[The value of visual judgements of the calcium content of the skeleton (author's transl)]

The mineral content in 113 forearm bones were evaluated visually and compared with the results of measurements of the cortex and of iodine 125 photon absorption measurements. There was a significant correlation between measurements of cortical width and direct measurements of mineral content. In general, visual grading into four groups was reasonably accurate, but in individual cases there were considerable errors. Of 11 cases with a mineral loss of more than 30%, only one was regarded as normal. A particular difficulty in the visual evaluation was the great physiological variation of mineral content related to age and sex; this must be taken into account.