148 



Messrs. Veley and Waller, Comparative [Nov. 8, 



ecgonine and derived from tropine by the replacement of the hydroxylic 

 hydrogen by the benzoyl group, and of hydrogen by the methylated carboxylic 

 group (Willstaetter*), thus : — 



CH2— CH CH2 CH2— CH CH(CO0CH3) 



N(CH3) CHOH 



N(CH3) CH(OBz) 



Li 



CH2— CH CH2 CH2— CH CH2 



Tropine. Cocaine. 



If stovaine and cocaine had not been used for identical purposes in surgery, 

 no comparison would ever have been instituted in chemistry. 



The crystalline samples of stovaine, kindly supplied by Messieurs Poulenc 

 Freres, and of cocaine hydrochloride, by Messrs. Burroughs Wellcome & Co., 

 had been tested and used for experiments on the affinity values by the 

 methyl orange and borax precipitation methods. The solutions were made 

 upon the same day of w/10 concentration, and subsequently diluted to 

 %/500 and ?t/1000. 



Simultaneous records were taken with the same pair of muscles as a 

 " crucial " experiment. 



Percentage calculated as base. 



'»/500 stovaine 00470 



«/1000 „ 0-0235 



«/500 cocaine hydrochloride ... 0"0610 

 .w/1000 „ „ ... 0-0305 



From the records (w/1000 concentration, fig. 1, line 1) abolition took place 

 in the following times : stovaine 22, cocaine 22-5 minutes, and the recovery 

 in saline (at " sal.," end of 1st, 2nd, and commencement of 3rd lines) was 

 rather better in the case of cocaine than in that of stovaine. 



On reversing the solutions it was found that too long a time would be 

 required for total abolition, so solutions of double the strength were 

 .substituted. 



The times required for abolition were then — stovaine 4 minutes and cocaine 

 5-5 minutes, and the subsequent recovery was rather better for the latter 

 than for the former. It is evident that, judged by tliis method, there is no 

 appreciable difference between tliese two drugs ; the slight dilTerence 

 observed is rather in favour of cocaine being the less toxic. 



Comparative experiments on nerve with solutions of stovaine and 

 cocaine of the same molecular concentration also showed quite a trilling 

 difference. 



* 'Bar.,' 1891, vol. 34, p. 3108. 



