The Relation of Surface Area to Body Weight in Postnatal Life

Abstract

The 9 determinations of surface area on 3 children from 2 to 5 years reported in the first paper of this series, are not sufficient to warrant the computation of a formula for surface area at this age level but their relation to the trend of previous determinations by other methods on both living and dead may be determined.A preliminary survey of the literature furnished 135 actual determinations of the surface areas of normal individuals who ranged from birth to late maturity in age and whose heights and weights were given. The minimal body weight in this series was 2.5 kg. The sources and methods are as follows: Fubini and Ronchi,1 1 living adult, geometric method; Meeh,2 16 living males, 6 days to 66 years, coating and geometric method, Ssytscheff,3 23 males and females, 15 days to 43 years, coating method; Lissauer,4 8 male and female cadaver, 28 days to 15 months, coating method; Lassabliere,5 15 determinations each based on averages of 2 or 3 living children, one day to 24 months, geometric method; ...