ABSTRACT
Nearly all physicians who have practised among the Jews agree that derangements of the nervous system are very frequently met with among them. Nervous disease said to be very frequent among the Jews is Paralysis agitans, or shaking palsy. Epilepsy is a disease usually met with in families of a neurotic taint, which would lead to expect it among the Jews with greater frequency than among others. One of the most peculiar traits of the Jewish pathology and psychology was once considered to be the infrequency of self-destruction. It is well known that mental alienation is the most potent factor in the etiology of suicide. The Jews having such a large proportion of insane, would, a priori, be expected to have also a large proportion of suicides. The fact is that suicide is a purely social phenomenon, and has hardly anything to do with ethnic origin.
