THE JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY. 241 



This publication forever fixes the application of the name to the plant 

 so described. An unfortunate defect in this description is the use of the 

 word "ovate" in one place, as applied to the leaves, and "oval" in 

 another. There are excellent reasons, shown below, for believing that 

 oval was intended. The term "pointed " is not so readily interpreted, as 

 it is too indefinite too allow us to know from the description alone, which 

 type of pointed summit was intended. 



In 1789, Cavanilles (Diss. III., pi. 229) supplied an admirable picture, 

 which Dr. Morris {Kezv Bull., XXV., 2) says was taken from the same 

 specimens, collected by Jussieu, from which Lamarck's description was 

 drawn up. Since this work is scarce and few pharmacists can have access 

 to it, the figure is here reproduced (Fig. i).* It is a beautiful picture of 

 the cultivated coca plant of Bolivia, so well known, to me. It agrees per- 

 fectly with the figure in Engler and Prantl (Pflanzenfamilien) and, taken 

 in connection with Lamarck's description, it leaves no question as to the 

 identity of E. coca. Furthermore, if it be compared with Fig. 2, taken 

 from specimens collected by myself in the Bolivian plantations, there can 

 be no doubt as to the identity of the two. 



That Dr. Morris should have ignored such a conclusive piece of evidence 

 as is afforded by this type-illustration, and should have reproduced as its 

 equivalent, one (Fig. 3) which bears almost no resemblance to it, namely 

 Hooker's figure of Mathews' specimen collected at Chinchao, Peru, is in- 

 explicable. This action is the more unexpected, as he describes the leaf 

 as " oval and pointed at both ends," whereas his picture shows it to be 

 neither, but perfectly ovate, rounded at the base and acuminate and acute 

 at the apex.* This action has led to great confusion and many errors. 

 The work of Cavanilles, as stated above, is very rare, and few phar- 

 raacognosists have seen its figure of E. coca. Depending instead upon 

 this reproduction by Morris as representing the type, they have justly in- 

 quired, " Can it be possible that a plant whose leaves, marketed in many 

 forms, have never been seen either ovate or markedly pointed, can pertain 

 to a species possessing these as its characteristics ? " It is not remarkable 

 that some of the most cautious and experienced of them should have been 

 unwilling to give an affirmative reply, or that they have felt compelled to 

 search for a new or different specific name. It is therefore an important 

 point gained that I am able to show conclusively that both forms of leaf 

 pertain to different states of the same plant, thus connecting the name E. 

 coca not only with the Bolivian and Peruvian cocaine-yielding leaf, as 



* Mr. E. M. Holmes, in the Pharmaceutical Journal and Transactions, has shown 

 that this reproduction by Morris is grossly inaccurate and has correctly reproduced 

 Hooker's figure. The leaves here correspond accurately with Morris' description and 

 show that the plant is in all probability E. Coca, though the arrangement of the leaves 

 varies markedly from the ordinary form. 



