ON COCA LEAVES. 251 



use of tobacco, alcoholic liquors, and opium, among other nations. They 

 often intoxicate themselves for several weeks, hide in the deepest forests, 

 in order not to be disturbed in their enjoyment, and not rarely return 

 home to their families suffering from delirium or decided idiocy. (This 

 last sentence does not agree ..entirely with other authorities, who assert 

 that coca, unlike opium or alcohol, leaves no debility supervening from 

 its free use ; and it may well be questioned whether or no a delirious or 

 an idiotic Indian would, as a general rule, be successful in finding his 

 way home from "the deepest forests.") The child and the feeble old 

 man seize with equal eagerness the leaves of this wonderful herb, and 

 find in it indemnification from all suffering and misery. Be it that the 

 praised efficacy of the plant is merely the effect of fancy or tradition, or 

 that the plant really contains a powerful principle unknown to science, 

 the solution of the mystery is certainly a theme worthy of scientific in- 

 quiry, and the investigations of Dr. Mantegazza deserve, therefore, our 

 full attention. 



Dr, Mantegazza observed that the chewing of a drachm of the leaves 

 of the coca increased salivation, giving at first a somewhat bitter, and 

 afterwards an aromatic taste in the mouth, and a feeling of comfort in the 

 stomach, as after a frugal meal, eaten with a good appetite ; after a second 

 and third dose, a slight burning sensation in the mouth and pharynx, 

 and an increase of thirst, were noticed ; digestion seemed to be more 

 rapidly performed, and the faeces lost their stercoraceous smell, the pecu- 

 liar odour of the juice of the coca becoming perceptible in them. 



On using the coca for several days, the author observed on himself, 

 as well as on other individuals, a circumscribed erythema, an eruption 

 around the eyelids resembling pityrias ; from time to time a not unplea- 

 sant prickling or itching was felt. An infusion of the leaves taken in- 

 ternally was found to increase the frequency of the pulse to a very con- 

 siderable degree. In making his observation upon this point, Dr. Man- 

 tegazza was very careful to consider all the varying influences ; he found 

 that the temperature of the air being the same, and the liquids being 

 heated to an equal degree, an infusion of coca will increase the action of 

 the heart (and arteries 1) four times its normal standard, while cacao 

 tea, coffee, and warm water only double it. By taking an infusion pre- 

 pared from 3iij- of the leaves, a feverish condition was produced, with 

 increased heat of the skin, palpitation of the heart, seeing of flashes, 

 head-ache, and vertigo : the pulse rose from 70 beats to 134. A peculiar 

 roaring noise in the ear, a desire to run about at large, and an apparent 

 enlargement of the intellectual horizon, indicated that its specific in- 

 fluence on the brain- had commenced. A peculiar hardly-describable 

 feeling of increased strength, agility, and impulse to exertion follows ; it 

 is the first symptom of the intoxication, which is, howevee, quite different 

 from the exaltation produced by alcohol. While the latter manifests 

 itself by increased but irregular action of the muscles, the individual 

 intoxicated by coca feels but a gradually augmented vigour, and a desire 



