290 THE NEW WORLD OF SCIENCE 



as a means of arousing his interest and causing him to think 

 of the possibilities for retraining himself for some new form 

 of employment suited to his modified physical condition. 

 Whenever possible the new work chosen was on a higher plane 

 than his former occupation. For example, a house painter 

 might be taught fancy lettering and sign painting, which re- 

 quired less strength but more skill, and some have been able 

 to command higher wages after injury than they had been 

 able to obtain before. Blind men were taught to assemble 

 watches or clocks or intricate automobile parts, and so to sup- 

 port themselves a| least as well as before entering the service 

 of their country. / The training was both vocational and thera- 

 peutic and the two were inseparable. , A barber, for example, 

 who had received a considerable injury of the hand would re- 

 cover the lost function quicker in doing the work of a barber 

 than by long hours of passive or mechanical motion in the 

 hospital ward. The difference in the spirit of the men was 

 soon seen and in its turn exerted an undoubted influence in 

 hastening convalescence and in preventing the paralyzing hos- 

 pitalism which formerly followed injuries which interfered 

 with the earning power of the individual. Such injuries are 

 common in civil life, in the industries and in mining and rail- 

 roading and civil hospitals and insurance commissions will no 

 doubt continue to use the reconstruction methods which have 

 been elaborated during the war. The public, the patient and 

 the physician now are all informed of the great possibilities 

 of corrective vocational training and will demand its use in 

 the future. 



