Letters to the Editor

Abstract

The reader should refer again to the Commentary on "Body surface as a basis for dosage" by Forbes (Pediatrics, 23:3, January, 1959) for a discussion of the empirical nature of the surface-area rule for calculating dosage and its limitations as a physiologic concept: "The objection is that the use of the rule tends to endow the surface of the body with properties and functions which it may well not possess." And, "Its scope and its limitations (for calculating drug dosage) have as yet been incompletely defined...." The use of the surface-area rule would be more likely to gain in popularity if it could be presented with less pedantry.