THE QUESTION OP FATIGUE FROM THE ECONOMIC STANDPOINT. 269 



several directions in which further assistance from psychologists is 

 urgently needed. 



A. The effect of the following factors in predisposing or retarding 

 the onset of Fatigue : — 



I. The Intelligibility of the work. "What types of workers, if any, 

 can take more pleasure in their work when each action has its place in 

 some definite whole whose purpose they can understand. Are Ker- 

 schensteiner's conclusions on this subject (* The Schools and the 

 Nation,' p. 121, &c.) valid also for Industry? 



II. Spurt, on account of rush orders, &c. The investigations of 

 Kraepelin require more detailed examination in their application to the 

 factory. 



III. Rhythmisation. — Since industrial operations are usually com- 

 plex — i.e. consist of several co-ordinated movements — rhythm requires 

 further analysis into two elements: — 



(a) Regularising of the time of the whole complex operation. 



(b) Regularising of the method of operation — i.e. the timing of the 

 separate movements within the whole operation. 



How far is there an adaptation of work rhythm to some natural 

 (physiological) rhythm? 



IV. Concentration and attention over long periods. How exactly 

 is Attention affected by Fatigue, e.g. at the end of a long spell of work 

 (four or five hours)? What explanations can be given of the rise in 

 accidents near the end of such a spell? Is it a case of momentary 

 lapses or a general failure in intensity of application? Why does the 

 number of accidents fall again in the very last hour of the spell before 

 the meal-breaks ? (See 1915 Report.) 



B. What apparatus now at the service of Experimental Psycholo- 

 gists is most suitable for use in factory investigations? What further 

 contrivances can be devised to facilitate such research? 



of sleep must therefore include a reference to the attention, the importance 

 of which for its induction or prevention is well known. There is no eurer 

 means of producing sleep than to tire the attention. 



Kuelpe's standpoint throughout is that of the laboratory experimenter. 

 His references to fatigue are either designed to put the experimenter on his 

 guard against influences disturbing normal conditions, or are of the nature of 

 obiter dicta. 



