PROPERTIES  OP  ERYTHROXYLON  COCA. 
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times  its  normal  standard,  while  cocoa,  tea,  coffee  and  warm 
water  only  double  it.    By  taking  an  infusion  prepared  from 
three  drachms  of  the  leaves,  a  feverish  condition  was  produced, 
with  increased  heat  of  the  skin,  palpitation  of  the  heart,  seeing 
of  flashes,  headache,  and  vertigo  ;  the  pulse  rose  from  seventy 
to  one  hundred  and  thirty-four.     A  peculiar  roaring  noise  in 
the  ear,  a  desire  to  run  about  at  large,  and  an  apparent  en- 
largement 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  irregular  action  of  the  muscles,  the  individual  intoxicated 
by  coca  feels  but  a  gradually  augmented  vigor,  and  a  desire  to 
spend  this  newly  acquired  strength  in  active  labor.    After  some 
time  the  intellectual  sphere  participates  in  this  general  exaltation, 
while  the  sensibility  seems  to  be  hardly  influenced ;  the  effect 
is  thus  quite  different  from  that  produced  by  coffee,  and  re- 
sembles in  some  degree  that  of  opium.    Dr.  Mantegazza  could, 
in  this  excited  condition,  write  with  ease  and  regularity.  After 
he  had  taken  four  drachms  he  was  seized  with  the  peculiar  feel- 
ing of  being  isolated  from  the  external  world,  and  with  an  irresisti- 
ble inclination  to  gymnastic  exercise,  so  that  he  who  in  his  normal 
condition  carefully  avoided  the  latter,  jumped  with  ease  upon 
the  writing-table  without  breaking  the  lamp  or  other  objects 
upon  it.    After  this  a  state  of  torpidity  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  sen- 
sation sleep  sets  in,  attended  by  odd  and  rapidly  changing 
dreams  ;  it  may  last  a  whole  day  without  leaving  a  feeling  of 
debility  or  indisposition  of  any  kind.    The  author  increased 
the  dose  to  eighteen  drachms  in  one  day ;  his  pulse  rose  in  con- 
sequence of  it  to  one  hundred  and  thirty-four,  and  in  the 
moment  when  delirium  was  most  intense,  he  described  his  feel- 
ings to  several  of  his  colleagues,  who  observed  him,  in  the  fol- 
lowing written  words  :  « Iddio  e  wgiusto  perehe  ho  fatto  Vuorno 
incapace  di  poter  vivere  sempre  cocheando"  (this  is  the  expression 
