66 
EMPLOYMENT PSYCHOLOGY 
Nevertheless, it is subject to considerable improvement. 
To begin with, it is not sound proof. In fact, it does 
nothing to keep out sound, because it is open above and 
below. It remains for some one to construct a portable 
room which shall be sound proof. Such a room would 
increase the scope of the tests to a very great extent, 
especially in the field of audition. A sound proof room 
would also make possible a greater uniformity of condi 
tions, because each subject could then be tested under 
the same sound conditions instead of being tested in the 
midst of the various noises which go on in the shops. 
This, however, is a doubtful advantage to say the least. 
To bring a subject from a shop ringing with the noise of 
hundreds of machines into the sudden quiet of a sound 
proof room might easily upset him much more than al 
lowing him to perform the tests amidst the noises to 
which he has become accustomed. In fact, one of the 
greatest difficulties to overcome is the danger of putting 
a subject into a state of initial nervousness so that it be 
comes impossible for him to give a characteristic perform 
ance in the tests. In order to avoid this difficulty which 
is ever present, the utmost skill and sympathy must be 
exercised. It is also a serious question whether a sound 
proof laboratory will make it possible to give tests under 
more uniform conditions than would otherwise be the 
case. It is altogether too easy to confuse the technique of 
the chemical and physical laboratory with that of the 
psychological laboratory. To give an example: the labora 
tory conditions for producing nitric acid are always the 
same. Given the standard apparatus, and substances of 
the proper kind, the results are always the same as long 
as the standard method of procedure is carried out. 
But individuals are infinitely more complex and more