This paper compares suicide rates of European nations for 1871-75 with those for 1975. The rates rose over the 100-year period from a mean of 7.8/100,000 per year to 15.0, a significant difference. The Pearson product-moment correlation was 0.42, almost significant. Thus suicide rates were moderately constant over the 100-year period, supporting the assumption that rates are stable & thus suitable target variables for sociological theories that seek to account for suicide rates. (KM)