538 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIII. No. 1380 



mortality which parallels advancing indus- 

 trialism. 



A study of British industrial accident sta- 

 tistics for 1913 has shown that more fatalities 

 resulted from persons falling than from 

 machinery moved by mechanical power. This 

 fact suggests a high proportion of preventable 

 accidents and further studies have indeed 

 shown that 60 to 80 per cent, of all industrial 

 accidents are apparently due to mistakes on 

 the part of the workers. Safeguarding of 

 machinery alone has not been found to reduce 

 accidents more than 10 per cent. — a result 

 which conforms with American experience. 

 The interesting studies of Greenwood and 

 Woods regarding predisposition to accidents 

 are presented in considerable detail and addi- 

 tional evidence is advanced corroborating 

 their conclusion that a trivial accident indi- 

 cates a susceptible worker. 



A woirker who has had three (trivial accidents is 

 a more dangerous person than one who has had a 

 singile bad wound. 



In the chapter on the industrial employ- 

 ment of women the authors have presented a 

 thoughtful analysis of the physical, physio- 

 logical and jjsychological aptitudes and short- 

 comings of women. The commonly accepted 

 physical inferiority of women they believe 

 may be due to lack of physical training rather 

 than actual structural capacity. The problem 

 of the expectant mother was successfully met 

 by the Ministry of Munitions by establishing 

 a light employment depot. 



Overalls and gJoves were made and mended and 

 other sewimg work was done by expectant mothers 

 drawn from several fa«tori.es in a district. The 

 hours of work were shorter than normal, and the 

 workers were paid on a time basis. Milk waa 

 given in the morning, a good meal mid-day, tea 

 in the afternoon, and a rest room provided. — The 

 women readily availed themselves of these facili- 

 ties ; lost time was negligible, and work was so well 

 done that the depot was a financdal success. 



Although the authors admit " that the effect 

 of plumbism in causing miscarriage and still 

 births is a sufficient reason for excluding 

 females from exposure to lead fumes ..." 

 they " are unaware of any scientific evidence 



in support of the alleged sexual proclivity." 

 This conclusion is contrary to the findings of 

 Oliver, Legge and Goodby. 



The third part of the book consists of a 

 practical discussion of industrial food re- 

 quirements, ventilation, lighting and general 

 SEuiitary accommodations. Attention is again 

 directed to the disproportionately high per- 

 centage of wages required for the purchase of 

 adequate food in the case of workers on 

 " heavy jobs," jobs that require 3,800 calories 

 as compared with 2,800 calories for light 

 work. According to the calculations of Green- 

 wood, Hodson and Tebb workers in the former 

 class must spend nearly 13 s. weekly for food 

 alone while in the latter case 10 s. will suffice. 

 The practical problem is complicated by the 

 fact that remuneration is less in the case of 

 heavy jobs than for operations needing many 

 fewer calories. In calculating working men's 

 budgets the physiological demands of specific 

 occupations must therefore be taken into 

 consideration. 



The value of the chapter on ventilation 

 might have been considerably enhanced by a 

 discussion of some of the methods for dust 

 determination and the presentation of E. V. 

 Hill's " zone of comfort " chart. The report 

 of the New York Ventilation Commission 

 should certainly be included in the bibliog- 

 raphy. On page 327, Fig. 26-B presents a 

 somewhat unfortunate example of "good 

 lighting." The intense local illumination and 

 the consequent deep shadows and contrasts 

 are certainly not in keeping with the best 

 modern practise. American experience has 

 shown that a high general illumination with 

 local illumination reduced to a minimum 

 gives the most satisfactory results. 



The fourth section of the book will be of 

 particular interest to industrial physicians 

 and nurses, personnel managers and social 

 service workers. In the opinion of the re- 

 viewer a discussion of the physical standard- 

 ization of jobs, for example by Martin's 

 method, would have been a welcome addition 

 to the chapter on " Supervision of Industrial 

 Health." There is far too great a tendency to 

 depend upon such qualifications as " short 



