Looking Back (IN: Suicidology: Essays in Honor of Edwin S. Shneidman, edited by A A Leenaars)

This chapter probes for a sample of what may be learned from earlier efforts in the study of suicide. This was done through an examination of the reports presented in the “American Journal of Insanity”, from 1844 – 1900. A crude measure of progress might be the extent of contrast that can be seen between the information and attitudes that characterize differences in attitudes from the present. (7 refs.)