142 A CONTRIBUTION TO THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ‘‘LATAH.’”’ 
Famity IT -Matay :— 
Father, very “ latah ” 
Mother, healthy 
Eldest son, a “ paroxysmal” drunkard, although a Moham- 
medan. 
Eldest daughter, distinctly although as yet slightly “latah ” 
Second daughter, epileptic 
Other members of the family too young to decide. 
Famity II] Matacca PorTUGUESE :— 
Father, healthy 
Mother, “ latah ” 
Family of three daughters and two sons. One of the daugh- 
ters is a somnambulist, the eldest son is “ latah,” the second son 
slightly so, the other members of the family healthy. 
Faminty IV Maray:— 
Father, slightly “ latah ” 
Father’s sister (living with the family) intensely “ latah ” 
Mother, healthy 
A yery large family of which one son, the eldest of the family, 
shews distinct signs of “latah,’ one daughter also, while the 
“Benjamin” of the family is a congenital idiot. 
I therefore do not feel that it is justifiable to say that “ latah ” 
begets, “‘ latah,” or, in other words, to dub it as being hereditary. 
What is inherited is the impress of a nervous defect, a disequili- 
briation, which may manifest itself as “latah” or some other 
neurosis, the early environmental associations and the unconscious 
mimicry of youth being of at least equal importance as etiological 
factors. 
While the Malay cannot justly be called a jungle dweller, in a 
crowded town he is an exotic. Of an eminently social disposition 
he never, of his own free will, chooses sohtude but prefers the 
village hfe. The bounty of Nature is such that a few hours’ work 
daily suffices to supply his wants and the unvarying and unfailing 
rotation of the seasons relieves him of the necessity of laying up 
any store against the future. There has thus been evolved a con- 
tented, happy, somewhat improvident individual, of abundant 
leisure, on the whole a loveable personality. In the company of 
his compeers he is a cheery conyersationalist or raconteur, in the 
society of his superiors he, under a mask of deferential passivity, 
hides an acutely sentient nature, keen to appreciate humour, sen- 
sitive to praise or blame, responsive in a high degree to the moods 
of his visitor, is, in short, in perfect “ rapport ” with him. 
Jour. Straits Branch 
