Current Literature
This book (Cambridge University ,Press, Ss. (Id.) is made up, of the two Heath Clark lectures which Professor Bartlett delivered.this year at the invitation of the National Institute of Industrial Psychology, and in addition, to their value a.s a scientific statement, a rapidly increasing public interest in the social problems involved well warranted their publica- tion. Professor Bartlett discusses the conditiOns under which sounds establish themaelves as a nuisance, the con- ditions under which we may become adapted to them and indifferent to them and .those . under which they are likely to remain a perpetual distraction and irritation, the manner in which adaptation or continued distraction may affect mental health and efficiency, and, in his concluding chapter, suggests measures which might be taken to reduce- noises and their consequences. His book is a lucid and dispassionate analysis of the problem, and if readers who are themselves despairing victims of noises made by other people may feel that in certain respects he is unduly cautious in his con- clusions, the value of his book is increased by his refusal to admit as evidence -anything which has not definitely been established or to rely on conjecture, however attractive the deductions that might- made from it. Professor. Bartlett's descriptions of the various - experiments which have been made to measure the effects of different kinds .of noise upon persons .engaged in selected occupations are admirably clear and can be followed by those who have no technical acquaintance with -the subject, and his suggestions concerning the control of noise in the future are well worth attention. Like fl -all its fellows in ` The Cambridge Mis- cellany' this little book is beautifully printed and produced.
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