206 THE PROTEOMORPHIC THEORY AND THE NEW MEDICINE 



of a more primitive type ; calling for less expenditure of energy, 

 therefore, in their development. 



It will be obvious that there is nothing inconsistent in all this 

 with the hypothesis of differential leucocyte functions already put 

 forward. The present view is merely an elaboration and exten- 

 sion of that hypothesis. It has been urged all along that there 

 is probably a considerable range of variation or latitude as to 

 precise proteolytic functions of each type of corpuscle. 



This is no more than is observed everywhere in the organism ; 

 the possibility of vicarious functioning being a necessary safe- 

 guard to health and to life itself. Thus we find that there is no 

 single organ that has absolute control over any stage or phase 

 of food digestion in the alimentary tract. There are more or 

 less compensatory functions between salivary glands and pan- 

 creas, and between stomach, liver, and the enteric walls. Even 

 the highly specialized functions of the kidney are in a measure 

 duplicated by the functions of the glands of the skin. Moreover, 

 two kidneys are provided, although a single kidney is amply 

 competent under ordinary circumstances to meet elimination re- 

 quirements. Similarly there are two lungs, providing an aggre- 

 gate alveolar surface vastly in excess of the maximum needs of 

 the organism. 



It is not strange, then, that the corpusclar cohorts should show 

 a similar margin of safety; and we need not be surprised to ob- 

 serve that, under exceptional circumstances, metabolic conditions 

 apparently approximating the normal may be maintained when 

 there has been a profound disturbance of the observed normal 

 conditions of the corpuscles, just as a person with one kidney 

 or with one affected lung may appear to retain a normal level 

 of health ; or, to make a still closer analogy, as a patient may be 

 maintained for a considerable period by rectal feeding, the func- 

 tions of the normal digestive glands being for the moment 

 abrogated. I have just had report of such a case where (owing 

 to a gastric ulcer) rectal feeding has been the sole method of 

 alimentation for a period of more than ten months. 



A CASE OF LEUKEMIA 



I am led to emphasize this aspect of the subject because of 

 certain anomalies forced on my attention by the case of lymphatic 

 leukaemia to which reference was above made. The patient, a 

 man of 65, is known to have been leuksemic for several years. 

 When the patient first came to me for examination, he brought 

 with him the report of a blood count made two years earlier 

 which showed 200,000 leucocytes. No blood examination had 

 been made in the interval, but my examination revealed upward 



