occurs between ten and eleven o’clock in the forenoon and between three and four o’clock in the afternoon.  The different distribution of the working hours, and of the pauses for the meals, make the various statistical tables somewhat incomparable.  But it can be traced everywhere that in the first working hours in which fatigue does not play any considerable role, the number of accidents is small, and that this number sinks again after the long pauses.  It is true that the number also becomes somewhat smaller at the end of the forenoon and of the afternoon period, but this seems to have its cause in the fact that with growing fatigue and with the feeling that the end of the working period is near, the rhythm of the activity becomes much slower, and with such slower movements the danger of accidents is greatly reduced.  In a similar way the factories have had to give the fullest attention to the fatigue problem in its relation to the distribution of pauses, and above all in its relation to the advisable speed of the machines, the limits of which are set by the fatigue of the workingmen, and still more of the working-women.

The legislatures, the labor unions, and the manufacturers have then had this problem of fatigue constantly before their eyes.[42] On the other hand, the psychologists and physiologists have continuously studied the fatigue and restoration of the muscle system and of the central nervous system, and have analyzed the facts with the subtlest methods.  Yet, in spite of this, it cannot be denied that a real mutual enrichment has so far hardly been in question.  On the contrary, the whole situation has again demonstrated the old experience.  The mere trying and trying again in practical life can never reach the maximum effects which may be secured by systematic, scientifically conducted efforts.  On the other side the studies of the theoretical scholars can never yield the highest values for civilization if the problems which offer themselves in practical life are ignored.  The theorists have to prepare the ground, and in this preparatory work they must, indeed, remain utterly regardless of any practical situations.  But after that a second stage must be reached at which on the foundation of this neutral research special theoretical investigations are undertaken which originate from practical conditions.  As long as industrial managers have no contact with the experiments of the laboratory and the experimentalists are shy of any contact with the industrial reality, humanity will pass through social suffering.  The hope of mankind will be realized by the mutual fertilization of knowing and doing.