THE MICROSCOPE. 183 



or his horse sprung in the knees. For the first time in our life we 

 realized what doctors are worth. In some of our minds among the 

 tenderest of all memories is that of the old family physician. — The 

 Clinical Brief and Sanitary News. 



Leukaemia and Pseudo-Leukaemia. — Professor Senator pre- 

 sented to the students in his clinic in Berlin, two very interesting 

 cases. They were twins, aet. i)4, born of healthy parents, nursed 

 by their mother up to their 14th month, and later fed mainly on 

 cow's milk. The children were perfectly well up to their 17th week, 

 when they commenced to get sickly. In both a moderate degree of 

 rachitis developed itself. Very remarkable was the extraordinary 

 pallor of their skin in connection with their greatly hypertrophied 

 spleens. On examination of the blood, it was found that in both 

 the white globules were decidedly augmented; in the one child there 

 were five, in the other two and a half times more white corpuscles 

 than red. Whether in these cases there existed the disease of leu- 

 kaemia or pseudo-leukaemia, does, according to Senator, by no 

 means depend upon the relative increase in number of the white 

 globules; as many cases are on record where they are not increased 

 at all, or only very little, and notwithstanding the case runs the same 

 course as one of leukaemia. Besides, the relation of the number of 

 globules to each other changes more and more with the progress of 

 the case, as was noticed also in the twins; a few weeks later the 

 ratio was already in one that of 1:50, in the other that of 1:45. 



Leukaemia, which is better recognized by this peculiar tendency 

 of the white globules of continuously increasing their relative num- 

 ber, is, according to Senator, not any rarer in children than it is in 

 adults. Hereditary causes here had no influence, the less, as the 

 children were all perfectly healthy and the parents. too. The rachitic 

 process could not have exerted any special influence on. the peculiar 

 composition of the blood, as it was one of very mild degree only, 

 and as, notwithstanding the latter disease is an exceedingly common 

 one, these are the first instances on record that genuine leukaemia 

 had complicated rachitis. While Senator himself admits that he at 

 present has no theory to offer as yet, to explain the pathogenesis of 

 leukaemia, he believes that there are other factors at work, of which 

 we do not possess any knowledge, and which can be elucidated only 

 by carefully reporting all cases which have any bearing whatever on 

 the question. — Editorial in Med. and Surg. Reporter. 



