XXV 
THE ROVING IMPULSE 
Ob 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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