THROMBOCYTOSIS PRODUCED BY A HITHERTO UNKNOWN SUBSTANCE—THE "FAT-SOLUBLE T FACTOR"

Thrombopenia is the most constant finding in morbus maculosus Werlhofi. The reduction in the number of blood platelets is the only symptom encountered with regularity in the chronic, recurrent form of the disease, even in the absence of bleeding. Indeed, thrombopenia persists even when splenectomy has caused cessation of the bleeding. For these reasons, many observers, in studying the pathogenesis of the disease, have centered their investigations on the thrombopenia. We may mention here that Hayem and Aschoff considered the increase in the bleeding time to be due to a deficiency of the formation of platelets. In the past, as a result of these observations, all therapeutic measures were directed toward increasing the number of platelets in order to produce a favorable effect on the course of the disease. In reviewing these methods one can say that no successful means has been found to relieve the thrombopenia, to say nothing