Pathological Metabolism of the * 

 Blood and Blood - Forming Organs 



SAMUEL H. HURWITZ* 



SAN FRANCISCO 



; 



Introduction 



Our knowledge of the pathological metabolism of the blood and blood- 

 forming organs is in a state of rapid change. New facts, gathered by 

 new and improved methods, are constantly coming to light, and these 

 necessitate revision of previous conceptions. Besides, the data at hand, 

 although much increased of late, are by no means complete and the deduc- 

 tions arrived at by different workers are not in entire accord. This is 

 particularly true of such subjects as the factors concerned in blood de- 

 struction and regeneration, protein metabolism in diseases of the blood 

 and the effects upon the metabolic processes of such important therapeutic 

 measures as diet, transfusion, splenectomy, the Rontgen rays and radium. 



The following review of some of the main facts concerning these 

 subjects is therefore presented with the realization that the findings upon 

 which it is based may later become open to question, and that further 

 observations may alter their significance. Certain of the results, however, 

 are based on such carefully conducted experimental and clinical observa.- 

 tions that it has seemed safe to make fairly definite deductions concerning 

 them. 



Newer Aspects of Blood Destruction and Regeneration 



It is not possible in a limited space to summarize our present-day 

 views concerning all of the important additions to our knowledge of 

 blood destruction and regeneration. An endeavor has been made rather 

 to take up those aspects of the subject in which sufficient work has been 

 done to warrant some conclusions even though they be tentative. More 

 particularly are the views concerning certain phases of the problem of 

 blood destruction and regeneration undergoing considerable change. It 

 was thought well, therefore, to preface the pages which bear more directly 

 upon metabolism by a consideration of the problems relating to the 



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