The trick does not occur when he is half-asleep, as, for example, when dozing
in his arm-chair, but the moment he is fast asleep it is apt to begin.
It is, as with his father, intermittent; sometimes ceasing for many nights,
and sometimes almost incessant during a part of every night.
It is performed, as it was by his father, with his right hand.
"One of his children, a girl, has inherited the same trick.
She performs it, likewise, with the right hand, but in a slightly
modified form; for, after raising the arm, she does not allow the wrist
to drop upon the bridge of the nose, but the palm of the half-closed
hand falls over and down the nose, striking it rather rapidly.
It is also very intermittent with this child, not occurring for
periods of some months, but sometimes occurring almost incessantly."
{end of long footnote}
Another curious instance of an odd inherited movement,
associated with the wish to obtain an object, will be given
in the course of this volume.
There are other actions which are commonly performed
under certain circumstances, independently of habit,
and which seem to be due to imitation or some sort of sympathy.
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