26 THE FEEBLY INHIBITED. 



We see, then, that all cases of nomadism can be ascribed to one 

 fundamental cause — that those who show the trait belong to the no- 

 madic race. In addition, since the more intelligent representatives of 

 that race are able in a measure under ordinary circumstances to inhibit 

 their impulses, we find that with such people the unstable, wandering 

 impulse is apt to be associated with a periodic disturbance which 

 renders inoperative the inhibitory machinery. Of such disturbance, epi- 

 leptic, hysteric, dipsomanic, erotic, depressive attacks are other symp- 

 toms; they are frequent concomitants, but not the fundamental cause, of 

 nomadic impulses. They merely permit the nomadic impulses to appear. 



IX. SUMMARY. 



(i) The wandering instinct is a fundamental human instinct, which 

 is, however, typically inhibited in intelligent adults of civilized peoples. 



(2) Nomadism is probably a sex-linked recessive monohybrid trait. 



(3) Sons are nomadic only when their mothers belong to nomadic 

 stock. 



(4) Daughters are nomadic only when the mother belongs to such 

 stock and the father is actually nomadic. 



(5) When both parents are nomadic expectation is that all children 

 will be. 



(6) The nomadic impulse frequently occurs in families showing various 

 kinds of periodic behavior, such as depression, migraine, epilepsy, and 

 hysteria. It is concluded that these periodic states are not the true 

 cause of nomadism, but rather that, for the better inhibited part of the 

 community, the nomadic tendency is released in the periodic state which 

 paralyzes the inhibitions . The feeble-minded and demented may wander 

 without going into a periodic state. The periodic psychoses are frequent 

 concomitants, but not the fundamental cause, of nomadic impulses. 

 They merely permit the nomadic impulses to appear. 



X. LITERATURE CITED. 



Borrow, G. 185 1. Lavengro : The Scholar — the Gipsy — the Priest. 3 vols. 

 Deniker, J. 1906. The Races of Man. London and New York, xxiii+611 pp. 

 Garner, R. L. 1890. Apes and Monkeys: Their life and language. Boston, xiii+297 pp. 

 Gaster, M. 1910. Gipsies. Encyclopedia Britannica, xn edition, vol. xn, pp. 31-43. 

 Hall, G. S. 1904. Adolescence. New York: Appleton, 2 vols., xx+589, vi+784 pp. 

 Hamel, and R. Meunier. 1897. Vagabondage et folie. Congr. de med. mental, Toulouse. 

 Joffroy, A. and R. Dufouy. 1909. Fugues et Vagabondage. Etude clinique et psycho- 



logique, Paris, 368 pp. 

 KingslEY, J. T. 1885. The Standard Natural History, vol. VI. Boston, xi+478 pp. 

 Kline.L.W. 1898. The Migratory Impulses. Love of Home. Am. Jour. Psych., x, 1-8 1. 

 Meunier, R. 1908. Les vagabonds et le vagabondage. Rev. mod. de med. et de chir. 

 Parent, V. 1909. Les fugues en psychiatrie, xix me Congr. des alienistes et neurolgists 



de France, 145 pp. 

 Stier, E. 1913. Wandertrieb und pathologisches Fortlaufen bei Kindern. Samml. 



zwangl. Abh. z. Neuro- und Psychopath, des Kindersalters, I Bd., Heft 1-3, 135 pp. 



