PEDIATRIC HISTORY

Abstract

It appears that a biologic measurement so mundane as the birth weight of the newly born infant was of little interest to physicians throughout almost the entire history of western medicine. Roederer, in 1753, slightly more than 200 years ago, published the first accurate value for an infant's weight at birth. In reviewing the course of obtaining so elementary a statistic as a newborn infants birth weight, two findings still remain enigmatic. The first is why so many distinguished physicians of the past lacked the curiosity to weigh a newborn accurately; the second, and perhaps, the more disturbing, is why such celebrated physicians were content to copy servilely the erroneous values of others.