A laboratory manual of anthropometry / by Harris H. Wilder.

  • Harris Hawthorne Wilder
Date:
[1920]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A laboratory manual of anthropometry / by Harris H. Wilder. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    limb measurements, the same subtraction methods may be conveniently used in ascertaining the difference in level between any two landmarks, whether median or lateral; thus, between nipples and umbilicus, or be- tween the incisural notch in the front of the neck and the iliac crest. The distance thus ascertained is that between the two horizontal planes passing through the landmarks in question, and thus all measurements made in this way may be regarded as projections, or the point where hori- zontal planes passing through the points measured strike an imaginary line erected vertically, perpendicular to the floor. Thus by the opening of the New Century anthropometry had already become an important branch of anthropology, expressed in extensive and rapidly increasing literature. Individual investigators, however, differed widely, not only in the measurements employed, and in their relative value, but in the manner in which these measurements were taken and the instruments used, so that there could be little or no trustworthy comparison between the results of different investigators. The ciencse was thus ready for its next phase of development, the standardizing of the measurements. This was first attempted in the case of the skull, as craniometry had received the most attention and its measurements were thus the most in need of standardizing, and came as the result of the International Congress of Anthropologists meeting in Monaco during April, 1906. The proposal for this came from the Committee of the Congress, MM. Hamy, Papillault, and Yerneau, and the work was done by a special committee appointed for the purpose, MM. Giuff- rida-Ruggeri, Hamy, Herve, Lissauer, v. Luschan, Papillault, Pittard, Pozzi, Sergi, Verneau, Waldeyer. The proposals presented by the Committee (38 for the skull, and 19 for the living head and face) were ratified by the Congress, and have thus become the set of standard skull measurements, to be followed, so far as possible, by anthropometrists everywhere. A second standardization, that of measurements of the living body, excluding the head, resulted in much the same way, from proposals ade at the International Congress of 1912, which met at Geneva, Switzerland, in September of that year. The Committee consisted of 23 members, as follows: MM. Czek- anowski, Duckworth, Frasetto, Giuffrida-Ruggeri, Godin, Hillebrand, De Hoyos, Hrdlicka, Loth, v. Luschan, MacCurdy, Manouvrier, Marret, Mayet, Mochi, Musgrove, Pittard, Rivet, Schlaginhaufen, G. Sergi, Sollas, Volkov, Weissgerber. The increased interest in anthropometry is shown in the larger size of the Committee as compared with that of 1906, and the spread of this interest to other countries is indicated by the inclusion in it of representatives from England, Russia, Switzerland, Spain, Hungary, and the United States (Hrdlicka and MacCurdy). There were 49 separate measurements proposed by the Committee, and these were, as in the previous case, unanimously voted by the Congress.
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