Bb OO Va 
DEVIATIONS FROM THE ORDINARY SIZE AND 
CONSISTENCE OF ORGANS. 
Ty the animal kingdom the entire adult organism, as 
well as each of its separate parts, has certain dimen- 
sions, beyond which, under ordinary circumstances, it 
does not pass, either in the one direction or the other. 
It may not be easy or possible to state what the limits 
_ are, but, practically, this inability to frame a precise 
limitation is productive of no inconvenience. It is 
universally admitted that a certain animal attains such 
and such dimensions, and that one organ has a certain 
proportionate size as contrasted with another. The same 
rules hold good in the case of plants, though in them 
it is vastly more difficult to ascertain what may be 
called the normal dimensions or proportions. Never- 
theless observation and experience soon show what 
may be termed the average size of each plant, and any 
disproportion between the several organs is speedily 
detected. 
When there is a general reduction in size throughout 
all the organs of a plant, or throughout all the nutritive 
organs, stem, leaves, &c., and the several portions par- 
ticipate in this diminished size, we have what are gene- 
rally termed ‘‘ dwarf varieties,” dwarf in comparison, 
that is, with the ordinary condition of the plants; on 
the other hand, if the entire plant, or, at least, if the 
