Under the demands of modern society leisure has acquired a dynamic significance. The term no longer implies inactivity. "An habitual neglect of work," says Veblen, "does not constitute a leisure class; neither does the mechanical fact of use and consumption constitute ownership." Not only is some form of activity expected, but social pressure is being exercised to compel the direction of human effort into constructive channels. "The conspicuous leisure," of which Veblen spoke, that included "calls, drives, clubs, sewing-circles, and sports" does not meet the demands of present-day society. Emphasis is now being laid upon the conservation of human effort and its wise direction. Leisure is now used not only for recreation, but for other activities with a more serious purpose.

The more complex our civilization becomes, the more important it will be for our leisure to be used for social ends, and the greater the necessity for the sacrifice of profitless recreation. This abstraction can be concretely illustrated by conditions created by the war. The war has greatly increased the social needs and problems of the country. The Red Cross, the Young Men's Christian Association, the war library, recreational camp activities, Liberty Loan and savings-stamps campaigns, problems of food production and conservation, the dissemination of information relating to the causes of the war, and many other social activities have been thrust upon the people. These are new problems to us. There are relatively few men and women with previous preliminary training to undertake these social tasks. To the credit of the nation, men and women have responded promptly and in liberal numbers. But it is not surprising that it has been impossible to prevent waste of social effort

1 The Theory of the Leisure Class, p. 22.

through defective coordination of social effort and inexperience in the performance of social tasks. Successful business or professional experience has proved not to be adequate preparation for the successful solutions of complicated social problems.

It is probable that one of the lessons that the war will teach us is that of the necessity of preparing the forces behind the lines for constructive, coordinated social efforts in time of war. There is a liability for social service as well as a liability for military service. Its recognition should be included in any program of national welfare, but we must not forget at the same time that in this realm there is a need of preparedness for effective social effort in peace times. Some of the factors and conditions entering into this problem will now be presented.

THE PHYSIOLOGICAL BASIS OF SOCIAL ACTIVITY

If avocational education is to function in leisure hours, it is important to consider the physiological effects of the use of free time for such purposes. The nature of vocational employment and the hours consumed constitute an important factor in this problem. But the relation of work to fatigue has an important bearing upon the extent and the possibilities of social effort. Fatigue may be defined in terms of its effects on effort, or the sensations produced on the individual as a result of longcontinuous hours of labor. These definitions may be formulated as follows: Fatigue is the decreased capacity for work as determined by quantitive production; or it is a sensation of lassitude that produces a disagreeable feeling. The signs of fatigue are weariness, decreasing interest, tendency toward inattention, and, in extreme cases, headache and similar uncomfortable sensations.

Fatigue may be traced to two causes: (1) the consumption of an energy-producing substance, (2) the generation of certain poisons that affect the system. The energyproducing substance is called glycogen. This is a chemical product produced in the liver and muscles from substances extracted from the blood. Muscular energy is liberated when oxygen from the blood unites with this glycogen. The liver acts as a reservoir for the storage of glycogen and replenishes the muscular supply when it becomes exhausted. But long and strenuous activity exhausts the supply of glycogen in the muscles and greatly reduces the supply in the liver. Complete exhaustion follows the complete consumption of all the glycogen from the liver and muscles, and restoration comes slowly as the supply is renewed.

Nature has provided a means of preventing this condition, however, by providing for another reaction to physical exertion. Certain by-products, including lactic acid and carbon dioxide, are generated as the energyproducing product is formed. These act as a poison to the tissues, and a sufficient quantity of them will affect muscular action. The sensation produced by the reaction of these poisons is always felt before the absolute exhaustion of the supply of glycogen, and fatigue under normal conditions is due to this cause. It should be observed that under normal and not too prolonged activity these poisons are absorbed so rapidly that no effect is produced by them.

As avocational work is usually a change from vocational activity involving physical exertion, another question enters into the consideration. Is nerve fatigue due to the same causes as muscular fatigue? This question depends upon a more fundamental one: Is it possible to distinguish between muscular and nervous fatigue?

There is some evidence to support the theory that nervous fatigue is traceable to the reduction of an energyproducing content. There is a possibility that nerve. fatigue is due to the consequence of fatigue-products passing from the muscles into the blood. This theory is supported by the fact that violent physical exertion continued for some time always produces mental lassitude. It has not been possible to separate sufficiently muscular and nervous fatigue, under normal conditions, to justify safe conclusions. This intimate reaction would seem to indicate that both fatigue of nerve and fatigue of muscle are due to the same causes; namely, the reduction of the energy-product in both muscle and nerves and the reaction to accumulated poisons resulting from physical and mental exertion.

Some effort has been made to consider mental fatigue as a different phenomenon from nervous and muscular fatigue. But it seems justifiable to regard mental fatigue as a term to indicate the joint reaction of nerve and muscle to prolonged activity. The intimate correlation of nerve and muscle activity seems to justify us in regarding this as a mere academic question.

Three stages of muscular work are described by Miss Josephine Goldmark in her admirable study of this subject: “First, when working power is on the increase and excitability is growing; second, the period when the muscle is in its best working condition, its excitability highest; and, third, the period when fatigue products clog the muscle more and more until contraction is finally forced to cease. The object of training is to prolong the first two stages and retard the third stage. This is accomplished by increasing the cell capacity to generate

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1 Fatigue and Efficiency, p. 35.

energy-products, and at the same time by giving to the tissues greater resistance to accumulating fatigue poisons. The analogy to this process is seen in bodily adjustments to poisonous drugs. It is possible for the habitual user of harmful drugs gradually to increase the amount consumed to such quantity as would produce death in the person unaccustomed to taking them. Physical and mental training performs a similar task for nerve and muscle.

The point of this discussion for this study is the influence of fatigue on the change from vocational to avocational activities. Is fatigue prevented by a complete change of occupations? Is rest secured only by a complete inactivity, or may it be secured by change of occupations? The effect of prolonged inactivity is well described by Lester F. Ward. He says:

Prolonged inactivity becomes intensely painful. Thus imprisonment becomes a terrible punishment. The pain resulting from inactivity is called ennui. Many leisure-class authors have painted the horrors of ennui. Helvetius indulges in an apotheosis of compulsory labor as a sure escape from ennui, and truly says that the pain of fatigue cannot be compared to that of ennui. It is on this ground more than any other that he and other authors insist that the poor are happier than the rich. Montesquieu says that they ought to have put continual idleness among the pains of hell, and Schopenhauer declares that while want is the scourge of the lower classes, ennui is the scourge of the upper, and that all the hope that is held out for the future is a choice between the torments of hell and the ennui of heaven.1

This disposes of one aspect of the question. If Ward is correct, we shall be justified in turning to the other phase of the question raised in this discussion. In a recent study of this subject by Professors Hollingsworth and Poffenberger the following answer is given:

1 Applied Sociology, p. 244.