Feb. I, 1886.J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



559 



if the twentieth gave anything like the result which 

 had been obtained in this instance. He recom- 

 mended this observation especially to pharmacists 

 because there was a very common tendency with 

 regard to the prosecution of research work to put 

 the question cui hoiiu. The answer was, you must 

 experimeut. and if you search long enough you 

 would be sure to get a good return. 



The vote of thanks was carried uu:uiimously. — 

 I'liaimaceutical Jovrnal. 



« 



COCAINE. 

 Towards the end of last year the world of medicine 

 was agreeably startled by the publication of a paper 

 by Dr. Karl KoUer, containing statements to the effect 

 that a certain drug called cocaine could be employed 

 with the best effects in surgery for the purpose of 

 producing local an;esthesia. This drug is the alkaloid 

 of the plant Eri/thruxylon coca, and has been known 

 for more than twenty years. It was the subject of 

 many experiments by Professor Schroff, who minutely 

 described its peculiar properties in a lecture delivered 

 in 18(32 in Vienna ; but, strange as it may seem, for 

 many years the anesthetic action of the drug was held 

 to be of small practical value, and cocaine passed out of 

 consideration. In 1S80, however, there was another 

 nibble, so to speak, at cocaine. Vou Aurep became 

 convinced of its usefulness, after elaborate research into 

 its action. But it was not till four years afterwards that 

 its virtues a^ain atttracted attention. Dr. Freud in 

 August, 1884, published some interesting details con- 

 cerning its action; as a result of which Dr. Koller 

 con\meuced experimenting with the object of ascertaining 

 its local effects upon the sensibility of mucous 

 membranes. He first experimented upon guinea-pigs • 

 and found that, by the use of a few drops of a five- 

 per-cent solution, in the course of twenty seconds the 

 trout part of the eye— the cornea— could be touched 

 with the head of a pin without the least show of distress 

 on the part of the animal, provided the eyelashes were 

 not irritated. Here was conclusive proof of the total 

 absence of sensibility. But the question of the extent 

 of the aniesthesia remained. Did it involve the dec-per 

 parts of tlie eye, or was it confined to the surface ? 

 To determine that point, certain e.xperiments were 

 made with complete success : the whole corneal sub- 

 stance could be made insensible. 



This fact lu.ving been satisfactorily determined, 

 K"l!er undertook in the next place to ascertain the 

 ettect of the drug in irifl.-vmmatory conditions of the 

 eye ; aud the result of the application of the drug was 

 a most marked alleviation of the symptoms. These 

 experiments were made upon animals. Attention was 

 tlieii directed to the effects of the drug upon the 

 human eye : for here a large field for usefulness might 

 be opened out. Experimenting first upon himself and 

 then vrpoo. his colleagues, Koller obtained results 

 ideutcal in every respect with those .supplied by ex- 

 periments upon animals. He thus describes the 

 sequence of symptoms following the use of the drug: — 

 When a few drops of a two-per-cent solution are 

 introduced into the coniunctival sac, or, better still, 

 are allowed to run over the cornea, a slight burning 

 sensation is felt, together with an increased secretion 

 of tears. All this disappears after an interval of 

 from thirty seconds to one minute, giving placi; to an 

 obscure feeling of dryness. If now— that is, after the 

 expiration of about one minute subsequently to the 

 instillation of the solution— the head of a pin is brought 

 in contact with the cornea, not only is there no pain, 

 but the absence of sensation is so complete that the 

 person is unconscious of the touch. Without any incon- 

 venient sensation or the slightest reflex movement on 

 the part of the patient, the conjunctiva can be grasped 

 with a toothed forceps, or the cornea can be pressed 

 upon. This complete an:esthi>sia lasts from seven to tea 

 minutes; the normal condition of the eye returning 

 after a variable time, during which the only thing to 

 be noticed is the prevalence of .some degree of sub- 

 normal sensibility. A certaiu amount of dilatation of 

 the pupil follows the use of the drug ; but it is never 

 very great. 



To an outside observer cocaine is calculated to pro- 

 duce impressions somewhat akin to the marvellous. 

 Here is a description. A c«mel-h.air brush is dipped 

 into a small bottle containing a fluid as transparent 

 as water. With the brush so charged the part- let us 

 say a portion of the tongue— is painted several times. 

 After the interval of a minute, or a little longer' 

 another brush is taken ; but in this instance a glass one' 

 and dipped into a bottle the fumes and colour and label 

 of which establish its contents as fumiug nitric acid. 

 The tongue is anointed with the acid, great care being 

 observed iu so doing, and submits to the procedure 

 without the slightest recoil inilicative of pain. .Such 

 is cocaine, and such is its effect upon every mucous 

 membrane. Almost every operation in the surgery of 

 the eye has at one time or another been undertaken 

 under the influence of the drug. Cataracts have been 

 operated on, squinting eyes put straight, foreign bodies 

 upon the cornea removed painlessly and with ease. 

 But its utility is by no means confined to ophthalmic 

 surgery. It can be employed whenever an operation 

 upon any mucous membrane has to be performed. 

 The tongue, to which reference has been made abovej 

 is an instauce in point. The drug has even been used 

 in the extractiou and the stopping of teeth. More 

 important are its benefits in the relief of sufferers from 

 the agony of cancerous growth.s. So treated, cancerous 

 wounds have become less irritable ; and, unfortunately, 

 false hopes of improvement have thus been excited! 

 Another of its advantages is that it enables patients to 

 whom a general an.-vsthetic would be unsafe or-impo.S8- 

 ible to submit to surgical operations. For with a 

 solution of cocaine at hand chloroform and ether may 

 be dispensed with ; and of course there is no trouble- 

 some nausea and vomiting, as there often is after the 

 administration of those anajsthetics.— .S*. Jams-t's 

 Jiudget. 



IHE NORTH-WEST OF NEW ZEALAND. 



An interestuig pamphlet ou the North-west of New 

 Zealand as a new field for emigration has recently 

 been published by Jlessrs. Bean, Webley & Co., of 

 Foster Lane, Cheapside. Tlie author, Mr. Alfred 

 Cooke, Yarborough, says that be does not believe 

 "there are fifty people iu England who know any- 

 thing whatever, definite or indefinite, of the present 

 state of the extreme north-west of the colony " 

 Kegardiug the culture of the Olive and Mulberry, 

 both are] said to be as yet only in their infancy, and' 

 it is to be regretted that the early settlers introd'uced 

 wroug descriptions of both these trees, the result 

 beiug that though the plants have grown well, and 

 shot up into large trees, they ari! uot adapted for 

 the orchard, or for successfully rearing silkworms. On 

 the subject of Orange culture tb(! necessity of 

 .securing a site which can be reailily drained, and 

 which is not too much exposed to the westerly winds, 

 is pointed out. " A thoroughly good site of land 

 for an orangery is a fortune to a man, while an 

 unsuitable locality may be the means of causing 

 irreparable fiiilure. With a suitable site, and other 

 favourable circumstances, the Orange crop will pay 

 ! four times better than any other crop ; seyenty trees 

 should grow to the acre, and providing that the 

 grower sells his crops at even 8rf. jier dozen (a very 

 low es*mate), a large sum per acre is obtained. A 

 single tree in New Zealand has been known to yield 

 3,fiilO oranges. The Vine. Peach, and various other 

 well known fruits, grow to perfection." The follow- 

 ing account of Kauri gum from Dammara australs 

 will be interesting. 



The Kauri tree is described as the mo.st valuable 

 and finest trees in the Southern hemisphere, and 

 from it exudes a soft gum, which hardens on contact 

 with the atmosphere, and fossilises in the gronml iu 

 the course of years. How long it may have been in 

 the ground no one cm say. hut it is found ou tho 

 sandhills where 110 trace of a tree remains, in the 

 coal-beds in a district where the Kauri tree does 

 not now exist, and in large tracts of country from 

 which evidently the forests have been in ages past 



