THE QUESTION OF FATIGUE FROM THE ECONOMIC STANDPOINT. 267 



a printed page. Its method of reading results is likewise easy, since it 

 consists in a mere counting and averaging of errors. The truth of its 

 interpretation is, however, by no means so certain. The test does not 

 get at -the phenomenon to be studied at all directly or unequivocably, 

 unless the distinction between fatigue and weariness is to be overlooked 

 altogether. The material from which the results are read is the product 

 of the total set of mental conditions obtaining at the time of tho 

 investigation, and the number of errors in any given case will as readily 

 be affected by a feeling of rivalry between the pupils or by a momentary 

 distraction as by the influence of fatigue itself. These influences can- 

 not unconditionally be set down as constant factors, which are, 

 therefore, eliminable. The anticipation of recess or the conclusion of 

 work may very well be potent in estabHshing a law of rhythmical 

 increase and decrease in the number of errors, which will well combine 

 with the actual exhaustion effects to produce a curve which does not 

 at all truly represent the rise in fatigue. The results of practice, like- 

 wise, interfere with the purity of the fatigue curve when it is determined 

 by the numbers of errors occurring. ' 



As "Weber has pointed out, Kraepelin himself was very cautious in 

 his attitude to the subject; but other investigations at the end of the 

 last century raised the hopes of educationists and produced those 

 strange obsessions as to the value of the sesthesiometer, which 

 occupied so much space in psychological literature for a number of 

 years. 



E'. MacDougall summarises the scale of values and recommenda- 

 tions which these sesthesiometric investigations endeavoured to 

 establish, as follows: — 



' Mathematics and classics stand high in all the lists ; singing, 

 drawing, and religion come far down, as does also the study of 

 German. That is, studies which demand close application tax the 

 pupil heavily, while those in which practice and mechanical routine 

 can play a part are marked by slight fatigue. Gymnastic exercise, 

 instead of being recuperative, ranks among the most fatiguing forms of 

 school work. Only light exercise is recreation. Even the recess 

 period is marked by deep fatigue in those who indulge in violent exer- 

 cise. Instead of the customary intervention, the various investigators 

 agree in recommending a shorter pause after each hour's work, during 

 which noisy games shall be discourag^ed and the children taught to 

 seek rest, fresh air, and gentle movement. In these lies the solution 

 of the problem of fatigue in school. ' 



It is clear that many of these views would be supported by 

 educational reformers on grounds of common experience, but it has 

 been demonstrated by Leuba, Germann, and others that the sesthesio- 

 metric method is quite inadequate to establish such far-reaching 

 conclusions. 



(c) The Need for Co-operation. 



On the whole, however, in spite of their experiments in school and 

 laboratory, the work of psychologists is still for the most part the 

 reverse of illuminating for the problems of industry. The writers of 



