310 
Cocaine  Benzoate. 
J  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I       June,  1886. 
that  accompanies  the  use  of  the  hydrochlorate.  Since  the  appearance 
of  the  article  referred  to  in  Nouveaux  Remedies,  there  has  been  some 
demand  for  cocaine  benzoate,  but  it  appears  that  the  principal  makers 
of  cocaine  have  declined  to  supply,  the  salt,  and  it  became  necessary 
for  those  who  required  it  to  undertake  the  preparation  of  it  themselves. 
According  to  the  account  given  by  M.  Bignon,  the  benzoate  is  easily 
obtainable  by  mixing  cocaine  with  benzoic  acid  to  neutralization,  the 
proportions  being  122  to  303,  or  about  one  part  of  benzoic  acid  to 
three  parts  of  cocaine.  M.  Bignon  does  not,  however,  give  any  de- 
scription of  the  characters  of  the  benzoate  as  a  definite  compound,  but 
merely  the  mode  of  preparing  a  solution  containing  5  per  cent,  of  it. 
On  a  former  occasion  I  had  attempted  to  prepare  this  salt,  but  did  not 
succeed  in  obtaining  it  in  a  crystalline  condition,  the  solution  obtained 
by  neutralizing  cocaine  with  benzoic  acid  drying  upon  evaporation  to 
a  thick  gummy  residue.1 
An  article  has,  however,  been  supplied  lately  by  a  French  manu- 
facturer, under  the  designation  of  cocaine  benzoate,  which  is  in  the 
form  of  a  light  crystalline  powder,  not  very  readily  soluble  in  cold 
water,  but  dissolving  at  once,  on  the  application  of  a  gentle  heat,  in 
about  thirty  parts  of  water,  and  on  evaporation  of  this  solution  yield- 
ing a  mass  of  delicate  acicular  crystals.  Xot  having  been  able  myself 
to  obtain  any  product  of  this  character  by  the  combination  of  cocaine 
with  benzoic  acid,  I  undertook  the  examination  of  the  substance  in 
question,  which  was  supplied  to  me  by  Mr.  Martindale,  who  had  also 
been  endeavoring  to  prepare  cocaine  benzoate  in  a  condition  suitable 
for  medical  use.  I  found,  however,  that  the  solution  of  the  substance 
obtained  from  Paris,  under  the  name  of  cocaine  benzoate,  did  not  give 
any  precipitate  on  the  addition  of  ammonia  or  caustic  potash,  neither 
did  it  present  any  indication  of  containing  benzoic  acid  on  the  addition 
of  hydrochloric  acid.  Judging  from  these  two  tests,  therefore,  it  did 
not  appear  to  contain  either  cocaine  or  benzoic  acid ;  at  any  rate  enough 
to  be  separable  in  that  way  from  a  solution  containing  one  part  of  the 
substance  in  thirty  of  water.  Another  reason  for  doubting  that  this 
substance  was  a  cocaine  salt  was  the  observation  that  its  anaesthetic 
property  is  at  most  very  slight.  This  point  has  been  ascertained  by  Dr. 
Tweedy  by  the  application  of  a  solution  (one  part  in  thirty)  to  the  eye. 
I  therefore  prepared  some  cocaine  benzoate  by  saturating  the  base 
with  benzoic  acid  for  the  purpose  of  comparison.    I  found  that  on 
1  See  Pharm.  Journal,  October  17, 1885,  p.  326. 
