Even in the United
States, where the summer heat is often excessive, it tends to
produce a diminution of crime.
Dexter, in an elaborate study of the relationship of conduct to
the weather, shows that in the United States assaults present the
maximum of frequency in April and October, with a decrease during
the summer and the winter. "The unusual and interesting fact
demonstrated here with a certainty that cannot be doubted is," he
concludes, "that the unseasonably hot days of spring and autumn
are the pugnacious ones, even though the actual heat be much less
than for summer. We might infer from this that conditions of
heat, up to a certain extent, are vitalizing, while, at the same
time, irritating, but above that limit, heat is so devitalizing
in its effects as to leave hardly energy enough to carry on a
fight." (E.G. Dexter, _Conduct and the Weather_, 1899, pp. 63 _et
seq._)
It is not impossible that the phenomena of seasonal periodicity
in crimes may possess a real significance in relation to sexual
periodicity. If, as is possible, the occurrence of spring and
autumn climaxes of criminal activity is due less to any special
exciting causes at these seasons than to the depressing
influences of heat and cold in summer and winter, it may appear
reasonable to ask whether the spring and autumn climaxes of
sexual activity are not really also largely due to a like
depressing influence of extreme temperatures at the other two
seasons.
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