36 THE PROTEOMORPHIC THEORY AND THE NEW MEDICINE 



from its ammo-acid elements in great quantity, as evidenced in 

 the bodies of the corpuscles themselves. But the province of the 

 mature corpuscles is to deal with proteins in a quite different 

 way. 



Their task is not that of synthesis but of proteolysis, and it 

 is exercised, not only (1) in connection with the regular supply 

 of food proteids, but (2) with bacterial proteins and (3) with 

 exceptional increments of unbroken or only partially cleaved pro- 

 teins that find their way by inadvertence into the vascular 

 mechanism. 



In view of the relatively small bulk of the cells making up 

 the normal leucocyte population, it should be recalled that the 

 amount of foreign protein in the blood serum at one time has 

 been variously estimated between a minimum of .005 per cent, 

 and a maximum of 0.12 to 0.19 per cent. say from three to 

 twelve grams in a person of average size. 



In my original statement of the Proteomorphic theory, it was 

 suggested that the polynuclear leucocyte deals with the unbroken 

 proteins (bacterial or dietetic) ; the red corpuscle with partially 

 cleaved molecules of the polypeptid order ; and that the lympho- 

 cyte inaugurates the decompounding of the normal serum pro- 

 teins, to supply energy for the activities of the digestive organs, 

 the muscles, and the tissues in general. It now seems to me 

 improbable, however, that the leucocytes are called upon to deal 

 with the normal serum proteins. I shall revert to this aspect of 

 the matter a little later. 



I did not originally attempt a more detailed analysis of the 

 relative share of the different types of white corpuscles in the 

 work of proteolysis. My subsequent studies, however,, which in- 

 volved observation of the modified differential count in several 

 hundred human subjects under influence of foreign proteins in- 

 troduced parenterally, enabled me to elaborate the thesis, and 

 to develop at least a provisional hypothesis as to the system of 

 division of labor among the various groups of the leucocyte 

 population. 



These experimental observations and conclusions will be fully 

 presented in later chapters of the present work. By way of 

 anticipation, I may say here that they give the strongest possible 

 support to the general thesis of the Proteomorphic theory as re- 

 gards the essential proteolytic activities of the corpuscles. They 

 also furnish suggestive clues to the solution of sundry problems 

 as to the differential distribution of the various types of leuco- 

 cytes, in health and disease, at different ages in the human sub- 

 ject, and among different orders of animals, that have hitherto 

 gone quite unsolved. 



In point of fact, very little is definitely known as to the pre- 



