326 Influence of Inanition on Metabolism. 



As regards the leucocytes, it was apparent at the outset that the subject 

 normally presented a condition usually regarded as a leucocytosis. During 

 the long fast there was a progressive diminution until the morning of the end 

 of the fast when there was a comparatively slight rise. The second fasting 

 period in which the observations were made produced very little effect upon 

 the number of the leucocytes, there being a gradual rise, amounting, however, 

 to only 2000 leucocytes. Only in the two weeks following the end of the second 

 fast did the number of leucocytes approach the normal. 



In the differential count of the white blood corpuscles it was found that the 

 polymorphonuclear leucocytes averaged high during the first fast, except 

 during the second and seventh days when their number fell to low normal 

 range, 63 and 64 per cent. During the second fast the percentage again rose 

 above the normal level, but in neither instance did the percentage reach a 

 distinctly pathological level. It fell below normal twice in the interval between 

 the fasts and three times during the two weeks following the last fast. 



The small lymphocytes were below normal range with the exception of two 

 instances, namely, upon the second and seventh days during the long fast. 

 The same average low percentage of small lymphocytes prevailed in the second 

 fast with the exception of the last day of the fast. As regards the large 

 lymphocytes, it was found that the percentage rose above the normal during 

 the last two days of the first fast, and remained wholly above the normal 

 range during the second fast. 



The eosinophiles averaged low throughout the first experiment and below 

 the normal range except on the second and fourth days. The same applies to 

 the second fast during which the percentage rose above the low normal range 

 upon only one day, the third. 



The mast cells during the first test averaged high normal and above normal, 

 and the same is true of the second and shorter fast 



In conclusion, the most striking results of blcod examinations in the 

 continued fasts seem to be : 



(a) The progressive average fall in the number of erythrocytes with the 

 recuperation following. 



(b) A corresponding diminution in the percentage of hemoglobin. 



(c) A relative progressive fall in the percentage of leucocytes in the 

 prolonged fast, but no remarkable effect of fasting to be seen in the relative 

 percentages of the various types of leucocytes. 



(d) A high percentage of polymorphonuclear leucocytes during the fasts, 

 explained by the relative leucocytosis, which in turn explains the relatively 

 low percentage of the small lymphocytes and the high percentage of large 

 lymphocytes. 



