Am.  Jour.  Pharm.) 
April,  1902.  J 
a-  and  fi-Eucaine. 
195 
a-Bucaine. 
CeH6COOX//COOCH. 
C 
H 
H 
CH, 
CH, 
C 
N 
C 
/  U 
11 
/3-rXucaine. 
CflH5COOx  M 
H 
H 
CH. 
CH. 
C 
c 
H 
H 
H 
CH8 
N 
ca 
H 
was  this  close  chemical  connection  which  led  to  the  belief  that  they 
would  show  similar  anesthetic  properties. 
It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  paper  to  enter  into  a  discussion  of 
the  physiological  and  therapeutic  effects  of  the  eucaines,  but  it  is 
not  out  of  place  to  state  that  the  chief  claims  of  their  superiority 
over  cocaine  are  that  they  are  far  safer  to  use,  that  they  cause  no 
excitation  of  the  heart's  action,  that  /9-eucaine,  especially,  is  some 
four  or  five  times  less  toxic,  that  they  have  equal  analgesic  power 
with  cocaine,  that  they  do  not  decompose  by  boiling,  and  their 
hydrochlorides  can  hence  be  easily  sterilized,  and  that  their  solu- 
tions will  keep  for  an  indefinite  time  without  decomposition.  The 
quite  extended  use  of  /9-eucaine  would  seem  to  show  that  many  of 
these  claims  have  been  substantiated.  It  would  be  well  to  add  that 
a-eucaine  has  at  times  an  irritating  action  or  smarting  effect  of  its 
own  before  anesthesia  sets  in,  which  has  rendered  its  acceptance 
and  use  somewhat  doubtful.  It  is  claimed  that  this  is  absent  with 
ft  eucaine,  or  at  least  is  no  more  often  the  case  than  with  cocaine. 
/9-eucaine  is  the  one  that  is  almost  exclusively  used,  and  the  firm 
which  manufactures  both  furnishes  only  /9-eucaine  when  "  eucaine" 
alone  is  called  for.  Accordingly,  almost  all  preparations  on  the 
market  consisting  in  part  of  eucaine  contain  /9-eucaine  hydrochloride, 
and  the  question  of  analysis  would  generally  be  a  distinction  between 
this  salt  and  cocaine. 
To  establish  means  of  identification  of  eucaine,  all  the  well-known 
reactions  of  the  alkaloids  have  been  tried,  and  I  have  endeavored  to 
find  new  ones  applicable  to  this  particular  case. 
In  general  the  properties  of  the  eucaine  alkaloids  follow  those  of 
