An increase in the number of white corpuscles (leucocytosis) occurs in the majority of the cases, and is most frequent in growths of the medullary or cylindricalcell type, but it is not apparently influenced by the presence of ulceration or of metastases. It is often very marked when the disease is accompanied by pyrexia or by a localised abscess in the peritoneum. If the normal number of white cells is reckoned at 7,000 per cubic millimetre of blood, nearly 60 per cent, of all cases of gastric cancer exhibit an excess, while more than 25 per cent, present 15,000 to 25,000 per cubic millimetre. This latter number, which was observed in three cases of our series, has induced Alexandre and other writers to describe a special variety of the disease by the term ' Leuchsernic Cancer.'

Microscopical examination of a stained film always shows a slight excess of polymorphonuclear cells; and according to Sailer and Taylor there is often a preponderance of the large mononuclear forms over the lymphocytes. Van Valzah and Nisbet state that myelocytes are frequently present, but this is disputed by Osier and McCrae. Eosinophiles occur in small numbers.