A speculator should have a good aneroid barometer, that has a good big indicator, hung up in his hall, and he would not be very far wrong if he were to buy and sell according to the indications given by this instrument that it was going to be good or bad weather. Most people are like any one you may chance to single out of a crowd, from a physical point of view.[21] The change from fair to foul weather will have the same effect upon a crowd as upon that one man. Foggy, wet, and cheerless weather sends people to their homes with a contented mind, if they feel they can hold their own until the return of sunshine; just as a storm causes navigators to run for a harbour, or seek the nearest shelter from its fury. When buyers keep away from the markets, prices droop with their own weight, and, from the mere absence of any buying at all, will often fall as regards value, out of all proportion to the extent of the sales. Such a period is a very good one to turn round and buy, as there is sure to be a nearly corresponding recovery with a favourable change in the weather. [Sidenote: A FAVOURABLE PERIOD OF THE YEAR.] Unless there are special causes at work, during the first month of the year the Stock markets are usually as hard and inelastic as the frozen earth outside. At Christmas-time people make up their accounts for the year, and most of them, having gained less than the total pictured by their imagination, are more or less out of humour, and disinclined to enter upon commitments outside the limits of their business proper. At such a period, therefore, a speculator may look for fluctuations which as a rule will not occur. As February creeps on, if circumstances are generally favourable for trade, so that the newspapers can dish up their daily fare with sauces that encourage their readers to look on the future with hopefulness, losses that are written off will begin to assume less harrowing proportions, and the old inclination to launch out will come to the front.[22] The professional speculative element in the community sniffs this movement on the part of the public with the accuracy of a pointer that has found his bird, and they commence to draw the credulous by fictitious prices, now and then unloading to be ready when the relapse comes, to commence anew when another favourable opportunity offers. As the spring comes in, with its delights and young verdure, and cheering early sun-rays, which draw the notes of the lark and the linnet, the disposition becomes more general to disregard those strict lines of prudence which the bleak winds of autumn and the shorter days of an aging year, mark out so prominently for observation. At a period of the year when spring is merging in early summer, with all its pleasant prospects of pleasure to come, it is quite natural to suppose that a desire should arise to make money, by which everything could be made smooth and delightful during the most enjoyable part of the year. Then again,