forms rather than fixed static objects and some of the transient changes 
are only now being measured: (c) It is rapid——this is another important 
advantage when one is dealing with living subjects. The data-capturing 
photos can be taken in a fraction of a second after the individual has 
been suitably posed and analysis of the photos can be left until later: 
(d) The data are amenable to mathematical manipulation——a point of 
major importance in- order to fully exploit the elegance of computer 
processing and for efficiency of expression; (e) It is 
parsimonious——suitably-taken stereopairs contain all the necessary data 
for reconstructing a spatial model of the body or body part; (f) There is 
no need to rely on dubious empirical formulae——direct measurements 
of, for example, surface area can be made using geometrical principles; 
(g) Production of automatic plotting and computer facilities is 
accelerating——already, automatic plotting devices are available and small 
accessory computers have been used for such purposes as computing 
surface areas and volumes in real time; (h) Records can be stored in a 
relatively small space——either in photographic or map form for 
retrospective. examination. The wealth of evidence to suport these 
points makes it unnecessary to pursue the simplistic production of 
contour maps for their own sake. Obviously, this approach has not 
worked very well thus far and it is unlikely to serve the purpose in the 
future. There is a need, then, to recognize that the promotion of 
stereophotogrammetry in biology and medicine calls for new initiatives. 
In this regard, the present review is part of an attempt to systematize 
knowledge in the field. 
The term “photogrammetry” is widely used in the biomedical 
sciences to connote virtually any measurement from photographs, not 
just spatial features. For fairly obvious reasons, any attempt to 
systematize such a vast area is unlikely to be productive; it seems more 
expedient to focus attention on the role of stereophotogrammetry as a 
means of sensing and quantifying three dimensional form. Surprisingly, 
although morphologists have studied human anatomy for centuries, the 
quantification of organic form in three dimensions has remained largely 
undeveloped and it is quite evident that further refinement of 
stereometric techniques can go a long way towards filling the gap. More 
importantly, the underlying mathematical principles of photogrammetric 
engineering offer the morphologist a considerable legacy, since the 
principles are not limited in application to objects of a particular size. It 
is conceivable that imaging techniques will eventually be superseded by 
electronic or other devices for sensing spatial features of landscapes and 
bodies, but the underlying geometrical laws which photogrammetrists 
have exploited so masterfully and which impart such elegance to the 
spatial analysis of form in general are likely to endure and evolve to 
accommodate changing preferences in instrumentation. 
Therefore, it seems that a mathematically based subdiscipline, such 
as "biostereometrics," defined as "the spatial and spatio-temporal