REFUTATION OF A MORPHOLOGICAL PYAEMIA. 229 



view, could even in a remote degree justify the assump- 

 tion of a condition such as might be called pyaemia. In 

 the extremely rare cases, in which pus breaks through 

 into veins, purulent ingredients may, without doubt, be 

 conveyed into the blood, but in such instances the intro- 

 duction of pus occurs for the most part but once. The 

 abscess empties itself, and if it be large, an extravasation 

 of blood is more apt to ensue than the establishment of a 

 persistent pyaemia. Perhaps we shall at some future 

 time succeed, in the course of such a process, in discover- 

 ing pus-corpuscles with well-defined characters in the 

 blood ; at present, however, the matter stands thus, that 

 it can most positively be maintained that nobody has hith- 

 erto succeeded in demonstrating, by arguments capable 

 of supporting even gentle criticism, the existence of a 

 morphological pyaemia. This name therefore must, as 

 designating a definite change in the blood, be entirety 

 abandoned. 



