A longitudinal study of biological changes with age among the Brahmins of Calcutta.

In this paper, the individual biological sequence of change with age in a sample taken in metropolitan city, Calcutta, West Bengal, is discussed. The study comprises a few anthropometric measurements (stature, weight, biacromial breadth, nasal length, nasal breadth, upper facial height) taken on the same population at an interval of five years (first in the year 1982 and again in the year 1987). The study reveals that the amount of increment or decrement of some characters (the above mentioned traits) are different for different chronological age; and these differences can only be identified with the help of a longitudinal study which is free from the effect of secular change in the younger generations.