The Literature of the subject is of very diverse character. France, Italy, and Germany have produced many works on suicide as a fact. England has been content with one work on suicide, that of Forbes Winslow, “The Anatomy of Suicide,” dated 1840. “It is an interesting collection of anecdotes, arranged without much regard to method or authenticity.” (Athenæum.) The thoroughly scientific statistical work of H. Morselli, of Turin, has been recently published in an English form, but it is hardly a readable book, consisting almost entirely of statistics; and the subject, moreover, is treated from an Italian standpoint, and for these reasons has not found many readers in this country. There are, however, plenty of references to suicide in English literature, and some essays, chiefly in its defence. Some of these I catalogue here, and also several references from French literature. I also add a few examples of authors of Greece and Rome who concerned themselves with the subject. Of foreign works relating to suicide, a list will be found in the Bibliographical Index. Among the authors of Greek and Roman civilization, in favour of allowing suicide to be committed, were─ ARISTIPPUS, _circa_ 360 B.C., founder of the Cyrenaic philosophy. HEGESIAS, a Cyrenaic philosopher, _circa_ 300 B.C. EPICURUS, d. 270 B.C., founder of the Epicurean philosophy. ZENO, d. 264 B.C., founder of the Stoic philosophy. CLEANTHES, d. 240 B.C., a pupil of Zeno. CICERO, d. 43 B.C. SENECA, d. A.D. 65. PLINY THE ELDER, d. A.D. 79. EPICTETUS, d. _circa_ A.D. 100. PLUTARCH, d. A.D. 140. MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS, a Stoic, d. A.D. 180. DIOGENES LAERTIUS, _circa_ A.D. 200. The following famous authors denied its permissibility, and condemned those who practised it:─ PYTHAGORAS, d. 520 B.C. SOCRATES, d. 399 B.C. PLATO, d. 348 B.C. ARISTOTLE, d. 321 B.C. ÆSCHINES, d. 314 B.C. VIRGIL, d. 19 B.C. (See Æneid, vi. 434.) PLINY THE YOUNGER, A.D. 116. LUCIAN, d. A.D. 180. PLOTINUS, d. A.D. 270. According to Morselli of Turin, the word “_suicide_” originated in France, in the middle of the last century. In this matter he apparently copied French authors who claim that it was first used in the “Dictionnaire de Trevoux” (the town of Trevoux), by Desfontaines, in 1752. It appears along with _Parricide_ in the “Dictionnaire de l’Academie Française,” of 1762. Richelet, in his famous French Dictionary of 1680, has, I find, _Parricide_, but not _Suicide_. So much for France. With regard to England, Archbishop Trench says, “Up to the middle of the seventeenth century our good writers use _self-homicide_, never _suicide_.” Nathan Bailey, in his English Dictionary, 2nd ed. 1736, gives the word “_suicide_.”