in the course of this century, stereophotogrammetry has evolved
into a highly specialized and somewhat esoteric branch of engineering
which is mainly applied to aerial survey work, although the potential for
using stereophotogrammetry in other areas, such as biology and
medicine, has been widely explored.
2. PREVIOUS REVIEWS AND GENERAL ARTICLES
Biomedical applications of stereophotogrammetry have been
reviewed by Lacmann (1950), Miskin (1956, 1960), Halsman (1956),
Pierson (1961), Turpin (1963), Hallert (1965), Behrens (1967),
Hardegen (1969), Herron (1969), and Lüóschner et al (1970), among
others. None of these authors purported to cover a wide spectrum and
none of the reviews constitutes a comprehensive treatment of the
subject. Distinct areas of application of biomedical
stereophotogrammetry have been documented in more detail by other
authors whose work is referenced below in connection with their more
specialized research interests.
The present review collates materials from all the above sources and
many additional items from the international literature. Numerous
general articles alluding to -the relevance of stereophotogrammetry to
biomedical subjects are included. Their contents will not be summarized
here, since essentially the same ground is treated in more detail under
the various subdvisions of the review. These articles are generally lacking
in depth of coverage, but understandably so, since the authors usually
sought to communicate with relatively uninformed potential users and
esoteric details would have been inappropriate.
3. STEREOPHOTOGRAMMETRIC MEASUREMENT OF BODY FORM
3.1 Gross Body Form
Body measurements were made early in the "modern era" of
photogrammetry by Liebenau (1904), Samter (1906), Pulfrich (1907),
Lehmann (1909), Zaar (1913-1914) and Braun (1927). The subjects of
these investigations were usually animals and since the instruments were
quite primitive the results were not scientifically spectacular.
Nevertheless, these early studies demonstrate the long association
between photogrammetry and biomedical interests.
With interest in military photogrammetry growing rapidly in a
politically unsettled Europe and the more obvious commercial potential
of aerial survey uses, close range photogrammetry received short shrift
for several years. The first real surge of interest in biomedical
stereophotogrammetry developed in the thirties as better equipment
became available. Leroy (1931) revived interest in photogrammetry
applied to animal husbandry, but the more detailed studies of Leydolph
Ge,