Comparative Action of Stovaine and Cocaine, etc. 147 



contained fluid. 10.0, fowl very unsteady, comparatively cold ; abdomen 

 eccliyuiosed. Fowl died during the night. Post-mortem examination showed 

 ecchymosis of skin of ahdonien and thorax, and effusion of blood into the 

 pectoral muscle at the site of the puncture ; the lungs were bright red and 

 contained much blood-stained fluid. 



On the Comparative Action of Stovaine aiid Cocaine as measured 

 by their Direct Effect upon the Contractility of Isolated Muscle. 



By V. H. Veley, F.E.S., and A. D. Waller, F.R.S. 



(Eeceived November 8, — Read December 9, 1909.) 



It has been shown by Veley* that the affinity values of stovaine and 

 cocaine by the methyl orange and borax precipitation methods are approxi- 

 mately equal. The method of measuring physiological activity of an;esthetic 

 drugs, as described by Waller,f affords an independent control that can 

 usefully be compared with affinity values. 



Stovaine, sometimes called amyleine hydrochloride and originally prepared 

 by Fourneau, has been successfully applied in recent years, especially for 

 spinal anaesthesia, as also for general surgery and dentistry. As it is used for 

 the same purposes and in doses of the same order as cocaine, the relative 

 value of the two drugs has been compared in a series of memoirs or notices, 

 more than 150 in number^ in various clinical journals. The general con- 

 clusions arrived at are : (1) as anaesthetics the drugs are of equal value, but 

 stovaine produces vaso-dilatation, cocaine vaso-constriction ; and (2) stovaine 

 is less toxic than cocaine. The statement has even been made that stovaine 

 does not produce any toxic effect. 



Though, as stated above, the affinity values are approximately equal, yet the 

 chemical constitution of the two compounds is wholly dissimilar. Stovaine is 

 the hydrochloride of methyl ethyl dimethylamino-methyl carbinol benzoate 

 HClC(CH3)[CH2N(CH3)2](C2H5)OBz and the base (molecular weiglit = 235), 

 a benzoyl derivative of a diamino-tertiary amyl alcohol C(CH3)2(C2H5)OH 

 (Fourneau).| 



Cocaine (molecular weight of base = 303) is the methyl ester of benzoyl 



* 'Trans. Chem. Soc.,' 1909, p. 7G3. 



t 'Proc. Boy. Soc.,' June 24, 1909. 



I 'Comptes Eendus,' 1904, vol. 1,38, p. 766. 



