EFFICIENCY AND FATIGUE 253 



The difference which then occurred was due to the 

 fact that the women who were under direct observa- 

 tion continued to work right to the end of the spell, 

 whilst most of the other women in the section knocked 

 off a few minutes before nominal stopping-time. The 

 output steadily improved during the course of the 

 morning spell, till it was 21 per cent greater in the 

 last hour of full work than in the first hour. This 

 increase arose from increased efficiency due to prac- 

 tice, and it was observed in greater or less degree 

 among all sections of workers. It was more than 

 sufficient to neutralize any tendency to diminished 

 output which might be produced by fatigue. Even 

 the afternoon output showed only a little indication 

 of fatigue in the middle two hours, but such fatigue 

 effects were completely overpowered in the last full 

 hour of work by the spurt which the workers put on 

 as they knew that rest and relaxation were at hand. 

 The output curves of the men's sections were similar 

 to those of the women's sections, and the mean output 

 of seven sections is shown at the bottom of fig. i. It 

 was determined on three consecutive days in January 

 and on another three in July, 1917, and it will be seen 

 that the curves correspond well with one another. 

 The only real evidence of fatigue shown by the power- 

 load curves was obtained by comparing the excess 

 power consumed in the four full working hours of the 

 afternoon spell with that in the four full working 

 hours of the morning spell. It was found to be i to 2 

 per cent less, on an average, in the afternoon, and, 

 in that the output of the morning spell was consider- 

 ably reduced by the lack of full practice efficiency 

 during the first two or three hours, one can say that 

 fatigue in the afternoon had a slightly greater influ- 

 ence in reducing output than had the lack of practice 

 efficiency in the morning. 



