February 2, 1885] 'THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



627 



not diminish the perspiration so far as I can judge. It 

 probably lessens the hourly secretion of urine solids." 

 Christisou made no trials of its influence on disease or 

 the consequences of disease. It has been stated that the 

 success of Weston as a pedestrian was due to his chew- 

 ing coca, but in a letter to the Lancet he states that he 

 found it rather lessened than increased his strength ; in 

 fact, it acted as an opiate and forced him to sleep. Since 

 the publication of the above results by Uhristison, a series 

 of most carefully conducted experimental observations on 

 the properties and action of coca has been made by Mr. 

 Dowdeswell in the Physiological Laboratory of University 

 College, Loudon. The results of these various trials are 

 published by the author in the Lancet for May 6th, 187(3, 

 and are thus summarized by himself :— " These results as 

 far as they go, are negative, as many mu.,t competent to 

 judge concluded that they would be ; but contrary to the 

 expectations of the writer, formed from published state- 

 ments. It has been takeu in all forms, solid anil liquid, 

 hot and cold, at all hours from 7 o'clock in the morning 

 till 1 or 2 o'clock at night, fasting and after eating. In 

 the course of a month nearly one pound of the leaves 

 altogether has been consumed, but without producing any 

 decided effect ; it has not affected the pupil nor the state 

 of the skin ; it has caused neither drowsiness nor sleep- 

 lessness ; assuredly it has occasioned none of those sub- 

 jective effects so fervidly described and ascribed to it by 

 others — not the slightest excitement nor even the feeling 

 of buoyancy and exhilaration which is experienced from 

 mountain air or a draught of spring water. This examin- 

 ation was commenced in the expectation that the drug 

 would prove important and interesting physiologically, and 

 perhaps valuable as a therapeutical agent. This expect- 

 ation has been disappointed. 'Without asserting that it is 

 positively inert, it is concluded from these experiments 

 that its action is so slight as to preclude the Idea of its 

 h"aving auy Value either therapeutically or popularly; and 

 it is the belief of the writer, from observation upou the 

 effect on the pulse, &c, of tea, milk-and-water, and even 

 plain water, hot, tepid, and cold, that such things may, at 

 slightly different temperatures, produce a more decided 

 effect than even large doses of coca if taken at about 

 the temperature of the body. What its physiological 

 action may be, particularly on the lower animals, in highly 

 concentrated doses, as of the alkaloid or the distillate, is 

 another question, as it is whether the subjective effects 

 Which have been asserted may not offer a question of 

 curious nervous idiosyncrasies." 



These results of Mr. Dowdeswell's would appear to set 

 at rest the claims of coca as a therapeutical agent. Very 

 recently, however, a writer in the Lancet has again de- 

 scribed it as a powerful nervine tonic, and recommends its 

 use to sportsmen whose nervous system is badly adapted 

 for steady shooting. — Medicinal Plants hy Bentley and 

 Irimen. 



THE 0O0A LEAF AND ITS ALKALOtD. 



BV WILLIAM OLIVKR MOOKK, M.D. 



The importance which has been attached to the alkaloid 

 of the coca leaf during the past few days in ophthalmic 

 Surgery has led me to bring together a few facts, historic 

 and otherwise, for the general reader, knowing that doubt- 

 less they would prove of interest, 



Ouca, or coca (erythroxylon coca), as called by the natives 

 (erythroxylum peruvianum), is found wild in the mountains 

 of Peru and Bolivia, and is also cultivated on high altitudes. 

 The leaf is the part of the plant in which the active 

 principle resides. These leaves, which resemble those of 

 the tea-plant, are gathered from plants varying in age 

 from one to upward of forty years. They are considered 

 ready for plucking when they break on being bent, and 

 are gathered in March (after the rainy season, this being 

 the most abundant crop), in July and in November. Oood 

 samples of the dried leaves are uncurled, with a deep 

 green upper and a gray-green lower surface, and have a 

 strong, tea-like odor. Bad specimens have a brown color 

 and a smell resembling camphor. The flowers of the plant 

 are small anil white, and are succeeded by red berries. 



The seeds are sowu in December and January; the 

 Cultivation of the plant gives employment to thousands 

 pf the people, sn4 }ha annua] production in Bolivia and 



Feru iu 1864, was estimated at two million five hundred 

 thousand dollars in value. 



The green leaves are spread on coarse woollen cloths and 

 dried in the sun, then packed in bags, which, in order to 

 preserve the efficacy of the leaves, must be kept free from 

 dampness. The leaves are worth in Peru seventy-five cents 

 a pound, and cost here one dollar. 



The habit of the natives of the western countries of 

 South America to chew the coca leaf, has given much 

 interest to this plant; the dried leaves arc chewed mixed 

 with quicklime, which is said to make its flavor more sensible 

 to the taste. In the same way the leaf of the betel-nut 

 is used by the East Iudians. 



The leaves are called ,-nca by the Indians, and coca by 

 the Spaniards. It has been estimated that cuca or coca 

 is used by eight millions of the human race, consult- 

 ing thirty millions of pounds per annum, by chewing the 

 leaves made into a ball mixed with lime. The leaves are 

 deprived of their sta.ks, two or three ounces of them 

 being used during one day. It is a powerful stimulant 

 to the nervous system, enabling the fatigue to be home 

 with less nourishment and greater ease than usual. A case 

 is reported by Whittingham, in 1850, of two men being 

 buried in a mine eleven days before they could be dug 

 out, during which time tbuy were kept .alive by the small 

 amount of coca they had with them. 



So much vaunted is the coca as a stimulant to nervous 

 euergy, that the poet Cowley represents an Indian chief 

 as addressing Venus, thus: — 



"Our T'aricoclia first his Coca sent, 

 Eudow'd with Leaves of wondrous Nourishment, 

 Whose Juice suce'd in, and to the Stomach ta'en 

 Long Hunger and long Labor can sustain ; 

 From which our faint and weary Bodies find. 

 More Succor, more they clear the drooping Mind, 

 Than can your Bacchus and your Ceres join'd. 

 • The Qnitoita. which this provision stor'd 

 Can pass the vast and cloudy Andes o'er." 

 It was used by the Iudians of Peru in ancient times, 

 being employed as an offering to the sun; it was also 

 thought that unless the priest chewed these leaves during 

 his ceremonies the gods would not be propitiated. It is 

 still held in veneration, and Is thought by the miners to 

 have an effect in softening veins of ore if chewed and 

 thrown Upon them, As to the effect of this habit of 

 chewing the leaves on the system, much diffeience of 

 opinion exists; on the Whole the opinion of Dr. Smith is 

 in accordance with most of the facts. He sav«: — "When 

 used in moderate quantity it increases neiVms energy, 

 enlivens the spirits, and enables the Indian to bear cold, 

 wet, great bodily exertion, and want of fool to a surprising 

 degree with apparent ease and Impunity." Sir Robert 

 Ohristison,in a paper rend before the Edinburgh Botaulcal 

 Society, April 13, 1870, on this subject, narrates some 

 experiments on his students and himself, showing the 

 harmlessness of the drug. 



BoUclmrdat states that coca has rendered to therapeutics 

 value almost equal to the cinchona bark, classing it as a 

 stimulant to the nervous and muscular systems, and rank.* 

 it as such with tea and Coffee. He Mills It also li 

 "substance d'epargne," or that which prevents the fspld 

 waste of tissue. The leaf was first Introduced into Fran*'' 

 by Joseph Bain, a "pharntacinn," about 1889, from whidn 

 he made an elixir and wine. Vin Mariani, of recent 

 introduction into this c mutrvi is made from there leaves; 

 we have also a fluid extract, etc 



Cocaine, the alkaloid, was discovered fety, Niemann Ih J 855 f 

 its chemical formula is Cj,H ; |NOij its pflysiol igical action 

 is apparently identical With that of tbtine, caffeine, guantnine; 

 and theobromine. Dr. Alex. Bennett was perhaps the first 

 to conduct a fieries of experiments with this alkaloid; his 

 observations being made on the lower animals, atid he 

 concludes from these that :— 1. Codnluelas powerful poison: 

 inducing a series of symptom's affecting the nervous, 

 respiratory, circiilatory, and viiso'motor systems, which 

 terminate, if the dose be large enough, in death. 2. Iri 

 small doses, cerebral excitement not followed bv coma, 

 and partial loss of sensibility. 3. In large doses it produces 

 cerebral excitement, complete paralysis of sensibility, tetanic 

 spasms, and death. 4. It paralyzes the entire posterior 

 I eolUBio ef the spina! eord, alio tin entire system of peripheral 



