PUTTY 



Plltty a composition of whiting and drying oil 

 worked into a thick paste, used by painters and 

 glaziers, which in time becomes very hard. 



Putty-powder is the binoxide or dioxide of 

 tin, SnO. It is prepared from the scum or crude 

 oxide which forms on the surface of melted tin, 

 which is removed and purified by calcination, and 

 then ground to powder. Putty-powder is used for 

 polishing stone and glass, for making white 

 enamel, and for giving glass an opaque colour. 



I'll tllllia ><>. or ICA, a tributary of the Amazon, 

 rises in Colombia, and flows SE. for 950 miles. 



Pnvis de Chavannes, PIERRE, a painter of 

 marked individuality, sometimes said to belong to 

 the 'decorative school,' was born at Lyons, 14th 

 December 1824. See a work by Vachon (1895). 



Pay, LE, or LE PTTY-EN-VELAY, a town of 

 France (dept. Haute-Loire), 70 miles SW. of Lyons 

 by rail, consists of the new town in a valley and 

 the old town, this latter one of the most picturesque 

 in France. Pay ( Berry, pui or peu, ' a nill ; ' Ital. 

 poggio ; Lat. pmlium ; Gr. ponton ) is the name 

 commonly given in the highlands of Auvergne and 

 the Cevennes to the truncated conical peaks of ex- 

 tinct volcanoes. The town of Le Puy stands on the 

 steep slojies of Mount Anis (2050 feet), from the 

 summit of which starts up precipitously the basaltic 

 mass called Mont Corneille, crowned oy a colossal 

 figure (53 feet) of the Virgin, made of Russian 

 cannon brought from Sebastopol. The most notable 

 building u the Romanesque cathedral (litli l'2lli 

 century), with a venerated image of the Virgin and 

 ancient cloisters ; it is situated in the highest part 

 of the town. There are other ancient and interest- 

 ing churches and a museum. Lace and thread 

 work are manufactured. Pop. (1872) 18,961; 

 (1891)20,038. 



Pliya. the largest of the Bromeliacese (q.v.), 

 found in Chili as far south as 40 S. It equals the 

 Agave (which in its characters it somewhat 

 resembles) in height, and greatly surpasses it in 

 the thickness of its half-woody stem. When the 

 plant is mature it thrusts, forth from its crown of 

 xpiny leaves a huge panicle of yellow flowers, 

 which may be from 6 to 9 feet in height. The 

 plant has been grown under cover in England, and 

 will thrive in the open air in the Mediterranean 

 regions of Europe. 



Puy-dc-Dome, a central department of France, 

 containing an area of 3070 sq. m. and a pop. 

 ( 1891 ) of 564,266. The western side of the depart- 

 ment is an elevated volcanic region, studded with 

 numerous extinct cones, and greatly broken by 

 comes, erosion valleys, crater lakes, &c. (see 

 FRANCE). The highest cones are Pny-de-Sancy 

 (6188 feet) and Puy-de-D6me (4806) ; on the east 

 ride the Forez Mountains (5380) march with the 

 frontier. The principal rivers are the Allier, a 

 tributary of the Loire, and the Dordogne. The 

 soil is, in general, thin and poor ; but its volcanic 

 character fosters vegetation, especially in the valley 

 of Limagne. Agriculture and cattle-breeding are 

 the chief occupations. The climate is uncertain, 

 and severe in the mountains. The principal 

 minerals are coal and lead. Hot and cold mineral 

 springs are abundant, among the most frequented 

 being those of Mont Dore (q.v.), Chateauneuf, St 

 Nectaire, Royat, Chateldon, &c. The department 

 i* rabdirided into the arrondissements of Ambert, 

 Clermont-Ferrand, Issoire, Ilium, and Thiers. 

 Capital, Clermont-Ferrand. 



Puzzle-monkey. See ARADCARIA. 



Pnzzola'na. See CEMENTS. 



Pwllhell, a brisk little seaport and popular 

 watering-place, 22 miles by rail S. by W. of Car- 

 narvon in Wales, with lobster and oyster fisheries. 



PY^MIA 



501 



It is a municipal borough, uniting with Carnarvon, 

 &c. to return one member. Pop. of parish, 3232. 



Pyirmia (from the Gr. pyon, ' pus^' and haima, 

 ' blood ' ), or purulent infection of the blood, is a 

 disease whose exciting cause is the introduction of 

 decomposing pus or wound discharges, or the pro- 

 ducts of decomposition of animal fluids, into the 

 circulation, through an ulcer or a wound, or an 

 imperfectly closed vein (see PHLEBITIS and PUER- 

 PERAL FEVER). The term Septicaimia is applied 

 by some to the same disease, by others only to 

 very grave cases of pya-mia ; while by many it is 

 restricted to cases of blood-poisoning by putrid 

 animal matters in general, such as those obtained 

 from decomposing hides or dead bodies, or borne on 

 foul air or septic gases. The two conditions have 

 a general resemblance to each other. The poison 

 is rapidly absorbed and diffused, and the blood 

 undergoes certain changes, the nature of which 

 chemistry has as yet failed to detect ; it is certain, 

 however, that the blood contains micro-organisms 

 ( micrococci and bacteria ; see GERM ). vV'ithin 

 twenty-four hours, in very acute cases, there 

 are severe shiverings, headache, and giddiness 

 followed by heat, perspiration, and accelerated 

 circulation. In twenty-four hours more the 

 patient may be in a hopeless condition, delirious, 

 and rapidly sinking. In less acute cases the symp- 

 toms closely resenible those of typhoid fever, and 

 in this form the disease is a common cause of death 

 after surgical operations ; such cases are invariably 

 characterised by the formation of secondary 

 abscesses in the lungs, liver, kidneys, and other 

 internal organs, in the various glands ( the parotid 

 gland in President Garfield's case), in the joints, 

 and in the tissues immediately under the skin. 

 The pus of such abscesses always contains bacteria. 

 There is usually more or less delirium. The patient 

 generally dies of exhaustion. Recovery is rare. 

 It is chiefly, however, in the presence of predispos- 

 ing causes, such as previous illness, prostration 

 from organic disease or surgical complaints, or 

 from difficult parturition, unhealthy occupations, 

 &c. , that the poison acts so severely ; these, with 

 the occurrence of putrefaction in a wound, may 

 convert a comparatively slight local mischief into 

 infection of the whole mass of the blood. 



Bearing in mind the manner in which pyeemia 

 originates, it is clear that this disease is one to be 

 prevented rather than cured. Until comparatively 

 recently, when it was acknowledged that pya'mia 

 was the cause of death in 10 per cent, of all cases 

 of amputation, and of 43 per cent, of all fatal 

 primary amputations, the careful preparation of a 

 patient before operation was, with justice, most 

 strenuously insisted on. ' Patients must be 

 strengthened,' said Mr Callender, 'by tonics, such 

 as quinine and iron ; and their secretions must be 

 set right by appropriate alteratives ; this treat- 

 ment must be continued for a considerable period.' 

 Diet should be attended to, and intemperate 

 patients ' should be accustomed to a more healthy 

 mode of life. ' After operation, also, patients should 

 be adequately supported with nutritious diet, and 

 with stimulants and opium if necessary. No judi- 

 cious surgeon will ever neglect such measures. But 

 the really essential matter in the prevention of 

 pycemia is the prevention of putrefaction in the 

 wound discharges. This has been clearly proved 

 by the brilliant results achieved by Sir Joseph 

 Lister and other surgeons at home and abroad, who 

 have adopted the antiseptic method of treating 

 wounds (see ANTISEPTIC SURGERY). For several 

 years Lister's wards in Glasgow Royal Infirmary, 

 formerly ravaged by pyaemia, remained free of the 

 disease after the adoption of the antiseptic system ; 

 after two years' practice of this treatment purulent 

 infection disappeared from the wards of the nospital 



