Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 83.djvu/381

Rh addition to standing, clerks suffer from lack of space behind counters, which increases the strain of lifting and puts a further burden upon the pelvic organs. The secondary effects of long standing, among which are broken arches in the feet and enlarged veins in the legs, is to add to the nerve strain, and indirectly affects other functions.

Sitting in one position has an action similar to long-continued standing. Lack of exercise reduces the capacity of the lungs, and so they do not eliminate certain poisons from the body. Because the lungs fail to act the kidneys are forced to do extra work, adding to the congestion of the abdominal organs. Sitting augments constipation, a minor ailment in itself, but one which breeds more bodily ills than any other single cause that might be mentioned. This condition is very prevalent among working women because of their lack of careful personal attention. In mills and stores the toilets are often too few in number, unsanitary in condition and inconveniently placed. In many cases there is no separation for the sexes. In some stores and factories no employee can leave her work for more than five minutes. When in a many-storied building the toilets are not on the same floor with the worker this rule amounts to a prohibition. In other places girls must ask permission of men foremen or floor walkers to leave their work, a thing which many hesitate to do. When a store closes at 6 o'clock clerks frequently may not be absent from their posts after 4:30 Such conditions cause a partial paralysis of the alimentary canal, and abnormalities in the secretions, which puts an undue and constant strain upon the whole body. In women this strain is most apparent in functional abnormalities, hysteria and general anemic conditions. In addition to the restraint of sitting the indirect pressure against the abdominal organs by leaning over a sewing machine or against a desk augments the tendency to chronic inflammatory disease in the pelvis. The total result of long standing, or sitting in one attitude, is either absolute sterility or such organic disturbances as make child-bearing dangerous.

The second new element in modern industry is the monotony of the work, the unending recurrence of unavailing effort. It is difficult to trace any direct effect of monotony upon the more vital organs of the body. Monotony is a mental rather than a physical phenomenon. Modern factory work demands no feeling, no personal interest, no responsibility, nor inventive genius on the part of the worker. She does one thing endlessly, automatically. Work which demands nothing of the intelligence costs the intelligence more than work which demands too much. When only one brain center is employed the brain is more fatigued than if all the centers were worked harder. The result is either a stunting of mentality or an inordinate craving for excitement. The intimate association of the nervous system with the other functions