SUICIDE. 679 SUKASAPTATI. usually occurring between April and July, the mininium in January or December. The early part of each munth and the early daj-s of the week show a relative preponderance. Other in- teresting correlations appear in the methods by which suicide is accomplished. In the aggre- gate the order of preference in method is: Hang- ing, drowning, shooting, cutting or stabbing, fall- ing from a height, and aspby.xiation or poison. In cold countries drowning is naturally less favored than in the south ; the use of firearms is specially prominent in Italy; of cutting or stabbing in Prussia ; of poison in England. As would be expected, female suicides employ fire- arms less than male. In England drowning is the recorded means for more than a quarter of the women committing suicide, and poison for about a seventh ; but only 15 per cent, of male suicides drown themselves, and only a twelfth use poison. The study of the motives to suicide can be more successfully pursued by psychologists and physicians than by the statistician. Definite mental disorders usually appear as the direct cause of a third of all suicides, but a very much larger proportion of cases show evidence of mental or physical abnormality. Suicidal ten- dency, like insanity, has been observed to be inherited. Alcoholism is a frequent cause. Em- phasis upon biological influences has led some writers to regard suicide as always being, like certain disea.ses, a specific tendency of the indi- vidual. But the social causes of suicide are not to be underestimated. Imitation and the desire for notoriety undoubtedly affect suicides, and though perhaps too much stress has been laid upon the influence and the hurry and strain of modern business, there can be no doubt that many contemporary conditions which stimu- late suicide, especially in great cities, are, like the predisposing causes of alcoholism, largely under social control. Consult: Morselli, Suicide, International Sci- entific Series (New York, 1882), a standard work; Legoyt, Le suicide ancien et moderne (Paris, 1881) ; Geiger, Der Selbstmord im klas- sisclicn AUerthuin (Augsburg, 1888) ; Jlotta, Bihliografia del suicido (Bellinzona, ISflO) ; Diirkheim, Le suicide (Paris, ISflT); Tirdfth United States Census (vol. iii.) : Registration Reports issued by all New England States and by several other States and cities; Ameri- can Statistical Association Publications ; Re- ports of the Registrar-General of the United Kingdom; Statistisches Jahrhuch fur das Deutsche Reich (annual) ; Annuaire statistiqite de la France. SVIBJE. The swine family. See Swine. STJ'IDAS (Lat., from Gk. 2ou(5a!, Souidas) . The author of a great Greek lexicon, which was compiled probably in the middle of the tenth century. The Avnrk which is current under his name is a compilation giving the result of gram- matical, lexicographical, historical, and literary studies. It is especially valuable for its articles touching the latter field, and the information which they contain is indispensable for our knowledge of the writers of antiquity. It is clear that the lexicographical portions were •drawn from the lexica of Harpocration and Helladius. and certain other lexica and gram- matical works which cannot be absolutely deter- mined. He further employed excellent scholia to Aristophanes, scholia to Sophocles similar to those now found in the codex Laurentianus, Homeric scholia similar to those found in the codex Venetus B, and the older scholia to Thucy- dides. In his historical and tlieological articles it is more difficult to determine his sources, but his chief authority seems to have been the work of Constantinus Porphyrogenitus and the chronicle of Georgius Jlonachos. His literary articles were probably drawn in large measure from the Onomatologos of Hesychius Milesius, which he possessed in an abridged form. He employed also the notices of the comic poetg preserved in Athena;us ; but he added much from his independent reading. The work is best ed- ited by Bernhardy (1834-53). The edition by Bekker (1854) is far inferior. SUI JTJKIS, sXjr/i joo'ris (Lat., of his own right), A Latin phrase employed to describe a person competent to perform legal acts, (See Civil Law ; Patria Pote.stas.) The meaning of the phrase has been extended in modern times to denote a person who is capable of taking care of himself. SUIR, shoor. A river of Ireland. Rising in County Tipperary, it forms, in part, the boundary between that county and County Waterford and then the boundary between Waterford and Coun- ty Kilkenny. It unites with the Barrow to form ^^'aterford Harbor, after a course of about 100 miles. For boats of about 55 tons it is navigable to Clonmel in Tipperary. SUITE (Fr., suceessitm, following), or Pah- TiT.v. In music, one of the oldest of cyclical forms. It had its origin in the sixteenth cen- tury, when the Stadtpfeifer began to per- form several national dances in succession, which were of contrasting tempi, but all in the same key. During the seventeenth century German composers for the pianoforte applied the name partita to their doubles (a series of variations). (See V.KiATioN.) The form reached its cul- mination in the suites of J. S. Bach. The style of the suite is not so much contrapuntal as 'ele- gant.' The four obligatory movements are: (1) allemande, (2) courante, (3) sarabande, (4) gigue. As a rule, however, there were more movements, which were inserted after the sara- bande. Such additional movements were known as intermezzo (q.v.). In modern times com- posers have also written suites for orchestra, which, however, but slightly resemble their pro- totypes. Some of the movements are not dance forms, and the principle of contra.sting keys is also introduced. See Dancing; Sonata; Sym- rnoNT. SUITS AT LAW AND EQUITY. See Ac- tion; Equity. SUKASAPTATI, shoo'ka-sap'td-te (Skt., seventy [stories] of a parrot). A collection of Sanskrit prose stories. These tales, seventy in number, are told by a parrot to the wife of a merchant who is away on his travels. She is inclined to be unfaithful to her husband, and consults the parrot regarding her plans. The bird cleverly pretends to approve of her inten- tions, but points out to her the dangers of de- tection, and induces her to promise not to meet any lover unless she can extricate herself as such and such a person did. This rouses her
