19 
As regards the regulations which are not so binding, one will 
prefer doing his best work lying flat in bed or on a couch. Ihave 
heard it stated that those whose circulation is feeble get a better 
activity of brain, and a less degree of fatigue, if they work in this 
position. Others prefer a gentle walk whilst thinking out some 
problem. Some find the function of the mind most active in the 
morning, and work less fatiguing. The brain of others seems 
most active late at night, when the majority of us are resting. 
Most workers find rest and stillness necessary for thought, but 
there are some whose minds become all aglow from the excite- 
ment of railway travelling. I must confess that when travelling 
I have sometimes got an answer to some problem ; some lost 
word has returned when my mind was stimulated by the rapid 
movement of a railway train. I have known men take a railway 
journey with the sole idea of stimulating the brain, and starting 
some fresh train of thought. Others again find it necessary to 
read a novel to soothe the brain when travelling. I have no 
doubt that mental work done under the influence of this stimulus 
must be very fatiguing. 
As regards the onset of fatigue, one very important sign of its 
approach is, when it is found difficult to fix the attention on the 
work in hand, and when every little sight and sound distracts the 
mind, and starts some other train of thought. An hour’s rest, or 
some fresh work would be well then. I should take it to bea 
sign of a functionally active brain when its possessor can continue 
to work, and do good work, without exhaustion in an environment, 
which many would consider decidedly inimical to good work. 
Of the biographies of head workers which I have read not one so 
impressed me in this particular as that of Sir James Paget. His 
is one of the most inspiring and instructive lives any one could 
read. He possessed the power of concentration and attention 
until quite late at night, even after a very hard day’s work, when all 
ordinary minds would have wandered from the subject in hand. 
Even in extreme old age he continued to work with scarcely any 
sign of fatigue, and to work on in rooms where music and 
conversation were going on. When in practice he was practically 
always overworked, but he possessed the power of going at once 
from each duty to the next without a break, as if it were by 
instinct. In the evening, after dinner, he wrote his letters and 
filled up his casebook in the drawing room, surrounded by his 
family, and rather preferred than otherwise to hear the piano and 
conversation during his work. He seemed to know when to 
retire, not from any sense of fatigue, but because he felt enough 
work had been done for the day. His biographer says of him: 
He worked without fuss in a quiet way that recalls Matthew 
Arnold’s words :— 
One lesson, Nature, let me learn of thee, 
Of rest unsevered from tranquillity. 
