Pitirim A. Sorokin's early contributions to the development of anthropometric history.

The genealogy of the field of anthropometric history has received relatively little scholarly attention over the years. This paper discusses the contributions to the development of the field made by sociologist Pitirim A. Sorokin and colleagues in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Economic transformation and biological welfare in colonial Burma: regional differentiation in the evolution of average height.

Did economic development result in an improvement in biological welfare in the tropics before the diffusion of modern public health techniques in the 1950s and 1960s? Between the mid-19th and early 20th century, Lower Burma experienced a rapid rise in population and became increasingly commercialized as a major rice exporter. Land reclamation on a massive scale in the Irrawaddy delta required an arduous process of jungle clearance, land drainage and preparation, and canal and bund construction, mostly in malarial swamps. Once paddy lands were created, rice was grown with rudimentary tools in malarial zones.