The estimation of stature from length of long bones of the free limbs is often an important contribution to the identification of unknown human remains. The need for identification was realized, perliaps more keenly than ever before in the history of mankind, during the United States Repatriation Program. This program was established by an Act of Congress in 1944. It incladed the identification (when possible) of unknown war casualties and was assigned to the American Graves Registration Service under Quartermaster Corps. Identification Laboratories were established in suitable parts of the world and the aid of physical anthropologists was enlisted.Interest in stature estimation from long bones is not new but the number of actual investigations on the subject is relatively few. The most significant report in the last century was that by Rollet in 1888. He measured stature and lengths of the long bones of 50 male and 50 female French cadavers ranging in age from 24 to 99 years and presented all pertinent data including not only the methods of measurement but also the individual measurements and the resultant tables for stature estimation. Stature measurements were taken "generally in the week which followed death" with the cadaver lying on a graduated stretcher. The soft parts were then dissected away

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Change in stature after maturity is slow and relatively slight. Hooton ('47) has said that the period of physical decline begins no later than the 25th year, which was the estimate made by Bertillon in 1885 ; on the other hand Biichi ( '50) studying successive age groups over a period of 9 years found no evidence of decline on the average until after the 40th year. Even though the age of onset of declmine has not been definitely established, there is no question that the ageing period greatly exceeds the period of growth. This fact increases the difficulty of a longitudinal study over the entire ageing period and thus, despite the various advantages of the method, no such studies have been reported. Studies by the longitudinal method have been made for the growth period when the changes a r e rapid and marked and, in general, it has been demonstrated that average measurements of the same children at successive ages show the same type of growth curve as do average measurements of children selected a t random and classified according to age. This is not surprising since the major contribution to change in stature during the period from birth to maturity is growth of the individual, and environmental, genetic, and possibly other factors make only a relatively minor contribution.The assumption cannot be made, however, that the same similarity will hold between results obtained from crosssectional and longitudinal studies of adult stature as were found between results obtained from these two methods when applied to children. This is due to the fact that the secular factor, of minor importance in children when comnared to their rap:d growth, may be of equal or greater significance 311

The weight, density and percentage ash weight of the dry, fatfree osseous human skeleton have been examined from 16 weeks of gestation to 100 years of age. Data were drawn from 426 skeletons of American Whites and Negroes of both sexes.Weight increases exponentially in the fetus and continues to increase to early adulthood, most rapidly in the second decade. A decrease appears about the fourth decade and continues gradually. Estimated loss in skeletal weight throughout the adult period is, on the average, 15.6 gm per year. Proportionate contributions of divisions of the skeleton to its total weight change with age.Densities of bones follow the changing weight pattern. Volume and weight increase concomitantly to adulthood, when weight decreases but not volume.Percentage ash weight increases slightly in the total skeleton and in some bones during the fetal period, with no significant trend thereafter, indicating that change in weight of a dry, fat-free bone is accompanied by change in ash weight.Race and sex differences are not evident in the fetal skeleton, but become marked by the second decade of life: Negro skeletons exceed White skeletons and male skeletons exceed female skeletons in mean weight and density and, to a lesser degree, in percentage ash weight.Growth and development of the human skeleton have long been subjects of interest to anatomists, anthropologists and physicians. Yet, surprisingly, there are comparatively few quantitative data regarding such basic considerations as the sequential changes throughout fetal and postnatal life in weight or length of individual bones, in the relationship of the weight of individual bones to that of the whole skeleton, and in the relative proportions of the organic and inorganic components of bone in individuals of different race or sex.Our interest in these problems goes back more than 20 years when we began an extended series of studies on the weight of the skeleton. These studies include (1) estimates of the weight of the skeleton in the adult (Trotter, '54); ( 2 ) an attempt to determine how skeletal weight might be estimated in the living subject (Merz, Trotter and Peterson, '56); ( 3 ) what relationship exists between the weight and the volume of a particular bone (Broman, ANAT. REC., 179: 1-18. Trotter and Peterson, '58; Trotter, Broman and Peterson, '58, '59, '60; Trotter and Peterson, '70a; Trotter, '71); ( 4 ) how much of the weight of the skeleton is attributable to its mineral content (Trotter and Peterson, '55, '62; Trotter, '72, '73); and ( 5 ) to what extent skeletal weight varies in individuals drawn from different race, sex and age groups (Trotter and Peterson, '68, '69, '70b). Since this work has been published in several different journals over an extended period of time, it seems worthwhile to collate and summarize these earlier findings sequentially as related to age, and to present results of additional analyses of these same data.The skeletons had been collected over the last 50, or more, years, and all were obtained from cadav...

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