There is a certain amount of evidence that the increased blood destruction occurring in pernicious anemia is in some way associated with an abnormal functioning of the spleen, since removal of this organ brings about a marked reduction in the quantity of blood destroyed. This reduction has been found in almost every instance where the blood destruction was studied before and after splenectomy.1 Eppinger and Ranzi2 and the author,3 who report the two largest series of cases, found that the greatly increased hemolysis present before operation showed a constant and marked decrease afterwards, reaching normal in all but two or three cases. Yet the manner in which the spleen acted to produce increased blood destruction is as yet undetermined.
The literature contains comparatively few observations on the hemolytic activity of the human spleen either in normal or pathological conditions. Benard4 tested salt solution extracts of two