The morbid conditions resulting from total abolition of the thyroid functions constitute a distinctive and well-known clinical picture. Partial insufficiency of the thyroid gland likewise occurs, in all gradations to complete suppression of its activity, and corresponding partial, incomplete or transitional clinical forms of myxedema are observed ranging in intensity to the typical and complete forms, and in connection with all the varieties of the disease, adult, infantile and postoperative. The symptoms are much less characteristic than in the complete forms, and a clear conception of this class of cases has not yet become crystallized in the professional mind.
Various names have been applied to the condition under consideration. In the English language it is usually called "partial" or "incomplete myxedema," or "partial" or "incomplete hypothyroidism." The usual French designation is myxœdème fruste, or the forme fruste (as contrasted with the complete form, myxœdème franc or grand). It is also