A STUDY OF ARNETH'S NUCLEAR CLASSIFICATION OF THE 



NEUTROPHILES IN HEALTHY ADULT MALES AND THE 



INFLUENCE THEREON OF RACE, COMPLEXION, 



AND TROPICAL RESIDENCE. i 



By Weston P. Chamberlain and Edward B. Vedder.- 



(From the United States Army Board for the Study of Tropical Diseases as they 

 Exist in the Philippine Islands.) 



INTRODUCTION. 



In the quarterly report of the Board for September 30, 1910 (pub- 

 lished in the Military Surgeon for February, 1911) there was a pre- 

 liminary report upon some observations by the Board regarding the 

 Arneth classification of the neutrophils for Filipinos and for white men 

 living in the Philippines. Since the original work a much larger series 

 of cases has been studied, counts having been completed on 72 Americans 

 and 50 natives. The earlier and the later observations were made in- 

 dependently by different members of the Board and the results of both 

 series are practically identical. Therefore, it is safe to say that the 

 personal equation, which might be a considerable factor in this kind of 

 work, has been discounted in making up the final result. These exam- 

 inations were originally undertaken as a part of the investigation into 

 the influence of tropical light on blonds and brunettes, and the research 

 was subsequently extended to natives among whom most interesting 

 results have been obtained. As far as we can learn no work along this 

 line has previously been undertaken in the Tropics. 



BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ARNETH's CLASSIFICATION. 



A classification of polymorphonuclear neutrophiles based on the number of 

 nuclei or nuclear fragments was proposed by Arneth in 1904.(1) He described 



^ Published by permission of the Chief Surgeon, Philippines Division. 



* Weston P. Chamberlain, major. Medical Corps, United States Army and Ed- 

 ward B. Vedder, captain, Medical Corps, United States Army, members of the 

 United States Army Board for the Study of Tropical Diseases as they Exist in 

 the Philippine Islands. 



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