SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Dec. 1st, ij 



a native of the tropical valleys which occur on the eastern 

 slope of the Andes, in Bolivia and Peru. The bush attains 

 the height of seven feet, with oblong leaves, as shown in our 

 illustration, taken from a drawing of a young plant grown 

 by Mr. Thomas Christy, F.L.S., of Sydenham, and resembles 

 the blackthorn in its small white flowers and bright green 

 foliage. The leaves are about the size of those of the 

 cherry tree, and when ripe enough to break on being bent 

 are collected by women and children, and dried in the 

 sun. One hundred plants yield about twenty-six pounds 

 at a crop, and the total produce averages 800 lbs. of dry 

 leaves per imperial acre. These sun-dried leaves form the 

 coca of commerce. 



The use of this plant among the Indians of South America 

 dates from a very remote period. When the Spanish 



1605, says that when he asked the Indians why they always 

 had the coca in their mouths, the answer was that when using 

 it neither hunger nor thirst annoyed them, while their 

 vigour was most materially confirmed. Even at the present 

 day the Indians regard the coca as something sacred and 

 mysterious. This impression has been inherited from their 

 religious observances, for the coca was used in all the cere- 

 monies of war and peace. The most careful observers have 

 ascertained that, in addition to the ordinary properties of a 

 weak narcotic, the coca leaves possess two extraordinary 

 qualities not known to coexist in any other substance. 

 These are the power of lessening the desire for ordinary 

 food, and of preventing the occurrence of that difficulty of 

 breathing which is usually felt in ascending mountain slopes. 

 With a feeble ration of dried maize, the Indian, if duly 



Young Coca Plant. 



conquerors overcame the native races of the hilly country of 

 Peru, they found extensive plantations of the herb. They 

 observed, also, that the inhabitants were given to chewing 

 its leaves during frequent short periods of repose. So much 

 was the coca prized that it formed the usual money or 

 medium of exchange in Peru. The beloved leaf is still to 

 the Indians of the mountains the delight and support of 

 their life. The natives there are rarely found without the 

 leathern pouch full of coca leaves. They chew about two 

 ounces in twenty-four hours ; by this their strength is kept 

 up, and their native melancholy dispelled. It has come to 

 them as a relic of the ancient enjoyments of their race ; and 

 to it they attach very superstitious ideas, which triple, in 

 their imagination, the benefit they receive from its use. 

 When chewed in moderation, it sustains life in a marvellous 

 degree ; cases being not unfrequent of Indians who used it 

 attaining the great age of 130 years. Clusius, writing in 



supplied with coca, toils under heavy burdens up the steep 

 slopes of the mountain passes, or digs in the mines, insen- 

 sible to weariness, cold, or hunger. Even Europeans by 

 its use can climb the heights and follow the swift-footed 

 wild animals of the Andes without experiencing any diffi- 

 culty in breathing, even when two or three miles above 

 sea level. No fewer than ten millions of the human race 

 chew coca leaves. 



Till very lately, however, the marvellous properties of a pre- 

 paration of the plant were not known. But a drug has been 

 produced from the coca leaves which has powerful effects. 

 Cocaine, the alkaloid extracted from the leaves, appears to 

 have been first isolated by Niemann in 1S60, although 

 some claim the honour for Gadeke. The yield was exceed- 

 ingly small, for from one ton of leaves only seven ounces of 

 cocaine could be produced. This made it beyond the reach 

 of ordinary experimentalists; for in its pure form it cost about 



