154 THE PROTEOMORPHIC THEORY AND THE NEW MEDICINE 



as go to make up the tissues of malignant neoplasms. If such 

 is the case, and if the enzymes of the polynuclears have an im- 

 portant share in the digestion of fats, it may plausibly be assumed 

 that the polynuclears have an important share in attacking the 

 cancer cells, thus co-operating with the mononuclears. Reference 

 was made to this possibility in the Monograph, in connection 

 with the observation that partially degenerated polynuclears are 

 observed to congregate, along with the mononuclears, in the 

 region of a neoplasm that is undergoing disintegration. 



It has been observed that large mononuclear leucocytes on 

 occasion ingest bacteria and yet are unable to digest them. This 

 may be because the monocyte does not produce an enzyme that 

 attacks the fatty substances, and hence is unable to penetrate the 

 cell wall of the bacterium. This initial stage of combating the 

 bacterium being reserved for the polynuclear, and this function 

 having been accomplished, the protein content of the bacterium, 

 whatever its molecular status, may be turned over to the mono- 

 cytes for further proteolysis, the ultimate product being handed 

 on to the red corpuscle, according to the hypothesis of the Pro- 

 teomorphic theory. 



It is a familiar observation that a preponderant number of the 

 leucocytes that spring into being when there is a marked bac- 

 terial infection are polynuclear in character. This is consistent 

 with the above supposition that the activities of this particular 

 type of leucocytes are necessary to begin the destruction of the 

 bacterium. It has been further observed, however, that at a 

 later stage of infection there may be a relative and absolute 

 lymphocytosis. This is at least consistent with the supposition 

 that the mononuclear leucocytes handle the bacterial proteins 

 after the polynuclears have made their protein contents available 

 by dissolving the lipoid membrane. 



By way of recapitulation, and condensed summary, it may be 

 recalled that under normal conditions, according to the provi- 

 sional hypothesis on which I am working, the polynuclears are 

 concerned with the handling of the fats normally in the blood, 

 which somewhat exceed in amount, it may be observed, the 

 foreign proteins normally present there. The handling of this 

 normal fat, plus the handling of the bacteria that make perpetual 

 onslaught, may account for the organic necessity of having the 

 neutrophile population of the blood about three times as great 

 as the mononuclear population. The relative paucity of the 

 mononuclears, and in particular of the large monocytes, may 

 perhaps be provisionally accounted for as explained by the pau- 

 city of unbroken foreign proteins in normal blood. In childhood, 

 when these proteins are abundant, owing to the needs of the 

 growing organisms, the mononuclears are relatively more 



