THE ROVING IMPULSE 193 



the expectation is that all the children will be." As 

 to the not infrequent concomitance of nomadism 

 with periodic abnormal psychoses, such as de- 

 pression or hysteria, Dr. Davenport thinks that this 

 simply means that these abnormal states weaken 

 or paralyze the usual inhibitions, and thus allow 

 the nomadic impulse to assert itself. He is con- 

 vinced that nomadism is a perfectly definite herit- 

 able character. 



The second question is whether " roving " is a 

 new variation a germinal experiment so to speak, 

 or an atavism in the wide sense a reversionary 

 outcrop of an antique and once widespread human 

 instinct. Or it may be that there are two types. 

 Dr. Davenport regards nomadism rather as a 

 negative than as a positive trait, holding that the 

 characters which normally make for steadiness 

 and settling-down are weak or absent, with the 

 result that a primitive wandering impulse finds 

 uninhibited expression. As he states it, in modern 

 phraseology, " the nomadic impulse depends upon 

 the absence of a simple sex-linked gene that ' deter- 

 mines ' domesticity " " gene " meaning a " unit- 

 factor " or particular component in the germinal 

 inheritance. On this view, we are all bearers of the 

 vestiges at least of an ancient wandering instinct 

 supposed to be primitive in mankind, but we 

 normally inhibit or regularize its development or 

 expression. This inhibition comes about organi- 

 cally, because less primitive characters, such as 

 having and loving a home, are stronger than the 



