[Sex differences in the human sternum]

We investigated 14 male and 14 female breast-bones of adult human beings by measuring 2 parameters of length, 2 of breadth and 2 of thickness and estimated their frequency distributions. They overlap more or less. Therefore we made a discriminant analysis in order to differentiate male and female skeletons by means of a-l 6 measures of the breast-bone. The result was satisfying. The received discriminant function may be used in the sex diagnosis in forensic osteology, especially, if the more reliable criterions of the pelvic measures are missing.