566 
Erythroxylon  Coca. 
J  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\    Dec.  1, 1874. 
experiments  should  be  made  with  a  view  of  determining  the  most 
eligible  form  in  which  the  drug  might  be  administered.  As  the  coca 
plant  is  coming  more  frequently  into  notice,  and  as  its  powerful  rem- 
edial properties  favor  the  idea  that,  sooner  or  later,  it  will  be  intro- 
duced into  the  Materia  Medica,  I  have  thought  it  advisable  to  offer  a 
record  of  the  result  of  these  experiments,  together  with  that  of  others 
made  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  best  formulae  for  possible 
preparations  of  the  drug, 
In  devising  formulae  of  this  kind  it  is  essentially  necessary  that 
the  nature  and  properties  of  the  active  principle  or  principles  of  the 
drug  operated  upon  be  well  understood.  The  literature  of  coca  does 
not,  however,  afford  information  of  as  precise  and  thorough  a  char- 
acter as  might  be  desired,  but,  for  practical  purposes  it  may,  perhaps^ 
be  deemed  sufficiently  definite.  Niemann  *  made  a  proximate  analysis 
of  the  plant,  and  gives,  as  its  constituents,  a  crystallizable  basic  sub- 
stance (cocaina),  a  volatile  odoriferous  substance,  a  peculiar  tannin 
(cocatannic  acid)  and  a  waxy  body  termed  coca-wax.  Stanislas  Mar- 
tin  |  found  a  peculiar  bitter  principle,  extractive,  chlorophyll,  a  sub- 
stance analogous  to  theina  and  salts  of  lime.  Maisch  J  was  led  to 
think  that  the  leaves  contained  a  volatile  alkaloid.  This  supposition 
was  subsequently  confirmed  by  Lossen,  §  who  isolated  this  principle., 
and,  at  the  suggestion  of  Woehler,  who  was  associated  with  him  in 
these  investigations,  named  the  new  alkaloid  hygrina.  Lossen  also 
found  that  cocaina,  when  heated  with  muriatic  acid,  was  decomposed, 
benzoic  acid  and  a  new  base,  ecgonia,  being  produced.  This  fact 
operates  against  attempts  to  extract  cocaina  with  acid  liquors,  and  its 
importance  was  recognized  by  Lossen  who  recommended  the  abandon- 
ment of  Niemann's  plan,  in  which  acidulated  alcohol  was  employed, 
and  the  substitution  of  infusion  with  simple  water. 
Thus  far,  then,  we  have  as  important  and  tolerably  well  established 
constituents  of  the  leaves,  cocaina,  hygrina,  cocatannic  acid,  coca- 
wax,  and  a  volatile  oil,  to  which  the  odor  of  the  plant  is  due  ;  of  these, 
the  first-named  alkaloid  is  undoubtedly  that  to  which  attention  should 
be  principally  directed  in  any  attempt  to  make  a  preparation  repre- 
senting the  active  medicinal  properties  of  the  plant. 
*  Arch,  Pharni.  ciii,  p.  120  and  291,  Chem.  News,  July,  1860. 
f  Jour,  de  Pharm.  1859,  p.  283. 
X  Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  1861,  p.  496. 
I  Ann.  Chem.  Pharm.  cxxi,  p,  347. 
