Leukemia or Polycythemia

To the Editor:— The article "Leukemia with Thrombocytosis" by Dr. Carl B. Drake inThe Journal, March 21, interested me very much. It is unfortunate that the case is labeled "leukemia" and not "polycythemia," since the report brings up a number of points of interest in connection with the latter disease. First of these is the hemorrhagic tendency in polycythemia, which is often quite striking and has been commented on by many observers. In my own series of twenty cases it has been a common symptom. The bleeding may be spontaneous, as from the nose, the stomach or the bowel, or it may be present as a persistent oozing following such operative procedures as extraction of teeth or abdominal operations. The tendency to bleed appears to have nothing whatever to do with the platelets, the bleeding time or the clotting time but is probably the result of injury to the