The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-09-30
TIME To QUIT WORK,
Fatigue Symptoms and Tests
That Should Be Needed.
NATURE GIVES THE WARNING

OvcrGrive Today-The Price Man
Is Compelled to Pay if He Keeps on
the Pressure Too Long.
When we have set out on q piece or
muscular work or head work we might
Expect to find a steady, regular in
crease in the fatigue that resulted
rom it-so much work, SO much Ia
rigue But that is not the case. The
fatigue curve" is not straight line
sloping up from one corner or the
chart diasonally to the other. Instead
It goes sharply upward at the start
Then for a long distance it runs along
on an approximate level. and then it
takes a sharp upward turn again.
The level stage-the plateau of hard.
normal working power, where the cost
in energy doesn't vary perceptibly-is
the second wind"
You know how it is in long distance
running At first the fatigue increases
very rapidly. A man has to push him
self with all the will power he can
muster Then all of a sudden it gets
T..
a big, new supply of energy, and he
can keep running for long time with
out any great increase In his feeling
Of fatigue. At last he reaches a point
where the exertien tells hard again.
Fatigue piles up terribly fast now. so
fast that unless the runner knows just
how much he is good for and has made
careful calculations he is likely to be
..all in before he gets to the end.
Every step makes an inroad on his re-
serve energy. The last squirt costs
more than all the rest together.
If a man has covered his distance
without touching this final turn or the
fatigue curve he will get rested IN
reasonably short time and be able to
go over the course again. But II IN
stead he has to keep on, teeth set, eyes
bulging. "hugging his corncobs" until
he rolls over on the ground. 1t may
take weeks for him to get into good
form again In a big race naturally
he's got to be ready to do that
There are emergencies in everybody 3
life when the merely prudent thing
isn't the right thing. If house is on
fire and a family on the top floor is In
danger and you're the only person on
the premises you can't stand calmly
aside and calculate your fatigue curve
There's a necessity for action-at any
cost whatever. even life.
A man may have big proposition to
put through, some important combine
ton to effect, new movement to gel
under way. Perhaps he is the onl.
person who knows the whole situation
Success may depend upon him. In
such a case he must let mere prudence
30 by the board, and he must stand
ready to pay the price, too, when that's
called for.
But such emergencies are not every
day matters. Tomorrow we are go
ing to have another days business t
attend to. and the probability is tina
it will be just as important as today 9
Consequently we have 10 right to over
drive ourselves today, for the price o.
It will be taken out OF the quality o.
tomorrow's work We have dom
enough when we have come in sigh
of that last costly lap. It's the time
to quit.
A great deal Of interesting informa
ton ABOUT 1Qe nature Oh ldllsuc la
been made available through the ergo
graph, an ingenious recording appara
| tus devised by Professor Angelo Mos
SO. a great italian scientist. 1t work
| something after this fashion: You Ia.
| your hand, back down, on little ia
| BILE, and to the end Of one finger Is al
| tached a cord which connects hor1
zontally over a pulley with SINAI
hanging weight The motion Of clos
| ing the finger lifts the weight, and a
the effort is repeated over and owe
again the fatigue symptoms in the nn
ger become clear and can be observe
and recorded in detail.
Now. one Of the important discover
/ les that Professor Mosso has made
| that il you keep raising the weight ur
| til your finger is exhausted it will tax
| Just about two hours to rest it-tha
| is, In two hours you can do the sam
| amount Of finger work over again-an
| the least bit more.
/ You would imagine from this that
/ the experiment were repeated at tn
| end Of one hour instead of two 20
could do just half the amount of worl
But it's only one-quarter as much!
That's the price Of work on top 9
eatiGuo. One unfatigued man is to 81