CHAPTER IV

SUPPURATION


Definition--Pus--_Varieties_--Acute circumscribed abscess--_Acute
suppuration in a wound_--_Acute Suppuration in a mucous
membrane_--Diffuse cellulitis and diffuse suppuration--
_Whitlow_--_Suppurative cellulitis in different situations_--Chronic
suppuration--Sinus, Fistula--Constitutional manifestations of
pyogenic infection--_Sapræmia_--_Septicæmia_--_Pyæmia_.

Suppuration, or the formation of pus, is one of the results of the
action of bacteria on the tissues. The invading organism is usually one
of the staphylococci, less frequently a streptococcus, and still less
frequently one of the other bacteria capable of producing pus, such as
the bacillus coli communis, the gonococcus, the pneumococcus, or the
typhoid bacillus.

So long as the tissues are in a healthy condition they are able to
withstand the attacks of moderate numbers of pyogenic bacteria of
ordinary virulence, but when devitalised by disease, by injury, or by
inflammation due to the action of other pathogenic organisms,
suppuration ensues.

It would appear, for example, that pyogenic organisms can pass through
the healthy urinary tract without doing any damage, but if the pelvis of