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Previous studies from this clinic and from other centres (Allamanis, 1955; Panizon, 1957) have demonstrated disturbances in the electrophoretic pattern of the blood proteins in thalassaemia major and sickle cell anaemia consisting of a slight to moderate fall of the albumin fraction, a raised y globulin fraction, and abnormal liver function tests. The relative value of these findings led us to study the lipid metabolism (Ackermann, Toro, and Kountz, 1954; Rafstedt, 1955; Salt and Wolff, 1957) of chronic haemolytic anaemias.The sera of 32 patients with severe Cooley's anaemia, of nine patients with sickle cell anaemia, and of six patients with miscellaneous types of anaemia were studied. Twenty-seven normal cases of similar ages served as controls. Serum, 1-3 ml., was used for the determinations: Total lipids were determined by the Kunkel method (Kunkel, Ahrens, and Eisenmenger, 1948) using 0'2 ml. serum. Total cholesterol and its esters were calculated by Bloor's method and lipid phosphorus by the method of Fiske and Sabbarow. The lipid phosphorus was multiplied by the factor 25 to give the total phosphatides. (These two determinations together required 1 ml. serum.) A slight modification of the micromethod described by Swahn (1953) was employed to determine the relative concentrations of lipid in electrophoretically separated lipoprotein fractions, using 0-1 ml. serum. All sera were obtained from the patient in the fasting state before any blood transfusion had been given and examined in the next 48 hours.

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