44 
THE PHAEMACEUTICAL JOUENAL. 
[July 16, 1870. 
Intoxicated sometimes for several weeks, the debauchee 
hides in the deepest forest. There, stretched upon the 
ground, he indulges, unmindful of flood, storm, or wild 
beast, fascinated by, as Bibra has it, one of his compo¬ 
nents. “Whoso,” he says, “has experimented upon 
himself with narcotics, knows how long one is able to 
take stock of one’s state while under their influence. It 
seems as if there were two individuals present, the one 
experiencing all the effect of stupefaction, the other con¬ 
scious of that state in the one.” 
Dr. Weddell asserts that the Indians who accompanied 
him chewed coca all day long, and sat down to their 
suppers with a double appetite. He believes that the 
moderate use of coca enables a man to overcome the 
feeling of hunger for a longer period. The exalting 
effect which it produces calls out the power of the or¬ 
ganism without leaving afterwards any sign of debility. 
This is proved by experiments, and a number of cases 
treated by Dr. Mantegazza. The Inca, who lives at a 
height of from 7,000 to 15,000 feet above the level of the 
sea, and whose meagre fare consists principally of maize, 
some dried meat, and potatoes of bad quality, believes 
that he can sustain his strength solely by the use of coca. 
The porter who carries the mail, and accompanies the 
traveller over the roughest roads at the quick pace of 
the mule, invigorates and strengthens himself by chewing 
coca. The Indian, who works half-naked in the silver 
and quicksilver mines, looks upon this plant as ambrosia 
capable of imparting new life, and of stimulating to new 
exertions. 
Tschudi says, “It is a well-known fact, confirmed 
by observation and experience, that the Indians, who 
regularly masticate coca, require but little food, and, 
nevertheless, go through excessive labour with apparent 
ease. They therefore ascribe the most extraordinary 
qualities to the coca, and even believe that it might be 
made entirely a substitute for food.” Setting aside all 
extravagant and visionary notions, the moderate use of 
coca is not merely innoxious, but it may even be very 
conducive to health. There are numerous examples of 
longevity among Indians who, almost from the age of 
boyhood, have been in the habit of masticating coca 
three times a day, and who, in the course of their lives, 
have consumed no less than 2700 lb., yet, nevertheless, 
enjoy perfect health. There are cases of individuals in 
Peru, by no means singular, who have actually attained 
the age of 130. Supposing these Indians to have begun 
to masticate coca at ten years old, and calculating their 
daily consumption as a minimum at 1 oz., the result is 
the consumption of 27 cwt. in 120 years. 
In experimenting upon himself, Dr. Mantegazza states 
that an infusion of coca will increase the action of the 
heart to four times its normal standard; while cocoa, 
tea, coffee, and warm water only double it. By taking 
an infusion prepared from 3 dr. of the leaves, a feverish 
condition was produced, with increased heat of the skin, 
palpitation of the heart, flashes, headache, and vertigo; 
while the pulse rose from 70 to 134. A peculiar, roaring 
noise in the ear, a desire to run about, and an apparent 
enlargement of the intellectual horizon, indicated that 
the specific influence upon 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, however, 
quite different from the exaltation produced by alcoholics. 
While the latter manifests itself by increased but irre¬ 
gular action on the muscles, the individual intoxicated 
by coca feels but a gradually augmented vigour, and a 
desire to spend his newly-acquired strength in active 
labour. _ After some time, the intellectual sphere parti¬ 
cipates in this general exaltation, while the sensibility 
seems to be hardly influenced; the effect is thus quite 
different from that produced by coffee, and resembles in 
some degree that of opium. Dr. Mantegazza could, in 
this excited condition, write with ease and regularity. 
After he had taken 4 dr., he was seized with the peculiar 
feeling of being isolated from the external world; and, 
with an irresistible inclination to gymnastic exercise, he 
jumped upon the writing-table, moving about with ease, 
without breaking the lamp or other objects upon it. In 
his normal condition, the learned doctor is by no means 
given to gymnastic exercise. After this, a state of tor 
pidity came on, accompanied by a feeling of intense 
comfort—consciousness being all the time perfectly clear 
—and by an instinctive wish not to move a limb during 
the whole day, not even a finger. During this sensation 
sleep sets in, attended by odd and rapidly-changing 
dreams. It may last a whole day without leaving a 
debility or indisposition of any kind. Dr. Mantegazza 
increased the dose to 18 dr. in one day; his pulse rose in 
consequence of it to 134. Three hours of sleep sufficed 
to Set him right again, so that he was able to follow his 
daily occupation without tho least indisposition, on the 
contrary, even with unusual facility. He had abstained 
for forty hours from food of any kind, and the meals then 
taken were very well digested. During the last stage of 
intoxication, and in the moment when the delirium was 
most intense, he described his feelings to several of his 
colleagues, who were watching him, as being most exqui¬ 
site, ten years with coca being preferable to a million of 
centuries without. The description was given in writing 
by Dr. Mantegazza, thus:—“ Io preferiscata nna vita di 
10 anni con coca che un di 1,000,000 secoli senna coca.” — 
From the 1 Food Journal 
NAVY DISPENSERS. 
Admiralty , TF.C., 7th July , 1870. 
Sir,—I herewith transmit for the information of the 
Pharmaceutical Society twenty copies of the new regu¬ 
lations for the appointment of dispensers and assistant- 
dispensers in her Majesty’s naval hospitals, and I have 
to request you will be good enough to give publicity to 
the same. 
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
(Signed) A. Armstrong, Director-General. 
Flias Bremridge , Esq., 
Secretary and Registrar , 
Pharmaceutical Society , 
17, Bloomsbury Square , TF.C. 
Admiralty , 2ith June , 1870. 
Regulations relative to the Appointment of Dispensers and 
Assistant-Dispensers in Her Majesty's Naval Hospitals 
at Home and Abroad. 
The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty are pleased 
to direct that the following regulations relative to the 
qualifications of Candidates, and the pay and allowances 
of Dispensers and Assistant-Dispensers of her Majesty’s 
Naval Hospitals at home and abroad, shall in future be 
adopted:— 
1. That a Candidate for entry as Assistant-Dispenser 
shall make a written application to that effect, addressed 
to the Secretary of the Admiralty. 
2. As vacancies occur, Candidates will be ordered to 
attend at the Office of the Director-General of the Medi¬ 
cal Department of the Navy, observing that no person 
can be admitted as an Assistant-Dispenser unless he pos¬ 
sesses the Minor qualifications of the Pharmaceutical 
Society; but Dispensers or Assistant-Dispensers in charge 
of stores must possess the Major qualifications of the 
Pharmaceutical Society. 
3. The age of Assistant-Dispensers on entry not to be 
less than 20 years, or more than 25. 
4. The daily pay of Assistant-Dispensers will be as 
follows:— 
