[Results of the anthropologic studies of school children in Jena between 1880 and 1985].

The present report is based on the results from anthropological examinations on schoolchildren, which have been carried out in Jena since 1880. The introduction to the paper gives a survey on the goals of these inquiries, followed by remarks on secular changes in selected measurements of the body (body height, body weight, chest circumference). Besides the extent of the changes in these features, the anticipation of the pubertal growth period and--by means of the relation of body height to chest circumference--a becoming slimmer of today's population of schoolchildren is documented. The comparison of the findings of 1975 and 1985 shows that, regarding the features mentioned, the acceleration in the Jena probands (although in part with reduced intensity) has lasted up to the present time.