts will be futile.' Speaking further of the social causes of S, Marx adds, 'perhaps in the veins of desperate people the blood flows differently than in the blood of cold beings who express a series of abstract reasoning and moral sentiments about S.' Thus Karl Marx sees the effectiveness of the fight against suicide only in the 'radical reform of the current social order,' i.e., in the violent overthrow of the system of the exploitation of man by man. At the same time, with his characteristic irony, K. Marx speaks harshly of people who react coldly to suicide, in contrast to 'desperate people', whose blood flows somehow different. In this judgment of K.

In Marx, it seems to us, there is also an indication of the path that research into individual specific cases of suicide should take, research into the mechanisms of suicide, the regularities of which lie in the conditions of the given social structure and are revealed with the greatest brightness through the personal characteristics of the individual 'despairing person.' Three schools mainly compete with each other in developing the problem of the origin and prevention of S. The anatomical-anthropological-political school places emphasis on gross abnormalities in brain structure and even in the cranial coverings, phenomena which are supposedly observed in the vast majority of suicides. A prominent representative of this school was the famous anthropologist and psychiatrist Lombroso, to whom a certain number, albeit insignificant, of researchers in various countries adhered, for example in Germany - Heller, Bartel, Grotwald; in Russia, a representative of such a biological direction was P. M. Minakov, and following him Prof. A. I. Kryukov, according to whom in suicides there is observed early closure of cranial sutures, irregularities and roughnesses on the inner surface of the skull, thinning of the cranial bones, flattening of the cerebral convolutions, thickening of the soft meninges, furthermore early arteriosclerosis, status thymicolymphaticus, narrowing of the aorta, etc. Such 'signs' of degeneration are for A. N. Kryukov such a convincing fact that their presence leads him to lean toward suicide when the question arises whether in this case it was murder or suicide. It should be recognized as fundamentally incorrect such an emphasis on anatomical-physiological moments in the etiology of suicide. The signs indicated by Kryukov are observed in large numbers during autopsies of persons who have died a natural death and do not possess any tendencies toward suicide. In the socio-political sense, any narrowly 'biological' explanation of the causes of suicide aims to obscure the social roots. The second school, psychopathological, or psychiatric, generally speaking, stands on the point of view of the necessity of some psychopathic factor or deviation in the etiology and pathogenesis of S. The beginning of this school was laid by Esquirol, who asserted that a person only wishes to shorten his life when he is in a delirious state, and that all suicides are mentally ill people. He even recognized a special form of 'single-object' psychosis - suicide mania. Since the time of Esquirol, psychiatric and general literature for many decades has been examining from different sides the complex question of the relationship between mental diseases and S. To the view of Esquirol adheres a whole series of modern psychiatrists, for example Gaupp, Stelzner, Eichel, and others. However, the majority of authors of this direction recognize the possibility of S. in a healthy and complete person in the presence of any exceptionally heavy life situations. Kraepelin considers that 30% of S. undoubtedly falls to the share of certain psychoses. But if one takes into account that, when speaking of mentally ill persons, we must include in this category also a whole series of borderline states (so-called psychoneuroses and psychopathies), which often escape psychiatric accounting, then undoubtedly from the category of suicides attributed to healthy persons, a still significant part must also be attributed to cases of such not so sharply expressed mental inadequacy. Among the factors causing neuropsychic inadequacy are alcoholism and other chronic poisonings (narcotisms), which represent for the most part combinations of an innate psychopathic soil with the secondary consequences of one or another chronic intoxication. Attempts have been made to correlate alcohol consumption with suicide in individual countries. According to data by A.M. Korovin in tsarist Russia (in 67 provinces of European Russia) for the period 1903-12, mortality from suicide was directly proportional to vodka consumption in the given locality. Similar data exist for many European countries. In a recent American work by Lendrum (1933), alcoholism is attributed a very large role in the etiology of suicides. The third school, sociological, in the etiology of S. persistently puts socio-economic moments in the forefront. The most prominent representative of this school is the French sociologist Durkheim, author of an extensive monograph which has not entirely lost interest even at the present time. To Durkheim adheres a fairly large number of researchers who are developing the entire question from the point of view of statistics. There can be no doubt that each of the directions presented is characterized by extreme one-sidedness, and that a comprehensive consideration of the complex fact of S. as a product of the interaction of a whole series of causes and conditions - biological, psychopathological, socio-economic, etc. - is necessary. It must be admitted that on such an extensive scale the problem of S. has not yet been sufficiently developed. Even from the psychopathological point of view we do not have reliable and systematically developed material. As L. A. Prozorov notes, 'we usually do not have a good anamnesis of the suicide, he was not observed by a psychiatrist during his life' and judgment about his mental state is usually based on a superficial characterization of relatives, who are often moreover interested in one or another tendentious presentation of the event. The exception is only S. of mentally ill persons, committed during illnesses, where in the case histories one can find a number of data about the psychopathological moments preceding the act. Furthermore, of great importance are the still few investigations of unsuccessful cases of S, i.e., thorough acquaintance with the entire personality of the person who attempted suicide, his previous life, his psychological status at the moment of the attempt, his motives, etc. This method of research, consisting in the study of unfinished cases of S, was already used in his time by Esquirol, who has the merit of removing the topic of S. from the hands of metaphysicians and moralists, of setting it as a question for psychiatric study; by this same method went Falret, and after him Briere de Boismont, who published the first extensive monograph on S; finally, along this same path went the most authoritative psychiatric school of the beginning of the 20th century - the school of Kraepelin, according to whose proposal every person who attempted S. in the city of Munich had to be immediately taken to a psychiatric hospital for appropriate observation. A pupil of Kraepelin, Gaupp, investigated by this method 143 cases of unfinished S, among which he established a large number of mentally ill persons (1905). This clinical method of studying S. deserves the most serious attention, because in contrast to the extensive literature devoted to the philosophical and statistical discussion and study of S, there are only scanty data about the personality of the suicide from the point of view of his constitution, character, his psychology, psychopathology, etc. This question has attracted attention only since psychiatry ceased to be only a science about madness, confined to special closed institutions for the mentally ill (large psychiatry), and came out of the walls of its 'asylums' into everyday life, taking up the study of borderline states, pathological reactions, and psychopathies. This extensive group accounts for the largest percentage of S. The clinical method of studying S. should be carried out on this material to the greatest possible extent. By this method have been carried out the works of Gaupp (1905), Stelzner (1906), Bruchansky (1927), Kannabikh and Grebliovsky (1930) and the latest American work of Lendrum (1933), who investigated the largest number (1,000) cases of unsuccessful S. The investigation of suicides in purely psychiatric material from closed hospitals has been carried out in a number of articles and notes and has been subjected to monographic treatment in Russia by Belyakov and especially by L. A. Prozorov on the material of cases from the Alekseevskaya (now named after Kashchenko) psychiatric hospital. A comprehensive illumination of this question is most closely connected with the practical needs of psychiatric hospitals, their organization, way of life, regime, supervision, etc. To protect the patient from S. is one of the main tasks of his commitment. At the same time, the danger of S. among patients places enormous responsibility on the administration and staff of the hospital. The number of S. in hospitals in varying percentages falls on certain forms of diseases. Much has been written about the tendency toward S. of melancholics, but in view of the undifferentiated nature of this concept until Kraepelin, the old literature on S. of melancholics can no longer be considered indicative. Manic-depressive psychosis in the period of depression gives a large percentage of S. Particularly dangerous are those patients in whom, with depressive content of thought, there is no corresponding inhibition. Furthermore, unfavorable in relation to S. are the initial periods of recovery from this psychosis, when inhibition disappears, initiative appears, motor excitement, without a corresponding euphoric state. A large percentage of S. is given by schizophrenics, in whom S. is often carried out in the form of a completely unexpected impulsive act.

Many of these patients, due to their inaccessibility and closed-off nature, pose the greatest risk of S. both in hospitals and outside them. A prerequisite for preventive measures against S. is detailed knowledge of all the various methods of S. used by patients in hospitals. It is not without significance that there is often a tendency toward a particular method of S. in the sense that a patient who wants to hang himself rarely resolves to cut his throat, and vice versa, and that sometimes patients under vigilant supervision wait for months and even years to end their lives by their chosen method rather than by any other (Olkhin, Prozorov, Kannabikh). Therefore, when establishing in a patient the presence of thoughts about S., it is always necessary with all possible caution to determine whether he has a predominant inclination toward one method or another and thereby to organize individual preventive measures (informing the staff, careful removal of corresponding dangerous objects, etc.). In addition to supervision, an important preventive measure is as close contact as possible between the physician and all staff with the patient, an encouraging attitude toward him, urging him to speak out, and generally everything that is capable of reducing oppressive tension, especially acute and strong in manic-depressive psychosis. Labor therapy, introduced in recent years and constantly being perfected, in which patients are distracted and interested in their work and moreover are in an organized collective (workshop), in an environment of facilitated observation of them, should undoubtedly reduce the number of S. in hospitals. Despite the strictest measures, many S. are committed under such fatal circumstances that arise unexpectedly, which it is absolutely impossible to foresee, if one does not make what is already a heavy life for the mentally ill a torment for them (Ignatyev). In view of the fact that it is much easier to supervise patients who are in bed, in most such cases bed rest is indicated, the introduction of which into psychiatric practice has indeed reduced the number of S. The only guarantee against S. of patients is reliable and attentive middle and junior staff possessing sufficient knowledge in psychiatry and interested in their work. Attempts at S. are particularly frequent in patients in the first period after their admission to the hospital (Frohlich, Cur-re, Belyakov, Prozorov). The tendency toward S. is characteristic of the initial stage of many psychoses (progressive paralysis, schizophrenia, alcoholic psychoses). Some significance also has the trauma associated with forcible admission to the hospital (Prozorov). Hospital S., like all others, are contagious; even epidemic outbreaks have been observed. Means of special treatment for the tendency toward S. have been proposed. In addition to bed rest _g warm baths, attentive and delicate handling, various medicinal substances have been proposed; some of these means were even considered specific in old psychiatry (laxatives, cholagogues, etc.). At present, narcotics (opium, pantopon, etc.) are most readily resorted to. The regularity of S. in hospitals coincides with known statistical data regarding this phenomenon in the population, with respect to sex, age, methods, etc. Among the measures to combat S. should be mentioned all measures of social hygiene, psychogenic hygiene, leading to a reduction in mental illnesses, nervousness, alcoholism. Further, this includes the fight against social diseases: syphilis, tbc, as well as reasonable eugenics, reducing as much as possible marriages with mentally ill persons, severe psychopaths, alcoholics, etc. (Prozorov). The school and its education also play an extremely important role. During the reaction period of 1906-09, the bureaucratic tsarist school with its formal attitude toward the adolescent, abstract teaching and dehumanization caused a large number of child S., which reached epidemic proportions. The school should play an important role in the prevention of alcoholism _g which occupies one of the prominent places in the etiology of S. Foreign statisticians attribute 30-40% of cases of S. to excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages. In old Petersburg, according to S. S. Stupin, half of S. in men and a quarter in women were directly or indirectly caused by alcoholism (Prozorov). The method of research consisting in the study of unsuccessful cases of S. should be widely used to determine the individual psychological factors of S., which is ultimately considered a specific form of social behavior conditioned by the loneliness of man in capitalist society and realized with the participation of characterological and constitutional components of human personality. It seems interesting to determine which characters or types are more prone to S. under the influence of material deprivation, which under the influence of professional failures, which under the influence of failed love, etc. In some works, based on the typology proposed by Kretschmer, the question of the distribution among suicides of cycloid, schizoid, and epileptoid constitution was considered. Examination of the materials of Bruchansky, Kannabikh and Grebliovsky forces one to recognize that among those attempting S. there is a clear predominance of schizothymics and schizoids, i.e., persons of asthenic (leptosomic) type (Kannabikh and Grebliovsky). Picnocycloids give a significantly smaller percentage of S. Thus, schizoid personalities turn out to be most predisposed to the S. reaction, which occurs in them much more frequently and easily under certain situations compared to persons of other types (cycloids and epileptoids). Study by this method also makes it possible to establish the enormous predominance of purely individualistic tendencies and motives in the psychology of those attempting S. On the other hand, for both persons of this category and especially for other types, the extremely favorable, protective role of the collective against S. is revealed. The closer the individual's ties with the collective, the more difficult it is for him to part with life. In particular, persons of the so-called sensitive type, prone to retaining impressions and psychologically traumatic experiences within themselves, unable to have quick and adequate reactions, i.e., to gradually work through their internal tension, are especially prone to the risk of S. Thus, the main factor weakening the tendency toward S. (coefficient of prevention) is well-established social relationships. These include social ties of a narrower nature (family) as well as broader ones (work collective, participation in public organizations) and finally even more broadly understood social ties (with the class, party, state and its construction). This position is fundamental when discussing preventive measures (children's collectives, collective games, sports, excursions, early training in the performance of social functions). Great importance is attached to timely assistance in restoring broken ties with the collective, enlivening the social emotions of a person, etc. Psychogenic hygiene consultations on the choice of profession, the sexual question, legal matters, etc., are not without significance. Particular interest attaches to the prevention of relapses. For this purpose, all cases of attempts should be subjected to psychiatric examination with the mandatory involvement of the district psychiatrist in the hospital, at the first aid station, or in the home of the person attempting suicide; these cases are put on a register, i.e., the attempters are taken under observation. Here social work sisters should be given broad opportunities to regulate a whole range of questions of the social-labor life. Suicide in general represents the reaction of a lonely person, it is the disease of the era of the dominance of individualism, private competition. As early as 1781, the philosopher Helvétius said that 'financial disorder and change of the constitution of the state have spread universal gloom. The numerous S. in the capital are a sad proof of this'. A similar phenomenon was observed in prerevolutionary Russia in 1902-03, during the period of reaction; 1906-07 and then until the very beginning of the imperialist war. The economic crisis, associated with unprecedented impoverishment of the masses, colossal unemployment, etc., gave almost everywhere a significant increase in suicides. And if in Germany in 1923 8,904 male and 4,245 female suicides were registered, then in the following years we have the following progression (Table 9): Table 9. Years Men Women_g I Men^10ДЫ 1 WOMEN 1921 1925 1926 10,418 10,932 11,846 3,920 4,291 4,634 1927 1928 11,327 11,239 4,847 4,795 And in the following years up to the present time S. in the West have been continuously increasing.

During these years of raging economic crisis, newspapers daily bring dozens of reports of S. of entire families, when mothers with children throw themselves into water or under trains to escape hunger and hopelessness, or fathers of families, despairing of finding work and no longer able to bear the suffering of their families, take their own lives. The acuteness of the problem of S. in the West at the present time fully reflects the crisis of the capitalist world. This increase in S. is a grateful topic for socio-economic analysis. During this time, undoubtedly, '...the most serious changes in the life of peoples and states' have taken place (Stalin). 'If one were to characterize the past period in two words, it could be called a period of turning point. It was a turning point not only for us, for the USSR, but also for all the capitalist countries of the world' [Stalin, Political Report of the CC to the XVI Congress of the VKP(b), in the book 'Questions of Leninism', 9th ed., p. 487]. But, as will be indicated below, the qualitative difference of this turning point among us and in the West has been reflected quite differently in the movement of S. '...for the capitalist countries the turning point meant a turn toward economic decline' (ibid.). '...the world economic crisis is unfolding its destructive action, sinking entire strata of medium and small capitalists, ruining entire groups of the working aristocracy and farmers, and dooming millions of workers to starvation...' (ibid., p. 491). Statistical yearbooks, reports of the League of Nations, and health bulletins of large cities, noting S. in the column of causes of death, tell us only the bare figures, leaving us to guess at the motives and reasons for all these numerous departures from life. But guesses are immediately replaced by complete certainty, with the most superficial acquaintance with the numerous newspaper reports, which, despite censorship obstacles, appear in the Western European press. In addition to numerous individual S. on the grounds of unemployment and hunger, cases of collective suicides (of spouses and entire families) are often reported. A striking contrast to the economic and social collapse of the capitalist countries is the USSR, the socio-economic conditions of which are in a stage of continuous improvement. 'Among us, in the USSR, the economic upswing and growth of production in all branches of the national economy... Among us, in the USSR, the improvement of the material position of the working people, the increase in wages of workers... Among us, in the USSR, faith in our own strength and the prospect of further improvement in our position' (Stalin, ibid., pp. 535 and 536). And if so. labor (and everything connected with it) in capitalist countries serves as a source of continuous traumatization, lowering of vital tone, chronic nervous exhaustion, then among us, on the contrary, labor, providing material sufficiency and confidence in tomorrow's day, is a matter of honor, a matter of glory, a matter of valor and heroism (Stalin). This circumstance leads to the fact that the number of any qualified workers (whether they are production workers, employees, specialists, etc.) constitutes the smallest percentage of those attempting S., for which in these rare cases one can always find some reasons or motives of a purely personal or clearly pathological nature. The significance of the general preventive moment, rooted in the invigorating, richly promising general work of building a classless society, is illustrated, among other things, by the results of an analysis of several hundred 'incomplete' suicides, conducted on the material of the Sklifosovsky Institute in Moscow, where the largest percentage of those who have attempted suicide is brought (Grebliovsky). It therefore appears completely obvious that the tendency to overcome S. continuously strengthens as socialist forms of labor and way of life grow. The new conditions of life contribute to the reduction of S. also in another way, since they are a powerful factor in the fight against nervous and mental diseases, to which a significant percentage of S. is due. Even in the absence of unemployment and all other types of social trauma that lead to S. not a small number of full-fledged personalities in the West, everywhere there is a larger or smaller contingent of unstable individuals who have difficulty finding their place in life and risk finding themselves, even in a satisfactory environment, 'either in the position of unemployed or dissatisfied with their work activity. This factor, especially when combined with any additional unfavorable moments (family, personal), so easily created by psychopathic personalities, often leads to a purely individual reaction in the specific form of S. Taking into account that such persons, despite their asthenia, nevertheless sometimes represent considerable social value (special types of giftedness), it is necessary to develop measures to support them in difficult moments. Here, private prevention of S. should be directed along the line of neuropsychiatric dispensaryization, i.e., the registration, supervision, and care of 'borderline cases', their employment, etc. The indicated task falls on the unified dispensaries, health posts, psychogenic consultations at enterprises, higher educational institutions, schools of all levels. In individual cases, preventive significance has the timely hospitalization of persons with this or that reactive states or endogenous outbreaks that give rise to suicidal tendencies.

10. Kanabikh, M. Grebliovsky.