440 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



have been able to carry out their wishes without any noticeable oppo- 

 sition from the employes, and have thus effected for hundreds what 

 would otherwise have cost them thousands of dollars if any jDlan hith- 

 erto proposed had been adopted. 



Since only the color-blind and those needing surgical skill have been 

 sent to the expert, he has not been in a position to give statistical 

 tables of the examinations, and he therefore submits the following 

 letter from Mr. Charles E. Pugh, the General Manager, to substantiate 

 his statements, and bear witness to the success of the entire system : 



Dr. William Thomson, Surgical Expert, Pennsylvania Railway Com- 

 pany, lJt26 Walnut Street, Philadelphia. 



Pennsylvania Railway Company, Office of the General Manager, ) 

 233 South Fourth Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 26, ISSJj.. ) 



Dear Sir : The practical examination of our employes as to their 

 acuteness of vision, color-sense, and hearing, in accordance with the 

 system proposed to us by you and carried out under your supervision, 

 has been extended to all the various divisions of the Pennsylvania 

 Railway ; has embraced nearly all of the men engaged in duties requir- 

 ing the use of signals now in the service, and will be used hereafter 

 in the selection of men placed on such duty, or in the employment of 

 new men entering our service. 



In approaching the completion of the task of examining those now 

 in our service (more than twelve thousand employes having been sub- 

 mitted to your system), I desire to express to you our entire satisfac- 

 tion with the rules and regulations, tests and instructions prepared by 

 you, as well as with the personal supervision and instruction of ex- 

 aminers, and examinations and decisions upon doubtful cases and per- 

 sons referred to you for final action. 



Our division superintendents and their staff-ofiicers have been able 

 to deal promptly with the great majority of defective men, and thus 

 avoid the necessity of availing themselves of that clause in the in- 

 structions which provides for an expert examination in each suspected 

 case, and have in this way carried out your purpose without undue 

 excitement among the men, in a speedy and confidential way, and with 

 economy to the company. 



The proportion of those defective in color-sense, vision, and hear- 

 ing, was found, by the examination of two thousand men before the 

 adoption of this plan, to be four per cent of the first and about ten per 

 cent of the latter ; and I am satisfied from my reports that all those 

 thus deficient are being relieved of duties which they can not jjer- 

 form, and that the great dangers to the public, and to the other em- 

 ployes, of loss of life, and to the company of possible destruction of 

 property, have been averted, so far as their defects are concerned. 



I am frequently asked by prominent ofticers of other railways and 

 Government officials to give an opinion as to the practical usefulness 



