" He further stated his belief in a "primordial
seasonal aptitude for procreation, the impress of which still
remains, and, to some extent, governs the breeding-times of
humanity." (A. Wiltshire, "Lectures on the Comparative Physiology
of Menstruation," _British Medical Journal_, March, 1883, pp.
502, etc.)
Westermarck, in a chapter of his _History of Human Marriage_,
dealing with the question of "A Human Pairing Season in Primitive
Times," brings forward evidence showing that spring, or, rather,
early summer, is the time for increase of the sexual instinct,
and argues that this is a survival of an ancient pairing season;
spring, he points out, is a season of want, rather than
abundance, for a frugivorous species, but when men took to herbs,
roots, and animal food, spring became a time of abundance, and
suitable for the birth of children. He thus considers that in
man, as in lower animals, the times of conception are governed by
the times most suitable for birth.
Rosenstadt, as we shall see later, also believes that men to-day
have inherited a physiological custom of procreating at a certain
epoch, and he thus accounts for the seasonal changes in the
birthrate.
Heape, who also believes that "at one period of its existence the
human species had a special breeding season," follows Wiltshire
in suggesting that "there is some reason to believe that the
human female is not always in a condition to breed.
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