named therein, and (as in the case of a mar riage license) at any time within three months of the date thereon, due notice first being given to one of the court's properly authorized medical practitioners. The ques tion of method is one which, in my opinion, could be best left to individual selection, but a medical officer might be attached to the court, ready at anytime to advise technical ly upon the merits and demerits of the vari ous agents, to examine accepted applicants, and to give an opinion on the amount re quired of any particular poison, or on the requisite length of the " drop," should the licensee prefer that method, and even to supply the selected drug in sufficient and convenient form. As already indicated, special licenses might also be granted, to come into opera tion only in case of certain specific contin gencies occurring, in which case the special licensee could avail himself of the advantage wherever he happened to be at the time, and even, if such a course would be more convenient, without giving notice of his in tention. These might be made operative for a longer period than the ordinary license, say six months, or even more at the discre tion of the court. Still following the precedent of the eccle siastical courts, it would be highly necessary that all applications should be made in person. The hearing and other fees throughout should be made as low as possible; indeed there is no reason why a person could not appear in forrnd pauperis. If the applica tion should be dismissed, the hearing fee would be the only expense incurred, and the pleader would leave no worse than he was before. Perhaps, however, it would be desirable that the court should have the power of detaining, during its pleasure, per sons obviously " non compos mentis," or those temporarily suffering hallucinations, and of committing summarily to the hos pital all whose suicidal desires were pro
moted by physical suffering which, in the opinion of the court's medical adviser, could be relieved for the time, and perhaps ulti mately removed. For the sake of those who had no con venience for committing suicide at home, there might be established under the juris diction of the suicide court, an annex to some central hospital, where all the more generally required accessories could be put at the disposal of the properly licensed call er. But wherever the place, and whatever the method, when the matter was over, the medical man, who had been previously ad vised of the event, would arrive, examine the body and make out the necessary cer tificate, inserting some recognized phrase to show that the deed was a legal one and properly carried out. One runs no risk of exaggerating the vast beneficial results which would arise from the adoption of the course briefly indicated; it would be practically impossible to over estimate them. Half the disgusting trage dies, so fruitful of weak emulation, would disappear from the newspapers. Think you that Signor X., who lately disposed of him self in a London hotel (much to the pro prietor's inconvenience and the dismay of the visitors) by drinking every liquid par ticle in the room and then probing his brain, through the auricular aperture, with a pair of scissors, would have selected that exceed ingly elaborate and painful manner of exit had he been able to go, armed with proper credential, to a good hospital, and there flicker out surrounded by every comfort? It is impossible within the brief limit of this paper even to suggest a tithe of the ad vantages which would result from the ac complishment of my suggestion. Suicides, both legal and criminal, would decrease from the first day of the opening of the new court, for while the advantages it offered would be irresistible, its procedure would have a salutary and repressing effect in all but the most deserving cases. — Year Book.
