82 MANUAL OF EQUINE MEDICINE. 



This form of septicsemia is termed septic infection. 

 ' The blood of animals which had died after injection of 

 one to ten minims of putrid blood contained bacteria, cocci, 

 and bacilli; but after inoculation it contained only bacilli' 

 (Green). 



There are thus two forms of pathological conditions under 

 the heading Septicaemia, viz., Septic Intoxication and Septic 

 Infection. 



The former is due to absorption of chemical poison, 

 manufactured in some putrefactive process going on external 

 to the body. The latter is due to entry of specific germs 

 into the blood, and to their multiplication there. The 

 organisms in these cases probably act by producing poison- 

 ous substances in their growth, but these products are not 

 irritant, and therefore secondary inflammations do not 

 ensue. Fungi which occur in the septicaemia of one animal 

 differ from those which occur in another. 



In pyaemia, the absorption and dissemination of the 

 poison gives rise not only to the general disease, but also 

 causes the formation of secondary foci of inflammation, 

 which are termed metastatic abscesses. 



The clinical symptoms of pyaemia are well marked ; the 

 irregularity of the temperature being the most prominent 

 feature. Pyaemia is complicated with more or less septic 

 poisoning. The source of the infection in pyaemia is almost 

 always a wound or inflammation, generally suppurating, the 

 discharge being septic. In some cases, however, no wound 

 is traceable. As in septicaemia, the poison gains access to 

 the blood-current, which distributes it through the system. 



The secondary abscesses of pyaemia are of two kinds ; 

 those which are preceded by infarction, and those in which 

 we have no evidence of this antecedent occurrence. 



The suppuration is probably due to the parasitic fungi 

 irritating the tissues in which they are placed. In the 



