Commentary on and reprint of Coulter WH, High speed automatic blood cell counter and cell size analyzer, in Proceedings of the National Electronics Conference (1956) 12:1034–1044

Abstract

Enumeration of cells is essential to the practice of hematology. The growth in knowledge of diseases of blood cells closely parallels the growth in techniques for enumeration and identification of blood and marrow cells. Prominent scientists and physicians challenged the utility of the earlier instruments with their relatively poor optics. However, by the late 19th century, advances made by lens makers and other craftsmen permitted undistorted images at increased magnification. The methods of cell counting were limited in accuracy and reproducibility. Nevertheless, the increasing availability of techniques that could be validated as to accuracy and precision, even if those measures were suboptimal, heightened interest in their use. A more accurate and efficient measurement of anemia became a feature of the diagnostic hematology laboratory with the description of the hematocrit tube to measure the blood-packed red cell volume. The Wintrobe tube, as it became known, was filled with a milliliter of blood; the gradations on the tube permitted the observer to read directly the proportion of the blood sample composed of red cells packed in the lower half of the tube after centrifugation.