itions which are so nearly
alike in their symptoms that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the
one from the other. Indeed, the name pyosepticemia, or septicopyemia, is
often applied when it is impossible to make a distinction between
septicemia and pyemia or where each is equally responsible for the diseased
condition. The name septicemia is derived from two Greek words meaning
"poison" and "blood," and signifies that the germ lives in the blood, hence
the use of the term "blood poisoning" for this disease. Pyemia is likewise
derived from two Greek words, meaning "pus" and "blood," and is that form
of septicemia caused by pus-producing organisms and characterized by
secondary abscesses.

_Causes._--Neither of these diseases is brought about, strictly speaking,
by any specific organism; hence neither can be looked upon as a specific
disease. The organisms most frequently found in cases of septicemia are, on
the whole, the same as those of pyemia, and may be pus cocci, the bacillus
coli, or other pus-producing organisms. These organisms are often found as
secondary invaders in other diseases, such as advanced cases of
tuberculosis, in which cases they are responsible for the formation of pus.

Aside from the causative organism, or, in other words, the active cause,
there are many secondary causes. The most important of these in pyemia is a
break in continuity of the protective covering, as a wound, which affords
an entrance into the tissues for the organisms. Among the different
varieties of wounds may be mentioned cuts, bruises, punctures, burns,
chemical or frozen wounds, and compound fractures of bones. Injuries
received during parturition, stoppage of the milk ducts, and infection of
the umbilicus in the newly born are also frequent causes of pyemia.
Septicemia usually follows surgical wounds, local suppuration, enteritis,
bronchitis--in fact, wherever there is a local lesion of any kind
permitting germs to enter the blood. Septicemia was formerly applied to
designate the condition in which the organisms were localized, but in which
their toxins were diffused in the blood. Pyemia was made to represent that
condition when the organisms were localized, but in which the pus was
transported by the blood. These terms now are applied to conditions in
which both the organisms and their toxins, or the pus, are present in the
blood. The term septicemia is indicated when intoxication is the more
pronounced symptom and pye