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SummaryThis article considers the methods used to estimate the number of abortions before the 1967 Abortion Act came into operation. It suggests that the registration of legal abortions has enabled a new method to be used to calculate the number of illegal operations. The article concludes that the major effect of the Act was to transfer abortions from the illegal to the legal sector and, using the new method of calculation, estimates a total number of abortions immediately before the Act of just over 100,000 a year.

The fact that a group may subdivide into smaller subgroups is examined in the light of probability theory. It is argued that the largest number of ways in which any size group can divide into subgroups of different sizes (including the monad) is the likeliest variant to occur. Such "commonest" variants include both monads (individuals) and polyadic subgroups; and it is inferred that the coexistence of worlds constructed in an individual idiom and those constructed in a collective mode is a natural consequence. Recorded data relating to the biological individual in his family context, to the "casual" individual in informal groups, to solo and group medical practices, and to larger occupational and religious groups are found to be consistent with the probability hypothesis put forward.

ABSTRACTThis paper analyzes three simple search models, in which a buyer with full knowledge of the distribution of market prices searches for a low price. He continues his search until the cost of further search exceeds the expected savings resulting from the further search. The implications of these models are also discussed.