In 1916, Dubois and Dubois1 published a formula for the computation of the surface area of the body and presented a chart from which one could read the approximate surface area from the coordinates of height and weight if given in metric units. This chart permitted one to read the surface area to within approximately 150 square centimeters.
Boothby and Sandiford2 and Feldman and Umanski3 publish nomograms for computing the surface area. In my experience, these have given large errors for the larger surface areas. These errors would be of small significance in ordinary clinical work, but they introduce an element of uncertainty in research work of any degree of refinement.
Owing to the use of surface area in the computation of normal vital capacity and in research in the field of basal metabolism, a means of ascertaining surface area quickly and accurately from either English or metric units of