412 CHAMBERLAIN AND VEDDER. 



"coarse eosinophiles are actively amoeboid and to a certain extent pliagocytic"(7), 

 while Kanthack and Hardy consider that they never act in this way. (8) 

 VVesbrook once observed phagocytosis by these cells, but considers it extremely 

 rare. (8) It has also been stated that virulent living bacteria act in a negatively 

 chemiotactic manner on eosinophiles. (5) Buchanan considers the large mono- 

 nuclears to act as phagocytes, (7) but Kanthack and Hardy believe that only 

 in case of feebly virulent bacteria are they capable of immediate action. That 

 certain fixed cells, notably ■ endothelial cells, have phagocytic power is generally 

 accepted, but the extent and manner of their action is not very thoroughly 

 understood. 



As far as the blood is concerned the chief phagocytic cell is the poly- 

 morphonuclear neiitrophile, the "microphage" of Metchnikoff. This irf 

 the only blood cell which is generally recognized as being able to ingulf 

 and destro)^ bacteria. Its importance in the production of immunity 

 was overshadowed for a time by the work of Ehrlich, but has again been 

 brought into prominence by the researches of Wright. 



Cabot says, "It would appear that the degree of health in persons not 

 organically diseased might perhaps prove to vary directly with the per- 

 centage of polymorphonuclear cells in the Hood." 



3. Influence on phagocytosis of a high Arneth index.— An before 

 stated, Arneth considers that classes I and II of his classification represent 

 the immature leucocytes and that they are less able to protect the body 

 than are the cells with three or four nuclear fragments. Pottenger(4) 

 reports that the phagocytic power of the leucocytes for staphylococci 

 gradually rises from class I to class IV inclusive and diminishes for 

 class V. On the other hand, Buchanan, using cocci, could not detect 

 any relation between the number of nuclear divisions and the number of 

 bacteria engulfed by the cell. 



Turning from experimental researches to clinical observations, it will 

 be found that nearly all of the work with the Arneth classification has 

 been done on patients suffering from tuberculosis. It seems quite gen- 

 erally accepted that a marked shift to tbe left indicates lowered resistance 

 to that disease. In other words, a high Arneth index goes hand in hand 

 with a low resistance or with a high degree of toxic and bacterial absorp- 

 tion which is leading to the destruction of the actively phagocytic cells 

 (classes III and IV) . By a large number of examinations in various 

 infectious diseases, Arneth has demonstrated a direct relationship between 

 the blood picture and the course of the disease. The picture is there- 

 fore considered an index of the protective efforts of the body against 

 infections. (15) 



It seems to us reasonable to conclude from the foregoing that a bad 

 Arneth blood picture, if found habitually in the apparently normal indi- 

 viduals of a race, probably indicates a diminished resistance on the part 

 of that race to various infections. This conclusion is merely offered as 

 an hypothesis. 



4. Leucocytometry in the Filipinos. — We have not been able to find 



