OBJECTIVE.
69
the effects of the unremitting and monotonous * character of most of the work can hut stand in a direct causative relation to the disturbances and depressions I have pointed out as especially deplorable. It will further be seen, that, in this branch of industry in particular, the special influences that operate for the production and aggravation of pulmonary complaints exist to a degree that obtains in no other. Reviewing the unremitting and monotonous character of factory work, as productive of lessened vigor and vitality, Messrs. Bridges and Holmes* state that, —
‘ 1 Light though factory labor in almost all its departments unquestionably is, additional leisure of six hours per week would tend to increase the vitality and vigor of the women and children engaged in it. iVe have already referred more than once to the unremitting and monotonous character of all labor at a machine driven by steam. If the day’s work of a
* 11 So a functional disturbance of the cerebrum is often induced by the irregular action of other parts of the nervous system, especially those connected with the reproductive apparatus.” — W. B. Caupenteb, M.D: Mental Physiology, p. 000.
t Op. cit. p. 60.