The fact is one well established among animals,
but after a full series of actual experiments, Tecontjeff of St.
Petersburg concludes that in this respect man differs from
animals. This authority states that in man no tangible risk is
entailed by this process, at least for any length of time
required for therapeutic purposes. "Tarred and feathered" persons
rarely die of the coating of tar they receive. For other
instances of peculiar forms of suicide reference may be made to
numerous volumes on this subject, prominent among which is that
by Brierre de Boismont, which, though somewhat old, has always
been found trustworthy, and also to the chapters on this subject
written by various authors on medical jurisprudence.
Religious and Ceremonial Mutilations.--Turning now to the subject
of self-mutilation and self-destruction from the peculiar customs
or religious beliefs of people, we find pages of information at
our disposal. It is not only among the savage or uncivilized
tribes that such ideas have prevailed, but from the earliest
times they have had their influence upon educated minds. In the
East, particularly in India, the doctrines of Buddhism, that the
soul should be without fear, that it could not be destroyed, and
that the flesh was only its resting-place, the soul several times
being reincarnated, brought about great indifference to bodily
injuries and death.
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