298 



REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. — 1915. 



Fatigue up to the present. The method of grouping is (1) by kind of 

 test adopted (in rows horizontally), (2) by kind of comparison made 

 (in columns). The letter and number in brackets refers to Index of 

 Documents, pp. 63-67. 



Comparison Adopted. 



The following is a brief account, prepared by Miss Hutchins, of the 

 results of the more important of the ' Change in Working Time ' 

 Comparisons. 



In 1843 J. L. Kennedy, an investigator appointed by the Children's 

 Employment Commission, gave special study and attention to the 

 industry of calico cloth printing; and obtained information from a firm 

 who told him they had tried to run the mill fifteen hours a day and had 

 so large an amount of spoiled work that they were compelled to shorten 

 hours. When they did so, the proportion of spoiled work fell, and the 

 output was increased. Kennedy saw that machine tending was not, 

 as had been supposed, purely mechanical work, but that the productivity 

 of the machine depended largely on the skill of the operative and on 

 his power to concentrate his attention, a power which was evidently 

 much lessened when suffering from great fatigue. 



