“…Only in the last years information was obtained, mostly making use of isotopic techniques, on the mechanism of anemia in cancer. The life span of the erythrocytes has been shown to be shortened in patients suffering from various kinds of malignancies (reviewed by HEVESY 1958) at least to a large extent produced by extrinsic factors (BROWN 1950, DEGOWIN, SHEETS and HAMILTON 1950, HYMAN 1954, SHEETS et al 1954, HYMAN, GELLHORN and HARVEY 1956, MILLER et al 1956, DALSANTO 1957. The shortening of the life span of the erythrocytes is not seldom followed by a formation of red corpuscles a t an increased rate.…”