ence of opinion. Few will question that grinding toil from morning till night is most undesirable, and that a reasonable time for recreation and change of scene is necessary for all workers, not least for those whose employment calls into play none of the higher and intellectual sides of the mind, and for those whose work, like that of miners, is of an uninviting and laborious nature. It is impossible, however to argue such questions from the mere lofty standpoint of theory. Labor problems cannot always be put to the touch of experiment; but in this particular case the experiment has been tried, and its success will do more to convince objectors than any amount of theoretical quibbling. Certain engineering firms in the north of England having determined to give the eight hours' day a trial, took the precaution to agree with the men to reduce their wages by such an amount as would cover half the anticipated loss, the masters bearing the other half. After a few months it was found that there was no loss whatever; the output was as large as before. Such a result, and it is by no means unique, is not only intensely interesting to the parties immediately concerned, but also opens up a field of physiological research which is almost untouched. It is not often that politics and physiology come into such close relationship. It amounts to this, that when the men worked for nine or ten hours, one or two hours were to all practical intents and purposes wasted. We do not mean deliberately wasted, but that the natural processes of fatigue operated in such a manner as to lead to a wasteful expenditure of energy. In a shorter day the workmen work with a will, to put it popularly; that is to say, the hours are not sufficiently long to admit of the onset of a time when the voluntary control over the muscles is necessarily lost to a great extent. The question of fatigue is very nearly related to that of the muscular sense, and few physiological questions have been more keenly discussed. Muscular fatigue is not a purely local muscular condition; the nervous centres are also at fault. Mosso, of Turin, has gone so far as to suppose that some toxic substance is produced during muscular activity which, passing into the blood and reaching the brain, impairs its activity and the will power associated therewith. He has also, by means of an instrument which he has devised aud named the ergograph, shown graphically that the fall in the amount of voluntary contractions is not necessarily a steady one, but may exhibit rises in the course of the downfall. Returning now to the operatives and their eight hours' day, the question arises what is the curve that would represent graphically the amount of work done as the day progresses? Here our information is necessarily scanty; observations are at present few in number, and the investigation on a mass of mill hands is necessarily difficult. In one case, of which we have received private information, the rough and ready method was adopted of directing the foreman to estimate the output per hour. It was found that the least productive period was the time before breakfast; after this meal the efficiency of the work gradually increased, and reached a maximum about 11 in the morning. From this time onward there was a steady fall, uninfluenced apparently by the subsequent meals, until the end of the day. This is perhaps what one would expect; working on an empty stomach is not working under the most advantageous circumstances, in spite of the long period of rest by which it is preceded. But every pedestrian knows that his most successful efforts are not made at the start, but when he gets warmed to his work; and every student who has taken muscle curves is aware of what is called the "beneficial effect of contraction," which precedes the occurrence of fatigue. Dr. Warren P. Lombard, of Worcester, Mass., has made, by Mosso's method, some experiments on himself, in which he has confirmed many of Mosso's results, as well as discovered some new facts. Experiments on a single individual will have to be controlled and, doubtless, corrected by observations on others, but as these are the most recent exact experiments performed in this field of scientific research, it may not be uninstructive to quote some of his more important results. He finds that the causes of fatigue in the muscles made to contract voluntarily are to be sought chiefly in the central nervous system; this is followed by rapid recuperative power. Those influences which lessen the power to do voluntary work are hunger, a fall of barometric pressure, a high temperature, a moist atmosphere, and the use of tobacco. Those which increase the ability to do voluntary muscular work are exercise, rest, and especially sleep, food, and rise in atmospheric pressure, and the use of alcohol. The experiments with alcohol taken in small quantities were, however, few in number, and did not last sufficiently long to show more than the primary stimulating effect of the drug. As we said at the outset, observations such as these open up a wide and interesting field, and if followed up on a larger scale by more accurate observations on the working power of larger masses of operatives, we doubt not that social reformers may discover that there is a physiological basis for the shortening of working hours.-Exchange. A LIFE SAVING THOUGHT. An amount of sickness, suffering and death will be saved to multitudes during any spring and summer, if the suggestions which I am about to make were attended to. Children eat for three objects: First, to keep them warm; second, to supply the wastes of the system, and third, to afford materials for growth. Hence, children who are in health, are always hungry, are always eating; we can well remember the happy time when we could eat apples all day and melons and grapes and gingerbread and candies, besides the regular meals of morning, noon and night. But in mature life the experience of each will tell him how changed; the reason is, one object of eating has ceased to exist, we grow no longer, and nature, with her watchful instinct, steps in and moderates the appetite; for if we ate as when we were children very few would survive a third of a century. The objects, then, for which men eat are two only: first to keep warm, second to supply the wastes of the system, and whatever is eaten beyond what is necessary for those two things, engenders disease in everybody everywhere and under all circumstances, and never fails, no more than fails the rising of the daily sun, for nature's laws are constant as the flow of time. No man works as hard in summer as in winter, consequently the wastes of the system are less; therefore a less amount of food is wanted in summer than in winter. The supply must be regulated by the demand. Again, we eat to keep warm. Some articles of food have ten times more fuel than nutriment. It must therefore be apparent, that we do not require as much food in summer as in winter, for this reason also that there is not the same demand for heat, and kind nature, ever watchful, steps in again and takes away our appetite as soon as the warm weather begins. All of us are sensible of a diminution of appetite even in early spring. But forgetting the natural reasons for it, we begin to think we are not well, and either by tempting the appetite, or taking tonics or "forcing" food, crowd the system with more aliment than the body requires. For a while the bodily powers, with the excess of winter vigor, are able to work up this extra supply and convert it into blood, but there is no use for it all, it is not called for and it accumulates in the body, stagnates, or in medical phrase, causes "congestion." Congestion in the brain causing us to feel dull and heavy and stupid and sleepy; congestion in the stomach causes loss of appetite, congestion in the liver gives rise to nausea, sick headache, diarrhea, dysenteries and the whole catalogue of fevers. The brute creation, obeying their instinct, are not troubled with the summer complaints and the thousand ills which affect and destroy men. But we overpower our instincts and making ourselves the slaves of appetite contrary to reason, perish in multitudes. Investigations have shown, that we require in midsummer near one-half less food than in midwinter. I throw this great practical truth before the people and for the present leave it. HOLLOWELL PAYNE, M. D. BEHIND THE COUNTER. No. 6.、 The floor walker within whose supervising limits my present duties lie is a good deal of a wag. Notwithstanding his readiness at all times. to assist the novice, and smooth the way of the transgressor, if the offense is of a nature to be condoned, it sometimes happens that discipline fails to make any lasting impression upon the subject of it, and the final lesson to be applied, however reluctantly, is a dismissal. Among the more youthful assistants at the stationery counter was one of this class, who repeatedly drew attention to herself by her flippancy of manner and careless inattention, even when waiting upon customers. I had frequently observed the floor walker pause in his unceasing round, and even go out of his way to admonish her, but to little purpose, and 'ere long another had taken her place. I knew well enough that she had fallen under the ban of the very one whose warnings had passed unheeded; whose duty, indeed, forced him to give "the nod," though his bald pate forbade any shaking of ambrosial curls. So, at a convenient moment, I alluded to the circumstance in an inquiring sort of a way, but the only reply was a comical stare and in great soberness this, from the author with whose works we form an early acquaintance: "There are some little women, and what do you think? They live upon nothing but victuals and drink. I felt that I was answered. The position of floor walker is not always an agreeable one. He is at once the director and regulator of affairs within his assigned limits, and the fitness and order of affairs depend largely upon his direction. It certainly requires a person of great aptitude and discrimination to fill the place to the satisfaction of both principal and subordinate. He can have no favorites-at least ostensibly-and familiarity with a subordinate is out of the question. Ever on the alert, he must be quick to see and swift to act whenever circumstances require his jurisdictional interference. He is at once overseer, monitor and arbitrator of affairs, from whose decision there is no appeal. He must sign, or countersign, all slips granting special privileges to either customers or employees, and accordingly as he carries himself will he be estimated. Even the cash girls-that little army of go-betweens-sum him up with discriminating acuteness, and their likes and dislikes are manifested in various ways. It is either "Old Snooks," or Goodie Brown," a frown or a smile, whenever he gives one an order or interferes to settle a dispute. 66 As a rule, floor walkers command good pay, for only those who fill the position acceptably are retained. Some leave, never more to be of us, whilst others, promoted from the sales counter, find their way back there as by a natural selection. It is, after all, the "survival of the fittest," as Professor Darwin says of men and monkeys. I have become quite reconciled to my new place, wherein I have acquired a commendable degree of efficiency; at least my superior, who is addressed as Miss Hopkins, awards me this credit. Perhaps it is because I had previously had a limited experience with the same line of goods. I have had to undergo the ordeal of a novice, by being made the mark for an occasional harmless joke. It was only the other day that a healthy pattern of the Celtic race rushed up to me, in a great fluster, with "Schure, nouw, I was douwn to the far end o' the sthore, an' I lost me umbrella, an' the sthore walker said it was ye that had it." I |