The origin and development of the moral ideas

IN previous chapters we have discussed the moral valuation of acts, forbearances, and omissions, which directly concern the interests of other men; we shall now proceed to consider moral ideas regarding such modes of conduct as chiefly concern a man’s own welfare. Among these we notice, in the first place, acts affecting his existence.

Suicide, or intentional self-destruction, has often been represented as a fruit of a higher civilisation; Dr. Steinmetz, on the other hand, in his essay on ‘Suicide among Primitive Peoples,’ thinks it probable that “there is a greater propensity to suicide among savage than among civilised peoples.”1 The former view is obviously erroneous; the latter probably holds good of certain savages as compared with certain peoples of culture, but cannot claim general validity.

Among several uncivilised races suicide is said to be unknown.2 To these belong some of the lower savages—the Yahgans of Tierra del Fuego,3 the Andaman Islanders,4 and various Australian tribes;5 whilst as regards most other tribes at about the same stage of culture information seems to be wanting. Of the natives in Western and Central Australia Sir G. Grey writes, “Whenever I have interrogated them on this point, they have invariably laughed at me, and treated my question as a joke.”6 When a Caroline Islander was told of suicides committed by Europeans, he thought that he had not grasped what was said to him, as he never in his life had heard of anything so ridiculous.7 The Káfirs of the Hindu-Kush, though they have no intense fear of death, cannot understand suicide; “the idea of a man killing himself strikes them as inexplicable.”8

Among many savages and barbarians suicide is stated to be very rare,9 or to occur only occasionally;10 whereas among others it is represented as either common or extremely prevalent.11 Of the Kamchadales we are told that the least apprehension of danger drives them to despair, and that they fly to suicide as a relief, not only from present, but even from imaginary evil; “not only those who are confined for some offence, but such as are discontented with their lot, prefer a voluntary death to an uneasy life, and the pains of disease.”12 Among the Hos, an Indian hill tribe, suicide is reported to be so frightfully prevalent as to afford no parallel in any known country:—“If a girl appears mortified by anything that has been said, it is not safe to let her go away till she is soothed. A reflection on a man’s honesty or veracity may be sufficient to send him to self-destruction. In a recent case, a young woman attempted to poison herself because her uncle would not partake of the food she had cooked for him.”13 Among the Karens of Burma suicide is likewise very common where Christianity has not been introduced.

If a man has some incurable or painful disease, he says in a matter-of-fact way that he will hang himself, and he does as he says; if a girl’s parents compel her to marry the man she does not love, she hangs herself; wives sometimes hang themselves through jealousy, sometimes because they quarrel with their husbands, and sometimes out of mere chagrin, because they are subject to depreciating comparisons; and it is a favourite threat with a wife or daughter, when not allowed to have her own way, that she will hang herself.14 Among some uncivilised peoples suicide is frequently practised by women, though rarely by men.15

The causes which, among savages, lead to suicide are manifold:—disappointed love or jealousy;16 illness17 or old age;18 grief over the death of a child,19 a husband,20 or a wife;21 fear of punishment;22 slavery23 or brutal treatment by a husband;24 remorse,25 shame or wounded pride, anger or revenge.26 In various cases an offended person kills himself for the express purpose of taking revenge upon the offender.27 Thus among the Tshi-speaking peoples of the Gold Coast, “should a person commit suicide, and before so doing attribute the act to the conduct of another person, that other person is required by native law to undergo a like fate. The practice is termed killing oneself upon the head of another, and the person whose conduct is supposed to have driven the suicide to commit the rash act is visited with a death of an exactly similar nature”—unless, indeed, the family of the suicide be pacified with a money compensation.28 With reference to the Savage Islanders, who especially in heathen times were much addicted to suicide, we are told that, “like angry children, they are tempted to avenge themselves by picturing the trouble that they will bring upon the friends who have offended them.”29 Among the Thlinkets an offended person who is unable to take revenge in any other way commits suicide in order to expose the person who gave the offence to the vengeance of his surviving relatives and friends.30 Among the Chuvashes it was formerly the custom for enraged persons to hang themselves at the doors of their enemies.31 A similar method of taking revenge is still not

infrequently resorted to by the Votyaks, who believe that the ghost of the deceased will then persecute the offender.32 Sometimes a suicide has the character of a human sacrifice.33 In the times of epidemics or great calamities the Chukchi sacrifice their own lives in order to appease evil spirits and the souls of departed relatives.34 Among some savages it is common for a woman, especially if married to a man of importance, to commit suicide on the death of her husband,35 or to demand to be buried with him;36 and many Brazilian Indians killed themselves on the graves of their chiefs.37