It may be thoroughly advantageous for
the total work of the normal, healthy, average workingman if the after
effects of the motor excitement of the day are eliminated by a mild,
short alcoholic poisoning in the evening. It may produce that
narrowing and dulling of consciousness which extinguishes the cares
and sorrows of the day and secures the night's sleep, and through it
increased efficiency the next morning. Systematic experiments with
exact relation to the various technical demands must slowly bring real
insight into this complex situation. The usual hasty generalization
from a few experiments with alcohol for partisan interests is surely
not justified in the present unsatisfactory state of knowledge.[47]
Perhaps we know still less of the influences which coffee, tea,
tobacco, sweets, and so on exert on the life of the industrial worker.
It will be wise to resolve these stimuli in daily use into their
elements and to study the effects of each element in isolated form. To
know, for instance, the effects of caffein on the psychophysical
activities does not mean to know the effects of tea or coffee, which
contain a variety of other substances besides the caffein, substances
which may be supposed to modify the effect of the caffein. Yet the
first step must in this case be the study of the effects of the
isolated caffein, before the total influences of the familiar
beverages can be followed up.
Pages:
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202