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WITH THE renewed interest in iron metabolism that has been stimulated by the increased availability of serum iron levels, radioactive iron studies, and bone marrow iron stores estimation, we have undertaken a study of bone marrow iron stores measured qualitatively, as reported by Rath and Finch.1Masshoff and Gruner2 have been unable to confirm the reciprocal relationship between circulating hemoglobin and iron stores demonstrated by Rath and Finch; however, Davidson and Jennison3 have reported a similar study, using bone marrow tissue sections and fragment smears, confirming the observations of Rath and Finch, except in the miscellaneous group, which includes the leukemias. METHOD We have used smears of bone marrow fragments in our study and have correlated the iron stores with the circulating hemoglobin level and with the type of anemia present.The materials used in this study were 128 sternal and, occasionally, iliac bone marrow samples, of which the first

• The finding of three cases of acute leukemia and one of lymphosarcoma in a family of 12 siblings prompted this study of possible causation. Since no environmental cause could be identified, the likelihood of a genetic cause was investigated by constructing a pedigree and attempting to determine the causes of death among the many relatives of the four patients. The possibility that a recessive gene was involved was especially considered because of the finding of evidences of consanguinity, including the fact that the parents were first cousins.