146 THE PROTEOMORPHIC THEORY AND THE NEW MEDICINE 



because of the hematological facts already presented, will stim- 

 ulate a large number of investigators to take up the study of 

 the blood with new zest and from new angles. 



The working hypothesis which I now suggest hinges on an 

 assumption that is almost absurdly simple which may or may 

 not be a merit. The suggestion is this that the different groups 

 of leucocytes, in the order of their numerical abundance, deal 

 primarily with the successive groups of protein decomposition 

 products in the order of their numerical molecular representa- 

 tion. That is to say, the least abundant group of leucocytes 

 (namely the large mononuclears and binuclears) deal with 

 full-sized protein molecules ; the next larger group of leucocytes 

 (namely the small lymphocytes) deal with molecules of the pro- 

 teose or albuminose order ; the third and most abundant group 

 of leucocytes (namely the polynuclears or neutrophiles) deal- 

 ing with protein-product molecules of the peptone order; it 

 being understood that the extremely abundant red corpuscles 

 take up the work of decompounding at the polypeptid stage and 

 complete the final disintegration into amino acids and toxic by- 

 products, such as uric acid, urea, and creatinine. 



It will be recalled, as giving a sort of apriori plausibility to 

 the assumption, that the numerical relations between the normal 

 numbers of different types of leucocytes are, in general terms, 

 the same as the numerical relations between the numbers of 

 molecules in the different orders of protein products. This 

 relation of course does not hold when the red corpuscles are 

 under consideration, since these are many times more numerous. 

 But this seeming inconsistency is explicable on the plausible as- 

 sumption that large quantities of molecules of the polypeptid 

 order enter the circulation normally, through the intestinal wall. 

 Indeed, it has been suggested that the red corpuscles may be 

 called upon under normal conditions to complete the hydrolysis 

 of the polypeptids wholly or in part, the question as to the pre- 

 cise condition in which the protein product normally enters the 

 circulation not being clearly settled. 



Even though the enteric enzymes normally reduce the poly- 

 peptids to the amino-acid stage, it must happen very generally 

 that they fail to some extent of their complete function, per- 

 mitting the entrance of a greater or less number of polypeptid 

 molecules. The same thing is true, of course, of a certain num- 

 ber of large molecules, including the full-sized protein molecule 

 itself; but the entrance of the latter must be relatively infre- 

 quent, a fact that in itself accounts, we may suppose, for the 

 relative paucity of large mononuclears in normal blood. 



It will be observed that in the above summary, reference is 

 made to a group comprising mononuclears and binuclears. The 



