XXV 

 THE ROVING IMPULSE 



ONE of the recent studies in human heredity 

 which we owe to the energy of Dr. C. B. 

 Davenport and the generosity of the supporters of 

 the Station for Experimental Evolution at Cold 

 Spring Harbor, Long Island, concerns those 

 interesting variants who are called " rovers." In 

 a marked and specific way they are restless and dis- 

 inclined to settle down, they run away from home, 

 they play truant from school, they suddenly resign 

 good situations, they disappear for years, they are 

 " rolling-stones " and in extreme cases fugitives 

 and vagabonds on the earth. To a greater or less 

 extent their life is swayed by a wandering impulse 

 which now and again becomes irresistible. When 

 the impulse is strong and well-marked its expression 

 is spoken of as nomadism, and it appears to be in 

 a high degree heritable. It may find outcrop in 

 a quite pathological " fugue" when the wanderer is 

 found far from home in a dazed or excited state, or 

 in a harmless passion for travel and exploration, 

 but it seems to be a specific bent. It finds expression 

 in children more frequently than in adults, it is 

 commoner among men than among women, it is 

 commonest of all during adolescence. But the 



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