- A dictionary of medical eponyms

Wolff's law

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Wolff's law stated that every change in form and function of a bone, or in its function alone, is followed by certain definite changes in its internal architecture and equally definite secondary alteration in its mathematical laws (Morton's Medical Bibliography).

A shorter version: Bone is deposited and resorbed in accordance with the stresses placed upon it.

We thank Bernard McCartan, Trinity College, Dublin, for information submitted.

Bibliography

  • J. Wolff:
    Das Gesetz der Transformation der Knochen. Berlin, A. Hirschwald, 1892.
    Published wit support from the Royal Academy of Sciences in Berlin.
    English trnslation by P. Maquet and R. Furlong. Belin, Springer-verlag, 1986.
  • Jeremy M. Norman, editor:
    Morton’s Medical Bibliography. An annotated Check-list of Texts Illustrating the History of Medicine (Garrison and Morton). Fifth edition. Scolar Press, 1991.

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