14 THE FEEBI^Y INHIBITED. 



V. TABLES SHOWING DISTRIBUTION OF THE NOMADIC TENDENCY 



IN THE 100 FAMILY HISTORIES. 



EXPLANATION OF THE TABLES. 



A table is a convenient and compact form for giving much informa- 

 tion. But there is always danger associated with such compactness 

 and conciseness; above all the danger of recording as equivalent (e. g., 

 by the latter W, the symbol of nomadism) reactions that are really 

 different. Especially in a statistical comparison of W and Not-W, it 

 is important to define what kinds of behavior are to be classed as 

 evidence of nomadism. It is unreasonable to expect that field workers 

 or volunteer collaborators shall always use the word "nomadism" or 

 "wandering" and I have classified as such a number of traits that 

 appear in individuals who, by hypothesis, may be expected to show 

 nomadism; these are: hunter and fisher (Nos. 3, 51), sailor, sea-captain 

 (No. 15), stage-driver (Nos. 4, 20, 38), tinkerer (No. 56), "ran away to 

 go to war," "wandering while insane." Just as the nomadic races live 

 by hunting and fishing, it is suggestive to find these occupations in not 

 a few of the families with nomadism. While perhaps not all sailors 

 have a wanderlust, conversation with seamen soon proves that a large 

 proportion of them were lured to the sea in their youth by a love of 

 travel. To a less degree the love of change of scene and moving about 

 makes railroading (and even stage-driving) attractive to many of these 

 strains ; and just as the gypsies are often tinkerers, so we find among 

 our nomadic families the term "peddler" and "tinkerer" employed. 

 The attribution of any of these terms is prima facie evidence of nomad- 

 ism in the subject; at least they can not be regarded as opposing the 

 hypothesis. 



In the tables attention is called to many cases of periodic behavior in 

 individuals who do not show nomadism. Examples of such behavior 

 are epilepsy, fits of absent-mindedness, dipsomania, migraine. These are 

 important, since there is reason for believing that a tendency to perio- 

 dicity is an inheritable trait and takes different forms in different 

 individuals of different constitution. 



The family number is given in the first column. This is repeated in 

 several instances, because there are sometimes 2 fraternities in the 

 same family that show nomadism. The classification of offspring 

 follows ; the first column gives the total number ; the next column the 

 number whose traits are unknown (x), then the number who died young 

 or at an age before the nomadic trait is ordinarily noted. The following 

 four columns give for males (cf) and females ( 9) respectively the 

 number of nomadic (W) and non-nomadic (Not-W) individuals. Next 

 is a column (F) which records the father's traits that are related to 

 nomadism or its absence, (N, normal). The column (M) does the 

 same for the mother. Columns for a statement concerning brothers 

 (M's bro.) and father (MF) of the mother are provided where necessary. 



