I 14 READINGS IN BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE 



impaired. Muscles fatigue quickly, and, if the anemia is severe, they func- 

 tion scarcely at all, and the patient is bedridden, able to carry on only the 

 minimal energy-liberating reactions requisite for bare maintenance of life. 

 When even this is no longer possible, cellular death and death of the or- 

 ganism occur. 



Of special interest is the condition known as "pernicious anemia." It 

 derives its name from the fact that prior to 1927 this condition was as 

 uniformly fatal as inoperable cancer. The blood count decreases for a 

 time, there might be then a remission with a return of the count toward 

 normal, and then a relapse more severe than the first attack. In each new 

 attack the count goes lower, culminating in death after two to five years. 

 Formerly, nothing could be done to stop this inevitably fatal course. 



Some years ago a group of investigators at the University of Rochester 

 under the direction of Dr. Whipple became interested in experimental 

 anemias produced in animals by repeated extensive hemorrhage. They 

 observed the effects of various foods upon recovery from the anemia. 

 They tried many foods quite empirically and at random, guided by no 

 preconceived notions or hypotheses. Of all the articles they fed, they 

 found that Hver had the most striking effect. Of all the dogs made anemic 

 in the manner described, those fed liver recovered more rapidly than 

 the others. 



Now, of course, this experimental anemia was not pernicious anemia. 

 The latter condition in man displays features which are quite distinct from 

 most other anemias. The appearance of the red blood cells is abnormal, 

 and serious changes in the alimentary tract and central nervous system 

 occur. The dogs showed none of this. 



Yet here was a case in which red-cell production was in some way en- 

 hanced by the ingestion of a specific food, namely, liver. Why not try 

 it, at least, upon patients with pernicious anemia? And so in 1927 two 

 Harvard University physicians, Minot and Murphy, fed large quantities 

 of liver to their patients daily. A striking recovery was effected. In the 

 intervening years many investigators have confirmed these findings. A few 

 days after beginning of liver feeding, the blood count commences to 

 rise and in a few weeks approximates or even reaches the normal, and 

 the subject is comparatively well. Note that Hver does not cure the condi- 

 tion. When the liver intake is stopped, the anemia promptly returns and 

 unless liver feeding is reinstituted, death is sure to follow. 



THE WHITE BLOOD CELLS 



The white blood cells are less numerous than the red cells, a cubic mil- 

 limeter containing about 7,000 of them. They are semi-transparent and are 

 difficult to see unless they are stained. This applies to most of the cells 

 of the body except the red cells, which are naturally colored. The white 

 cells are devoid of hemoglobin and differ from the red cells in other 



