Blood Examination. 323 



Observations regarding the number of the leucocytes were taken on only 3 

 fasting days, i. e., the fourth and ninth days of the fast with Cetti and on the 

 last day with Breithaupt. In all instances the number was considerably 

 less than the normal. This agrees with the observations of Luciani. The 

 observations regarding the hemoglobin in Cetti's blood showed a continued 

 diminution, while Breithaupt's showed a slight increase. At the end of the 

 sixth fasting day it was one-fifth greater than on the last food day, in spite 

 of the fact that the red blood corpuscles had not increased. Senator" also 

 found a slight increase in the hemoglobin content of the blood in a case of 

 inanition with a woman 54 years of age. 



In a later examination of Succi's blood by Tauszk M the conclusions reached 

 were : ( 1 ) that after a short period of diminution in the number of red blood 

 corpuscles there is a slight increase; (2) the number of white blood corpuscles 

 decreases as the fast progresses; (3) the number of the mononuclear corpuscles 

 decreases; (4) the number of the eosinophiles and polynuclear cells increases 

 and finally that the alkalescence of the blood diminishes. 



The samples of the blood examined in connection with the fasting experi- 

 ments reported here were taken according to the method described on page 12. 

 It frequently happened that it was extremely difficult to get a sufficient supply 

 of blood from the finger to enable the counts to be made of the red and white 

 corpuscles on each day of the fast, but fortunately blood smears were always 

 obtained which afterwards were subjected to the differential count. 



The regular Thoma-Zeiss hemocytometer was used in counting the erythro- 

 cytes and leucocytes. The determinations of hemoglobin were in some instances 

 made by the Tahlquist method. In other cases a von Fleischl hemometer was 

 used. 



The same difficulties and criticisms that pertain to blood examinations in 

 previous fasting experiments undoubtedly to a certain extent obtain here with 

 regard to the taking of the blood sample, the enumeration of the blood 

 corpuscles, and the hemoglobin tests. 



As is seen from a record of drinking water, there were marked differences in 

 the amount of water taken on the different days of the experiments, although 

 on the majority of days the samples of blood were taken at about the same hour. 



In experiment 3SJ~o. 75 the samples for blood were taken almost invariably at 

 9 a. m. On the 2 days when two samples were taken, the second was taken 

 at 3 p. m. 



In experiment No. 77 the samples were taken as a rule from 3 p. m. to 

 4 p. m. 



Although the irregularity in the amounts of drinking-water consumed and 



24 Charite-Annalen (1887), 12, p. 327. 



^Orvosi hetilap. Budapest (1894), p. 512; abstract in Jahresbericht f. Tier- 

 chemie von Maly (1894), 24, p. 147. 



