216 THE PROTEOMORPHIC THEORY AND THE NEW MEDICINE 



lymphocytes; yet even so the number of cells registered as 

 unequivocal small lymphocytes is at a high normal limit. Mean- 

 time the large mononuclears, which are seen to stain deeply and 

 with ill-defined nuclear bounds, represent 22 per cent, of the 

 leucocyte count, a proportion seldom observed except under the 

 stimulus of proteantigen treatment. The nuclei of all the white 

 cells stain very poorly, a second staining with methylene blue 

 being required to bring them out at all clearly. 



An explanation of these peculiarities, consonant with the hy- 

 pothesis all along expounded, would be that in this case sto- 

 machic and intestinal digestion are so defective that relatively 

 large numbers of unbroken protein molecules find their way 

 through the intestinal walls. This invasion is met by a large 

 mononuclear population, and in particular by the extraordinary 

 aggregation of large monocytes. The condition here is strictly 

 comparable to the conditions that obtain where there is a well- 

 developed cancer; in each case there is constant intrusion of 

 fully formed proteins into the circulation, and the increase in 

 large monocytes shows the response of the defensive mechanism. 

 The relative effectiveness of response in this case may be ex- 

 plained, perhaps, by the fact that the patient is young and hence 

 has a more resilient cytogenic apparatus than the average cancer 

 subject. 



The particular case of intestinal toxaemia in question is known 

 to me only by report and from a blood smear sent to me from 

 a distance, so I am not able to record the results of Proteal 

 treatment, which would be of obvious interest. I have had 

 numerous cases of intestinal toxaemia more or less similar to 

 this, however, under treatment, and I am able to report that 

 the results of Proteal treatment have in most instances been 

 as satisfactory as the theoretical consideration above outlined 

 might lead one to anticipate. As a rule, these cases do not have 

 a high large monocyte count at the outset, presumably because 

 their digestive protein products are at an intermediate stage of 

 decompounding before they penetrate the intestinal walls. The 

 red cells, however, whether or not they are reduced in number, are 

 likely to show very marked abnormalities of form, suggestive 

 of perverted function ; and the white cells, frequently increased 

 in number, tend to take the stain very badly, and to have an 

 agglutinative quality that leads to their clumping and assembling 

 in windrows at the end of the smear. Very commonly the red 

 cells in the Toisson solution show a large proportion of small 

 or misshapen cells, battered looking, crenated, or covered with 

 spicular pseudopodia, giving them an appearance that I am accus- 

 tomed to liken to that of a miniature sea urchin. There may be 



