Culture of Human Marrow

The development of a simple method of culture of human marrow,1by which actively motile mature neutrophils, eosinophils and basophils have been observed as late as fifty days after culture was started, suggested a new approach to the problem of the duration of life of the leukocytes of the blood. That more data are needed on this question is indicated by the recent review of Garrey and Bryan,2in which they stated: "The idea that leukocytes are very short lived and that their intravascular life is limited to hours or three or four days (Weiskotten, 1930) is undergoing modification." They then cited the literature on the duration of life of leukocytes which, on analysis, shows a complete lack of agreement, various authors finding durations of from four to twenty-eight days. Examination of this literature reveals that most of the conclusions were based either on experiments on animals3