In commenting on suicides, in 1835, Arntzenius speaks of an ambitious Frenchman who was desirous of leaving the world in a distinguished manner, and who attached himself to a rocket of enormous size which he had built for the purpose, and setting fire to it, ended his life.

On September 28, 1895, according to the Gaulois and the New York Herald (Paris edition) of that date, there was admitted to the Hopital St.Louis a clerk, aged twenty-five, whom family troubles had rendered desperate and who had determined to seek death as a relief from his misery.

Reviewing the various methods of committing suicide he found none to his taste, and resolved on something new.

Being familiar with the constituents of explosives, he resolved to convert his body into a bomb, load it with explosives, and thus blow himself to pieces.

He procured some powdered sulphur and potassium chlorate, and placing each in a separate wafer he swallowed both with the aid of water.