tl fold of skin several centimeters proximal to the knuckles near the middle of the hand, with the long axis of the fold diagonal (45°) to the longitudinal axis of the hand to avoid natural folds of skin. The caliper was allowed to remain closed for exactly 50 sec and then removed, and the timefor the skin told to retract back tothe norm. in contour was measured tn seconds. The exac. znd point was sometimes difficult to measure in older people; if the fold had not retracted completelyin 90 sec, this time Measurement was used. 3. The exposed skin of the hands and face was observed for the presenceofsenile changes such as kera- toses, nevi, pigmentation, etc, The degree of such change was estimated on a 0 to ++ scale: the presence of only an occasional abnormality was scored as 1+, increasing adDnormalities raised the score. 4+. The degree of greying of the hair was expressed ona(Q to ++ scale as follows: 0, no greying; 14, Figure 8. Skin calipers used in measuring looseness and elasticity of the skin. slight ‘salt and pepper;” 2+, moderate “salt and pepper: 3+, nearly complete greying; and 4+, 1. Skin looseness.* Preliminary investigation revealed that the skin fold at the junction of the chin and neck was the most satisfactory for the meas- complete greying. 5. The degree of baldness was expressed on a 0 to ++ scale as follows: 0, no apparent balding; 1+, slight receding of the hair at the temples; 2+, marked receding of the hair at the temples with some thinning; 3+, marked thinning and baldness; and ++, baldness complete to a “monk’s cap’ type. Special Senses. 1. Accommodation* was measured in diopters by use of the Prince refracting urement of “in looseness and also seemed to give the best correlation with age. The measurement was carried out by grasping the skin with the thumb and forefinger, pulling it gently outward, and applying the caliper opened to 4 cm so that each leg was firmly against the skin lateral to the fingers. The caliper was then allowed to close by its Own spring tension, and the height of the fold of skin impinged was measured in mm on scale C. The elongated ends of the legs impinge on a 1-cm” surface of skin and exert a pressure of 300 g. There is little variation in spring tension in the last 2cm closing range of the caliper. The height of the fold represented the degree of skin looseness. The pres- rule, The average reading of the two eyes wasused. 2. Wisual acuity* was measured by Snellen’s test. It was found that use of the square root of the average visual acuity (denominator) of the two eyes made the scale more compressed and more linear. Thus the best vision, 20/10, was represented as 3.2 (the square root of 10) and the worst, 20/200. as 14.1 (the square root of 200), and intermediate readings were similarly recorded. ence of excess fat in the skin probably caused the readings to err on the lowside, but this was not thought to result in serious error. . 2, Skin retraction time.* The back of the hand was 3. Arcus sents was estimated on a0 to 4+ scale. found most suitable for measuring theelasticity of the skin. The hand and forearm were placed at rest on a table. The caliper was opened to 2 cm (on the crossarm scale) and allowed to close on a osm “The reliability of the skin looseness and skin retraction time measurements was tested by having two examiners take data on 20 hospital patients of various ages with the skin calipers. The mean values witn their standard deviations were: for skin looseness in mm, 20.850.71 and 20.90 0.70; for skin retraction time in seconds, 58.2+8.13 and 58.75+8.18. No significant difference was found between the meansof the two examiners, who had previously ascertained thac their techniques for using the calipers were alike, a. Only slight limbic clouding was scored as 1+, and increasing cloudingraised the score. +. Hearine* was tested in a tent in a qulet locatron with a rugged screening-type audiometer.** *The tests were carried out under standardized conditions, but, in view of the necessity of using an interpreter under field conditions, it was not feasible to repeat them with a different examiner. The data are thought to be sufficiently reproducible to be of relative vaiue, although not so accurate perhaps as those obtained uncer more desirable conditions. *“The acthors are grateful to the Armed Services Medical Pro- curement Agency, , Fort Totten, N.Y), for loan of the audiometer