38 THE PROTEOMORPHIC THEORY AND THE NEW MEDICINE 



is to say, of bone-marrow origin) represents something compar- 

 able to a glandular substance, constituting a secreting mechanism. 

 The secretions in question are supposed to be enzymic in char- 

 acter, representing the various antibodies, in particular the so- 

 called complement. 



According to one view, the granular leucocytes are all of bone- 

 marrow origin, and constitute a class apart. But this view is 

 obviously inconsistent with Ehrlich's claim that the large non- 

 granular mononuclear leucocytes develop individually into neu- 

 trophiles. 



Evidence in the matter is by no means as conclusive as could 

 be desired, yet it is universally admitted that different organs of 

 the body may on occasion take on the function of leucocyte- 

 production; and it may very well be questioned whether there 

 is any such distinct and fundamental difference between the blood- 

 forming cells of the bone marrow and the similar cells of the 

 lymphatic system as has sometimes been suggested. It may fairly 

 be assumed, however, on embryological grounds that the lym- 

 phatic system constitutes a somewhat more primordial structure 

 than the bone marrow, inasmuch as the latter is a relatively late 

 development in the fcetus. But, on the other hand, many ob- 

 servers are disposed to trace the origin of the primitive forms of 

 cells that appear in the blood under certain abnormal conditions 

 (notably the leukaemias) to the bone marrow rather than to the 

 lymphatic system. 



It is more than likely that, when the systemic disturbance is 

 sufficiently profound, both sets of organs may revert to a some- 

 what primordial manner of functioning, and put out cells of a 

 more embryonic type than the ones usually sent into circulation. 



By way of anticipation, I may say that in a later chapter of 

 this book I shall suggest an hypothesis of the specific functions 

 of the different types of leucocytes according to which the eosino- 

 philes deal with the unbroken protein molecule, the large mono- 

 cytes with full protein molecules and proteoses, the small lym- 

 phocytes with proteoses and peptones, the polynuclears with 

 peptones and polypeptids, and the red corpuscles with polypep- 

 tids and amino-acids. It is further suggested that the polynu- 

 clears have to do with the digestion of lipoids and fats. 



Details as these elaborations of the Proteomorphic theory can 

 more appropriately be given after the general preliminary state- 

 ment of them, to which the present chapter is chiefly devoted, 

 has been made. Meantime, however, I venture again to depart 

 from chronological sequence to the extent of citing two series 

 of laboratory investigation by independent workers that have 

 been carried out since the original publication of the Proteomor- 

 phic theory, and which in themselves furnish strong presumptive 



