CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 225 



presence of small quantities of the aids of nitrogen, affirmed that 

 rain water, free from all traces of a nitrate, acquired a strong reaction 

 of it after having been exposed to the air for some hours during the 

 heats of summer. 



A NEW STIMULANT. 



Reports have, from time to time, of late years, come from South 

 America, respecting the peculiar properties of the leaves of the Ery- 

 ihroxylon Coca, which are said, when chewed like tobacco, or infused 

 as tea, to have the power of sustaining the bodily strength under pro- 

 longed fatigue and privation of food and sleep ; and that, too, without 

 producing, if used in moderation, any subsequent reaction. Within 

 the last year, Dr. Gosse, of Geneva, has given to the world, in the 

 Proceedings of the Belgian Academy, a monograph of this interesting 

 plant, in which, so far as testimony can be trusted, the effects in ques- 

 tion may be considered as fully established, if not to the almost mira- 

 culous extent which some of the accounts describe, at least quite suf- 

 ficiently to prove it a most valuable auxiliary under very extreme 

 circumstances of hard labor and privation of nutriment. 



The Erytliroxylon Coca, Ypadu, or Hdyo, is a shrub of from two 

 to eight feet in height, very abundant in branches and leaves, which 

 is cultivated extensively in many parts of Peru, and in Bolivia, chiefly 

 on the inferior slopes of the Andes. 



Prof. Mantegazza, who was in the habit of using it daily for two 

 years, describes its effects, when taken after a meal (the dose, from 

 twenty to thirty grains of the leaves, infused in a cup of boiling water 

 or chewed), as producing in a very short time that state of ease and 

 comfort which accompanies a perfect digestion, so marked that it is 

 impossible for one ever so habitually inattentive to his own sensations 

 not to be struck with its advantageous effect in accelerating and facil- 

 itating this important function. Taken fasting, it seems to destroy 

 the desire of food, not, however, by creating any degree of nausea or 

 depression, but, on the contrary, exciting and sustaining the bodily 

 power so as to render food unnecessary. Instances of its agency in 

 this direction on the Indian laborers, porters, couriers in the Andes, 

 etc., are given in the memoir of Dr. Gosse in great numbers. Thus, 

 to give a single instance, on the authority of Mr. Stevenson, who 

 resided twenty years in South America, where he had abundant oc- 

 casion to witness its effects, he relates that "the natives of many parts 

 of Peru, especially in the mining districts, chew this leaf while work- 

 ing or on journeys, and such is the nutrition they derive from it, that 

 they often pass four or five days without taking any other nourish- 

 ment, even while working without interruption. " They have 

 often assured me," says Mr. Stevenson, " that, provided with a good 

 supply of coca, they experience neither hunger, nor thirst, nor fatigue, 

 and that without injury to their health they can remain eight or ten 

 days, and as many nights, without sleep." 



Used in moderation, as before observed, for however long a period, 

 it does not appear to exercise any deleterious influence on health. 

 Taken as a stimulant, however, and in over-doses, its use is, no doubt, 

 to be deprecated, as leading to consequences as serious and deplorable 

 as the habitual use of opium, or any other stimulant or narcotic. 



