NO MITOSIS IN BLOOD STREAM 375 



Hence it is obvious that these cells do not divide in 

 the peripheral circulation, for their mitosis occupies 

 a certain amount of time; and if this mitosis occurred 

 at all in the peripheral blood, it must have been seen 

 during the century and a half in which these cells have 

 been constantly examined by many thousands of workers. 

 Now, the division of these cells is caused by the 

 auxetics contained in the remains of dead tissues and 

 in globin, and it also is certain that the peripheral 

 blood must contain some free remains of dead tissues 

 and globin. Hence white blood-corpuscles ought to 

 be frequently seen in the act of division when they are 

 removed from it. But they are not so seen. Had it 

 been seen, the real nature of the Altmann's granules 

 and the "lobes of the nuclei" would have been apparent 

 many years ago. 



We think that there can be only one explanation 

 for this, which is that the action of the auxetics in the 

 peripheral blood is restrained in some way. It appears 

 to us to be reasonable to suppose that cell-proliferation 

 in the peripheral circulation must be prevented in some 

 way. If it were not, the approach of old age or a 

 chronic suppurative focus with destruction of tissue 

 might cause indiscriminate cell-proliferation in the 

 vessels and capillaries, with disastrous results ; for these 

 vessels might ultimately become blocked. We there- 

 fore made some experiments to see if blood-serum does 

 actually restrain cell-division. 



. In the first place, 2 cc. of sheep's serum was added 

 to auxetic jelly composed of azur dye, atropine, and 

 suprarenal extract. In order to prevent coagulation of 



