[On the importance of anthropometric history].

One can think of the average height at a particular age by individuals in a population as the historical record of their nutritional experience. Medical research has confirmed that nutritional status--and thus physical stature--, is related to food consumption and therefore to real family income, and therefore to wages and to prices and variables. Through anthropometric research one can illuminate the biological well being of some members of a society--women, children, aristocrats, subsistence farmers and slaves--, for whom market wages are seldom available. In additiion, it has been shown that the biological standard of living can diverge from conventional indicators of well being during the early stages of industrialization. These are noteworthy contributions to the frontiers of knowledge in economic and demographic history.