COCAINE HYDROCHLORIDE 317 



ing. If given experimentally to dogs after thedrug has been ingested, 

 the emesis and motor relaxation may prevent all" toxic symptoms. It has 

 even proven an antidote to strychnine when given 10 minutes after a 

 lethal dose has been injected subcutaneously, and also when given prior 

 to the injection of a toxic dose of strychnine. In strychnine poisoning in 

 horses successful results have been reported by Quitman with lobeline, 

 but emptying the stomach by tube would seem also indicated. One-half 

 grain of lobeline has been given subcutaneously to dogs (10-lb. dog) 

 with only emesis, purging and salivation resulting (Browne), so that the 

 drug would not be regarded as very toxic in these animals. 



Spasmodic conditions of dogs successfully treated by lobeline include 

 chorea, eclampsia of bitches, and strychnine poisoning. In poisoning by 

 any agent lobeline has an advantage over apomorphine in causing purging 

 as well as emesis, and a hypodermatic tablet of gr. 1/60 is made for this 

 purpose. A case is reported of strangulated hernia treated with lobeline 

 resulting in so great relaxation that taxis was successfully performed, 

 which was impossible before. 



SECTION IV.— DRUGS ACTING ON THE 

 SENSORY NERVES. 



Class 1 . — Depressing the Sensory Nerves. 



Cocaine Hydrochlokidum. Cocaine Hydrochloride.* 



C„H2i NOi HCl. (U. S. & B. P.) 

 Synonym.— Chlovhydrate de cocaine, Fr.; cocain-hydrochlorid, G. 



The hydrochloride of an alkaloid obtained from Erythoxylon coca and its 

 varieties. Cultivated in Peru and Bolivia and introduced into medicine by KoUer 

 in 1884. 



Derivation. — Cocaine hydrochloride is recovered by agitating an acidulated 

 alcoholic solution of coca leaves with ether. The ethereal liquid is made alkaline 

 with sodium carbonate and evaporated. The residue is purified, decolorized, neu- 

 tralized with hydrochloric acid, and finally crystallized. 



Description. — Colorless, transparent, monoclinic prisms, in flaky, lustrous leaf- 

 lets or a white crystalline powder; odorless; permanent in the air; of a saline, 

 slightly bitter taste, and producing on the tongue a tingling sensation followed 

 by numbness of several minutes' duration. Soluble in 0.4 part of water, 8.2 parts 

 of alcohol, and in 12.5 parts of chloroform at 25° C; soluble in glycerin, insoluble 

 in ether. Its aqueous solution is neutral to litmus paper, and is levorotatory. 



Dose.—n., gr.v-x, (.3-.6) ; D., gr. Va-fi, (.008-.045). 



Action External. — Solutions of cocaine (4-10 per cent.), applied to 

 mucous membranes, produce perfect local anesthesia by paralyzing the 

 sensory nerve endings. The functions of the nerves of special sense are 

 abolished before those of ordinary sensibility. Stronger solutions para- 



*These are also ofScial: 



Oleatum Cocainw (5 per cent.). U. S. P. 

 Unguentum Cocainw (4 per cent.). B. P. 

 Injectio Cocainw Hypodermica (10 per cent.). B. P. 



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