The last time the Society for the Study of Human Biology devoted one of its annual symposia to Human Growth was in 1960, and the subject has undergone an enormous expansion since then. Much of this expansion has been in the direction of experimental and clinical physiology and this new symposium, held at the Department of Biological Anthropology at Oxford in April 1987, concentrated on these areas. We have been unable, of course, to do more than sample the work going on in each of the fields we chose: experimental auxology, infant nutrition and body composition, the somatomedins or IGFs, and the endocrine control of human puberty. But all the papers presented here are at the cutting edge of their subjects; all are by authors engaged day-to-day in the struggle to extend our knowledge and understanding.

The symposium was attended by some 50 persons from half a dozen countries, and we are only sorry we cannot somehow convey here the liveliness of their discussion and the good fellowship of their meeting. We thank them all for their participation, and we wish to thank also the Royal Society, Eli Lilly Company Ltd, and Milupa Ltd whose financial support made the meeting possible.