THE JOURNAL OP PHARMACOLOGY. 



and that only when a drachm of the drug has been taken within sixteen 

 hours. The quantity of milk and the amount of casein and butter con- 

 tained in it are not affected, and its quantity is not changed. The milk 

 appears to have no inurious effect upon the nursling. 



The Dangers of Coca Wines.— The Chemist and Druggist, in an 

 editorial under the above title, says that there has been a large increase 

 of intemperance among invalids,, due to the enormous consumption of 

 coca wine, but that the evil is not entirely confined to invalids and con- 

 valescents, but pervades all classes of society, women and children being 

 the chief victims. 



The term coca wine has no definite meaning, inasmuch as there is no 

 official formula for its preparation. In every case the basis is a strongly 

 alcoholic wine, containing anywhere from 18 to 30 per cent, alcohol. In 

 an American work on pharmacy we are told that the best coca wine is 

 made by adding an ounce of fluid extract of erythroxylon, an ounce of 

 alcohol, and an ounce of sugar to fourteen ounces of claret, but it is 

 significantly added that "in place of claret any other palatable wine may be 

 used, according to the demand or preference of the prescriber or cus- 

 tomer." The dangers of preparations of this description are obvious. 

 The patient not only acquires a liking for alcohol, which is presented in 

 its most seductive form, but soon falls a victim to what Erlenmeyer calls 

 the third scourge of humanity — the coca habit. 



It is surprising that in recent works on pharmacology and medicine 

 so little is said regarding the subject, the only exception being in the case 

 of the fourth edition of the late Dr. Milner Tothergill's "Practitioners' 

 Handbook of Treatment," where the following statement occurs: "Coca 

 wine and other medicated wines are largely sold to people who are con- 

 sidered, and consider themselves to be, total abstainers. It is not un- 

 common to hear the mother of a family say, T never allow my girls to 

 touch stimulants of any kind, but I gave them each a glass of coca wine at 

 11 in the morning, and again at bedtime.' Originally coca wine was made 

 from coca leaves, but it is now commonly a solution of the alkaloid in a 

 sweet and strongly alcoholic wine." This is really the gist of the whole 

 matter; coca wine is largely consumed by people who fondly believe them- 

 selves to be total abstainers, and who are active enough in denouncing those 

 who take a little wine or a glass of beer at their meals. 



