An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2022 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

15961 entries, 13944 authors and 1935 subjects. Updated: March 22, 2024

QUETELET, Lambert Adolphe Jacques

2 entries
  • 1698.1

Sur l’homme et le développement des facultés, ou essai de physique sociale. 2 vols.

Paris: Bachelier, 1835.

Quetelet’s statistical researches on the development of the physical and intellectual qualities of man, and an exposition of his concept of the “average man”, which became the by-word of quantitative studies. "Quételet suggested that the ratio of the subject’s weight divided by the square of the height could be used as a measure of fatness that corrected for differences in height. This unit, the Body Mass Index (BMI), is still known as the ‘Quételet Index’ (QI) in some European countries; BMI has been shown to correlate with body fat content, and to predict risk for several of the comorbidities of obesity" (Bray, History of Obesity, IN: Obesity: Science to Practice Edited by Gareth Williams and Gema Frühbeck [2009]). English translation as A treatise on man and the development of his faculties (Edinburgh: William and Robert Chambers, 1842). Digital facsimile of the 1835 edition from the Internet Archive at this link, of the English translation at this linkSee No. 171.



Subjects: ANTHROPOLOGY › Physical Anthropology, DEMOGRAPHY / Population: Medical Statistics, Obesity Research, Statistics, Biomedical
  • 171

Anthropométrie, ou mesure des différentes facultés de l’homme.

Brussels: C. Muquardt, 1870.

In his classification of various populations, Quetelet adopted the plan of determining the standard or typical “mean man” as a basis, using stature, weight, or complexion, etc., as a measure in each particular race or population.



Subjects: ANTHROPOLOGY › Anthropometry, DEMOGRAPHY / Population: Medical Statistics