[Compression strength of human radii (author's transl)]

500 radius segments of a certain length of the corpses of 6 female and 36 male persons (medium age: 54.4 years) were chosen to determine the fracture load and the ultimate breaking stress by means of a machine testing the pressure power in a compression test. The mean fracture load is 7371 N and the average ultimate breaking stress 38 MPa. Fracture load and ultimate breaking stress of preserved specimens are significant higher than those of non preserved specimens. The bone, therefore, becomes more fragile by the preservation. Fracture load and ultimate breaking stress decrease distinctly with advancing years. The ends of the radii are clearly less capable of being strained than the middle parts of the shafts. The fracture load of the radius increases with the total length.