OCCURRENCE OF CAUSATIVE AGENTS. 165 



PYOCYANEOUS GENERAL INFECTION. 



The bacillus pyocyaneus is, in general, quite a harmless 

 bacterium. Its presence in the pus of wounds, in cases of 

 otitis media, etc., retards the process of healing in the re- 

 spective diseases only inconsiderably, and gives rise to the 

 well-known greenish or bluish discoloration of the pus 

 and the dressings. In the bodies of children the bacillus 

 pyocyaneus at times exhibits pernicious activity, and it 

 appears under some circumstances capable of causing 

 severe general infection. Neumann obtained this micro- 

 organism from the blood and the internal organs of a new- 

 born infant dead of hemorrhagic septicemia. H. Kossel 

 found it in children in the meningeal exudation in the 

 sequence of otitis, in diarrheal stools, in cases of nephritis, 

 and in the presence of inflammatory affections of the naso- 

 pharyngeal space. He believes that the bacillus is capable 

 of causing serious injury to the organism of the child, 

 either directly through the intermediation of the blood- 

 stream or indirectly through its metabolic products. 



