288 THE PROTEAL TREATMENT OF CANCER 



and the progenitors of the polymorphonuclear leucocytes. But 

 whichever view is correct, it is scarcely in question that the mon- 

 onuclear leucocytes represent a somewhat more primitive type of 

 cell than the polynuclear. The polymorphs, eosinophiles, and 

 basophiles are of granular structure, and it is held that the gran- 

 ules have a secretory function, generating enzymes that escape 

 into the blood plasma. In keeping with this function, these cells 

 have in general a relatively large cytoplasm, and their nuclear 

 structure, although elaborated and differentiated in form, is rela- 

 tively sparse, particularly in case of the fully developed poly- 

 morph. 



Meantime, the typical lymphocyte is almost exclusively com- 

 posed of nuclear structure ; and the typical large monocyte has a 

 relatively enormous nucleus and a relatively small amount of cyto- 

 plasm, as contrasted with the typical polynuclear cell. There is, 

 however, a type of large mononuclear with nucleus less basic in 

 stain than the typical large monocyte, and with full clear cyto- 

 plasm, which my personal studies lead me to associate with the 

 cancer-cell destroying process, and which I am disposed to regard 

 as of lymphoid origin in effect an overgrown lymphocyte. Fuller 

 discussion of the status of this and other types of large mononu- 

 clears is reserved for a later chapter. 



In substantiation of the idea that the mononuclears are of a 

 somewhat more primitive type than the polynuclears, we find the 

 former relatively abundant in lower animals for instance, the 

 rabbit, with 60 per cent, of mononuclears ; and the mouse, as al- 

 ready cited, with 80 per cent, or more of mononuclear cells, one- 

 fourth of them large monocytes, and 17 per cent, of polynuclears, 

 contrasted with the 70 per cent, of the latter in the human subject. 



Witness also the fact that children show a relatively high per- 

 centage of mononuclears, at once evidencing the primitive char- 

 acter of these cells, and suggesting that they in some way func- 

 tionate in connection with the control of rapidly growing tissues. 

 In the first and second years of childhood, according to Von 

 Domarus, the polynuclears represent only about 42 per cent, of 

 the total leucocyte count, the small lymphocyte representing 47 

 per cent., the large monocyte (including transitionals) about 8 

 per cent., and the eosinophiles about 3 per cent. By the fifteenth 

 year, the polynuclears have risen to more than 56 per cent., and 

 the lymphocytes have dropped to about 28 per cent., but the large 

 monocytes and transitionals are slightly more abundant than in 

 infancy, representing about 9 per cent, of the leucocyte count, 

 while the eosinophiles have risen to not far from 6 per cent. Be- 

 tween puberty and adult life there are further changes, result- 

 ing ultimately in giving the polynuclears a census not far from 

 three-quarters of the total leucocyte count; the lymphocytes being 



