BLOOD STUDIES IN THE NEW-BORN

INTRODUCTION Reviewing the literature on blood studies one is struck by the comparatively few extensive investigations which have been carried on with the blood of the new-born. The morpohologic variations in hemoglobin and cells have received more consideration than any other phase of the problem. The chemistry of the blood of the new-born has been given little attention. Sedgwick's1findings stand out as the most extensive and illuminating, and Slemon's2investigations on maternal and fetal blood are fundamental, furnishing conclusive evidence of the mechanistic function of the placenta. Coagulation has been given little real attention and except for isolated studies on individual cases of hemorrhages of the new-born few, beside Rodda,3have attempted to analyze the factors entering into this problem. We have, therefore, attempted to bring together all these phases—morphology, chemistry, coagulation and pigment metabolism—into a combined study of the blood of the normal new-born