THE LEUCOCYTE COUNT OF YOUNG MALE ADULTS OBSERVED AFTER A PERIOD OF REST AND DURING MILD ACTIVITY IN THE EARLY MORNING

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Abstract
300 leucocyte counts were made on 75 healthy young [male] adults under conditions of minimal metabolism, i.e., the basal state in the early morning. The lowest count was 2700, the highest 8600; the mean for the group was 5610. A given individual may show significant variations in the basal count from day to day; the greatest difference thus noted was 2960 cells and the average maximal variation was 1604 ceils. The frequency distribution of the counts under this condition was an excellent fit to a normal curve which indicated comparable conditions for all subjects and absence of variation due to physiological or technical causes which increase the range of variation and cause the skewing noted in many reports of "resting" leucocyte counts. Other counts showed that mild "random" activity, on the whole, increased the range of variation in the counts as compared with resting counts and there was definite evidence that mild activity raised the leucocyte count above the resting level in some subjects, especially those showing a high resting count. The cause for the wide range of variation and high counts reported by some authors is briefly discussed,.

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