348 KEPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. — ^1915. 



(p. 222) ' Uninterrupted muscular activity is accompanied by inaccurate 

 muscular co-ordinations which increase iixegularly and at a rate largely deter- 

 mined by the speed and relative difficulty of the activity for the given individual.' 



(61) ' In what ways is the development of the fatigue process hastened m the 

 case of present-day working people, and why ; and what are the observable 

 circumstances under which these processes result in accidents ? ' 



(p. 301.) ' The chief industrial conditions leading up to and culminatmg in 

 accidents are those of monotony and speed and of unrelaxed tension kept up 

 for long hours.' 



(62) What are the concrete immediate conditions preceding accidents — 

 The vwdus operandi of the general causes in bringmg about accidents ? ' 



' Of 2,(366 accidents in Illinois, 1910, 17 J per cent. (463) were beyond con- 

 trol of the injured ; 82| per cent. (2,203) avoidable by mjured.' 



(c) ' Can the subjective fatigue processes be measured by means of con- 

 trolled exjjcriments in terms comparable to the observable conditions preceding 

 accidents and thus be causally related to accidents ? ' 



In answer to this problem Bogardus invented an experimental instrument 

 that seems to produce the actual conditions of industry extremely successfully. 



(d) To test his theories ' objectivelj ' Bogardus then examines the hour at 

 ■\\hich those accidents in Illinois which were ' avoidable by the injured ' (see 

 above) occurred ; this hourly distribution is quoted in Table XIII., Col. 7, of 

 our Report. With these figures Bogardus then comijares the similar accident 

 time-distributions compiled in Germany (Index B4, Agriculture in 1891, and 

 Industry in 1887), France (Index 1^4), Belgium (Index B3), Wisconsin 

 (Lidex B12), and in American Cotton Industries (Index B5), finally adding up all 

 the accidents figuring at the same hour of day. Such a comparison and 

 ' Bumming up ' of different countries, authorities, and industries seem to us 

 somewhat arbitrarj', smce each of the countries and some of the industries 

 (e.g. Agriculture) have different working hours and many of the authorities 

 have adopted different plans of delimiting the hour. 



(c) ' To what extent do investigations of the causes of railway accidents, 

 for example, by the Interstate Commerce Commission isolate fatigue as a cause 

 of accidents, and have the Courts indicted fatigue as a cause of accidents ? ' 



In answer, some findings of the Courts are cited. 



Bogardus then advocates certain legislative and management reforms, and 

 summarises his conclusions as follows : — 



The typical succession of events consists in :— 



(a) The development of fatigue. 



(6) The development of muscular inactivities due to this increasing fatigue. 

 (c) Increasing number of accidents due immediately to this increasing loss 

 of muscular accuracy. 



D8. Weber, Max, ' Zur Psychophj^sik der industriellen Arbeit,' in the ' Arehiv fiir 

 Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik.' 



Articles. I. Vol. 27 (1908), pp. 730 ff. 

 II. and III. Vol. 28 (1909), pp. 219-277 and pp. 719-761. 

 IV. Vol. 29 (1909), pp. 513-542. 



These articles by Weber fall into two parts ; the first part, consisting of the 

 first article and the beginning of the second, is an attempt to view KraepeUn's 

 psychological study of fatigue from the economic standpouit, and has been 

 translated in full for the Committee by Mr. C. K. Ogden. 



In the second part Weber has, to quote his own words, ' given an illustration 

 of how the figures are to be handled ' (p. 241, 2nd article), so as to throw further 

 light on the conclusions of Kraepelin, especially in regard to the following points : 



1. The facts about the output curve and its most important determinants, 



2. The analysis of the curve according to each of its component factors, 

 and also so as to suggest further conclusions, and fuially to attempt to trace ' how 

 far difterences in workers' output is due to inherited ability and their cultural, 

 social, and occupational environment.' 



