EXTRACTS FROM FOREIGN JOURNALS. 
207 
less rapidly during convalescence. At that time it is not rare to 
see it reach a very high figure, to be subsequently reduced. 
When the phlegtnasy is truly acute, and followed by rapid re¬ 
covery, the number of hematies returns to its physiological stand¬ 
ing in a few days. This numerical repair occupies a longer period 
after serious and protracted phlegmasies. It aborts when the 
acute is succeeded by a sub-acute or chronic stage. Even in these 
conditions one may observe a more or less marked anemia; in sub¬ 
acute articular rheumatism, for instance. 
III. Hematoblasts .—The number of these, which normally is 
255,000, is little modified during the period of acute phlegmasies 
with rapid evolution. In true pneumonia, it is generally a little 
above the normal number, while in most other inflammatory dis¬ 
eases it remains below, or scarcely reaches it. In general, the 
longer the disease, the smaller the number of hematoblasts. It 
may come down to 100,000, or even 75,000. It is towards the 
end of the phlegmasie that it reaches its minimum. 
Then suddenly appears a rapid and progressive increase of the 
hematoblasts, an important and constant fact, which constitutes 
the most prominent and characteristic of the phenomena presented 
by the enumeration of the elements of the blood. In two or 
three days (in truly acute cases) the number of these corpuscles 
reaches a maximum twice, three, and four times that of the normal 
figure. This accumulation of hematoblasts, which by its intensity 
and constant presence constitutes a kind of hematical crisis, takes 
place at the time of effervescence; it begins when the tempera¬ 
ture comes down. 
It is intimately connected with the evolution of the lesion, and is 
observed as well in fatal cases as in those followed by recovery, 
provided the inflamed part enters into resolution. 
It is equally so when the disease has several successive inflam¬ 
mations, each of the lesions terminating by an abundant produc¬ 
tion of hematoblasts. 
At last, in cases where the disease has a slow march and a 
tedious effervescence, the increase of the number of hematoblasts 
takes place by successive steps, and it never reaches its maximum 
before a great number of days. 
