PAM eh Te 
DIMINISHED NUMBER OF ORGANS. 
A DIMINUTION in the number of parts is generally due 
to suppression, using that word as the equivalent of 
non-deyelopment. 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 
in 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 
