It is the consensus of opinion, or belief of the majority of writers, that one of the physiologic causes of leukocytosis is digestion, or ingestion of food. It is the purpose of this paper to show that such is not constantly the case — at least in bottle-fed infants. Most of the text-books speak of physiologic leukocytosis. Some of the standard works on pediatrics state this leukocytosis to be more pronounced in children; a few speak of its being inconstant; and many ignore it entirely.
Yet it is very important whether this is, or is not, the case, especially in the interpretation of the leukocyte count in pathologic conditions.
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
The most striking thing in reviewing the literature on the subject is the fact that physiologic variations in leukocytes are seldom taken into account when drawing conclusions in a comparison of counts. Occasionally an attempt to avoid