132 THE PROTEOMORPHIC THEORY AND THE NEW MEDICINE 



merit, which had been interrupted a few days before the opera- 

 tion, was now resumed. Six days later the blood count showed 

 the following: red corpuscles, 4,740,000; leucocytes, 13,500, 

 telling, obviously, of progress in the right direction. The haemo- 

 globin index had increased from 80 to 95. Clinically, there was 

 immediate betterment associated with the resumption of the 

 proteal treatment ; the patient ceased to have fainting spells, and 

 gained strength progressively. 



It must be obvious that the microscope is an invaluable auxil- 

 iary in helping to determine the line of treatment in such a case 

 as this. The same thing is true, as is equally obvious, of cases of 

 anaemia of various types, and in particular of intestinal and other 

 protein toxaemias, the clinical symptoms of which may be varied 

 and lacking in pathognomonic character. 



If we turn from the counting-chamber to the blood smear we 

 find a further exemplification of the same principle. Here the 

 red cells are still of interest as regards their size, form, and 

 tendency to dry with smooth contour or with crenated edges 

 suggestive of amoeboid activity. Their tendency to take on a 

 copper color on one hand or a bluish cast on the other in the 

 ordinary Wright or Hastings stain (methylene blue and cosine) 

 may indicate a condition of alkalinity or acidity as the case may 

 be that gives at least suggestive hints as to like conditions in 

 the patient's system. The presence or absence of a tendency to 

 rupture, with the formation of so-called platelets, is also of 

 interest, as suggesting the degree of pliability of the cells and 

 the liquidity of their contents. 



According to my own observations, for example, the red cells 

 of late stage cancer subjects are of such constitution that they 

 do not tend to disrupt and produce a normal equipment of 

 platelets on the smear. This is consonant with the tests made 

 some years ago at the Loomis Laboratory, which showed that 

 the red cells of cancer subjects are more resistant to haemolysis 

 than normal cells. I regard the appearance of platelets in normal 

 numbers under treatment as a favorable indication ; tending at 

 least to suggest that a modification of the chemical constitution 

 of the cells is being made in the direction of normality. 



Vacuolation of center of the red cell, indicative of paucity of 

 haemoglobin, and the presence or absence of normoblasts are 

 conditions that will be observed as a matter of course. It is 

 not always easy to interpret the precise meaning of influx of 

 normoblasts. I have known it to occur in an individual previously 

 in apparent health and undergoing no treatment whatever, in con- 

 nection with the onset of an acute coryza that did not go on to 

 a stage of marked infection. In the particular case that I have 

 in mind there was, however, an accompanying jump in the 



