COUNTING GRANULES SUGGESTED 273 



action on the part of the cells, we went so far as to 

 theorise that the cells might be discarding their granules 

 in order to prevent some of the combination of the 

 "auxetic" and their granules, and so delay their pro- 

 liferation to some extent. 



This theory led to the suggestion that we should 

 try to count the number of granules contained in the 

 blood-cells of cancer patients, with a view to see if they 

 were reduced in number in that disease. The blood of 

 cancer patients seems to contain a body which excites 

 amceboid movements and the extrusion of granules, 

 and, therefore, the blood-cells themselves as well as the 

 cells composing the growth might also have a reduced 

 number of the granules w T hich form their chromosomes. 



We must admit that these suggestions were based 

 on slender grounds of evidence, and it was appreciated 

 that to count the number of granules of the leucocytes 

 of cancer patients would require considerable work, 

 especially as many control experiments would have to 

 be made, for we did not even know the normal number 

 of granules in healthy persons' cells. Still, it was very 

 necessary to try to find out whether the clue on 

 which we were engaged w T as in any w T ay correct, and 

 it was realised that in order to make the counts it 

 would be necessary to examine a large number of 

 samples of blood-cells from many patients and from 

 normal and other persons a procedure which had not 

 yet been done by this in-vilro method. Hence no 

 matter how far-fetched it appeared at first sight for us 

 to count the granules of blood-cells in cancer patients, 

 I thought that an endeavour to do so would be justified, 

 and I devised the following technique for doing so. 



18 



