Striae in the Bones of a Set of Monozygotic Triplets

Transverse striations in the ends of the long bones of children have been described by Eliot, Souther and Park,¹Phemister,²Kohler,³Wegner,⁴Sontag⁵and others. Apparently they may result from any one of a variety of factors. Broad, heavy striae seen on roentgenoscopic examination most frequently result from lead or phosphorus poisoning. Narrow lines resembling pencil marks and often traversing only a part of the width of the bone are seen much more frequently than are the broad bands and are believed to result from periods of cessation of growth, illness, rickets or hypervitaminosis D. In our serial studies of a large group of children at the Fels Research Institute we believe that we have observed these lines after periods of accelerated growth as well. In some instances we have been unable to observe, by means of careful anthropometric measurements, measurements of bones and physical