PAET II. 



DIMINISHED NUMBER OF ORGANS. 



A DIMINUTION in tlie number of parts is generally due 

 to suppression, using that word as the equivalent of 

 non-development. It corresponds thus in meaning 

 with the Fehlschlagen of the Germans, the avortement 

 complete of Moquin and other French writers. It 

 differs from atrophy, or partial abortion, inasmuch as 

 the latter terms apply to instances wherein there has 

 been a partial development, and in which evolution has 

 gone on to a certain extent, but has, from some cause 

 or other, been checked. These cases will be found under 

 the head of diminished size of organs. As the word 

 abortion is used by different authors in different ways, 

 it is the more necessary to be as precise as possible in 

 the application of the term. In the present work 

 abortion is used to apply to cases wherein parts have 

 been formed, but wherein growth has been arrested at a 

 certain stage, and which, therefore, have either remained 

 m statu quo, while the surrounding parts have increased, 

 or have, from pressure or other causes, actually dimin- 

 ished in size. 



In practice, however, it is not always possible to 

 discriminate between those instances in which there 

 has been a true suppression, an absolute non-deve- 

 lopment of any particular organ, and those in which 

 it has been formed, and has grown for a time, but has 

 afterwards ceased to do so, and has been gradually 



