Am.  Jour.  Pharm.l 
April,  1888.  J 
On  Coca. 
201 
estimating  by  this  test  in  this  country  the  leaves  will  yield  from  about  one-half 
to  three-quarters  of  one  per  cent,  of  cocaine.  As  I  estimated  them  in  their 
own  country,  the  leaves  being  fresh  or  recently  dried,  taking  an  equal  weight  of 
fresh  leaves,  drying  them,  and  then  assaying  them,  I  obtained  from  two  to  four 
per  cent,  of  cocaine,  I  took  specimens  of  the  same  leaves  which  I  had  thus 
assayed  and  sent  them  to  the  United  States,  where  they  were  assayed  and  they 
yielded  the  same  ameunt  which  they  are  said  to  yield  in  this  country,  namely, 
from  one-half  to  three-fourths  of  one  per  cent.  It  was  evident  that  I  had  made 
a  mistake  in  my 'process  or  that  the  composition  of  the  leaves  was  very 
different  in  their  own  home.  On  my  return  to  La  Plaz  for  the  second  time  I 
made  a  very  elaborate  series  of  experiments,  looking  towards  the  assaying  of 
the  different  parts  of  the  plants.  I  took  the  best  methods  I  could,  collecting 
and  drying  at  the  proper  time  of  the  year,  taking  into  account  the  age  of  the 
leaves,  and  I  found  my  former  results  confirmed. 
But  I  found  on  this  occasion  that  on  rendering  my  solution  slightly  alkaline 
and  washing  it  with  ether,  the  ether  carried  away  only  the  cocaine,  which  was 
found  to  be  about  three-fourths  of  one  per  cent.,  as  in  this  country.  This  is 
then,  one  of  the  means  of  accounting  for  the  difference,  an  entirely  different 
substance  from  the  cocaine,  but  producing  the  same  reaction  with  Mayer's  rea- 
gent, being  left  behind  in  the  alkaline  aqueous  solution.  This,  then,  seems  to 
prove  that  the  composition  of  the  leaves  is  different  in  their  own  home  from 
what  it  is  after  they  are  exported.  Certainly  those  who  have  read  anything 
on  this  subject  must  be  aware  that  the  effects  alleged  to  be  produced  in  this 
country  by  preparations  of  the  exported  leaves  are  very  different  from  those  which 
have  been  reported  to  us  from  its  own  home.  For  three  centuries  we  have 
been  hearing  from  travelers  who  have  visited  that  country,  some  of  them 
among  the  most  eminent  scientists  like  Humboldt,  Poeppig,  and  others, 
of  the  wonderful  effects  which  coca  produces  on  the  natives,  the  Indi- 
ans, who  chew  it.  I  can  only  add  my  testimony  to  that  which  has  gone  before ; 
it  is  useless  to  go  over  it  as  you  all  know  about,  it.  Every  one  has  read  it  fifty 
times,  and  every  one  has  read  and  knows  what  the  physicians  of  Europe  and 
the  United  States  say  about  it.  Those  who  have  tested  the  exported  leaves 
have  found  that  they  produced  no  such  effects.  I  think  the  effects  of  coca 
chewing  are  produced  in  two  ways.  In  the  first  place  we  know  that  if  a  man 
is  obliged  to  put  forth  a  certain  amount  of  exertion  it  tires  him  to  a  certain 
definite  extent.  Supposing  now  that  he  is  suffering  some  severe  bodily  pain  at 
the  time  he  puts  forth  this  exertion,  his  fatigue  would  be  very  much  greater. 
Part  only  of  the  fatigue  is  due  to  the  muscular  exertion  which  he  makes;  the 
other  part  must  be  mainly  from  the  nervous  waste  which  is  added  to  the  physical 
waste.  This  waste,  then,  which  is  produced  by  the  suffering,  this  nervous  waste, 
could  be  very  easily  produced  by  that  most  acute  of  all  suffering,  namely,  long 
continued  hunger.  These  people  seldom  have  enough  to  eat.  They  must  carry 
their  food  with  them,  and  are  unable  to  carry  enough  for  their  long  journeys.  By 
the  chewing  of  coca  leaves  the  sensation  of  hunger  is  deadened;  they  are  freed 
from  this  kind  of  nervous  waste  of  which  I  have  spoken.  This  will  account  in 
part  for  the  beneficial  result  of  the  free  use  of  coca.  But  only  in  part.  There 
is  besides  a  kind  of  stimulation  resulting  from  eating  these  leaves,  entirely 
different  from  that  produced  by  cocaine  or  the  preparations  of  coca  as  we 
obtain  them  here. 
