It is not only shared by both music and poetry,--which
would fit in well with the assumption of a sexual _nisus_,--but
the department of "history, biography, voyages, and travels"
shares it also with considerable regularity; so, also, does that
of "arts, sciences, and natural history," and it is quite well
marked in "theology, moral philosophy, etc.," and in "juvenile
literature." We even have to admit that the promptings of the
sexual instinct bring an increased body of visitors to the
reference library (where there are no novels), for here, also,
both the spring and autumnal climaxes are quite distinct.
Certainly this theory carries us a little too far.
The main factor in producing this very marked annual periodicity
seems to me to be wholly unconnected with the sexual impulse. The
winter half of the year (from the beginning of October to the end
of March), when outdoor life has lost its attractions, and much
time must be spent in the house, is naturally the season for
reading. But during the two central months of winter, December
and January, the attraction of reading meets with a powerful
counter-attraction in the excitement produced by the approach of
Christmas, and the increased activity of social life which
accompanies and for several weeks follows Christmas. In this way
the other four winter months--October and November at the
autumnal end, and February and March at the spring end--must
inevitably present the two chief reading climaxes of the year;
and so the reports of lending libraries present us with figures
which show a striking, but fallacious, resemblance to the curves
which are probably produced by more organic causes.
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