Coca and Cocaine E-Book

William Martindale

• Herausgeber: Librorium Editions
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

The earliest accounts extant of Coca are contained in the writings of the historians who treat of the Spanish conquests in South America in the sixteenth century, and of Spanish travellers and Jesuit missionaries who followed in their wake.
Pedro de Cieza de Leon thus writes,[2](A.D. 1532 to 1550):—
“I have observed in all parts of the West Indies, where I have been, that the natives delight in holding herbs, roots, or twigs of trees in their mouths. Thus, in the territory of Antiocha, they use a small Herb called Coca, and other sorts in the province of Arma. In those of Quimbaya and Anzerma, they cut twigs off a sort of tender middling trees, which are always green, wherewith they are incessantly rubbing their teeth. In most parts about Cali and Popayan, they hold in their mouths the aforesaid small Coca, with a composition they keep in little calabashes, or else a sort of earth, like lime. Throughout all Peru, from the time they rise in the morning till they go to bed at night, they are never without this Coca in their mouths. The reason some Indians, to whom I put the question, gave me for so doing, was, that it made them insensible of hunger, and added to their strength and vigour. Something there may be in it, yet I am rather of opinion it is only an ill habit, and fit for such people as they are.

Leseprobe

COCA AND COCAINE:

THEIR HISTORY, MEDICAL AND ECONOMIC USES,AND MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS.

BY WILLIAM MARTINDALE, F.C.S.

Late Examiner of the Pharmaceutical Society, and Late Teacher of Pharmacy and Demonstrator of Materia Medica at University College.

JOINT AUTHOR OF THE “EXTRA PHARMACOPŒIA.”

1892.

© 2023 Librorium Editions

ISBN : 9782385741228

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

I have been induced to compile this brochure, as supplementary to the short description of Coca given in the “Extra Pharmacopœia,” on account of the attention this plant, and its alkaloid Cocaine, have excited during the past eighteen months.

Although made known to us soon after the conquest of Peru by Pizarro—more than three centuries ago—the accounts travellers have given of Coca have only received about the same credence, and been treated with about the same reverence as we pay to a myth. We have considered the writers as having been overcredulous, as in some cases they undoubtedly were. It was thought the use of the leaves by the Indians of Peru was only that of a masticatory, which simply increased the flow of saliva. We looked upon its so-called nutritive properties, or rather its hunger and thirst-appeasing effects, as well as its power to ward off fatigue and relieve oppressive respiration during mountain ascents, as superstitions unworthy of more attention than the betel-nut mastication practised in India. The surgical uses of Cocaine as a local anæsthetic have, however, to some extent dispelled these illusions, and we have been more ready to receive the accounts of early as well as recent travellers, thinking “there may be something in them.” I have endeavoured to reproduce what many have written, as much as possible in their own words, or translations of them.

The old habit of Coca chewing has clung to the Peruvian Indians after their “power, civilisation, language, alphabets, writings, and even old religions have disappeared,” says Johnston,[1] “the common-life customs and the bodily features of the people have alone survived.” By him Coca is classed among the “Narcotics we indulge in,” along with Tobacco, Hop, Poppy and Lettuce, Indian Hemp, Areca or Betel-nut, Ava or Kava, Red Thorn Apple (Datura sanguinea) fruit, also in use among the Indians of the Andes, Siberian Fungus or Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria), and Sweet Gale (Myrica Gale), formerly used to give bitterness and strength to the fermented liquors of the ancient Britons. But physiologists have more recently classed it with Tea, Coffee, Maté, Kola Nut, and Cocoa—the Theine- (Methyl-Theobromine) and Theobromine-yielding plants—although Cocaine has no chemical alliance with these principles. As a beverage to substitute for tea or coffee, a decoction or an infusion of Coca is worthy of attention at the present time. The Indian use of it in moderation seems to prolong life, without much need of sleep or food, or even the desire for these, although in excess it has, no doubt, a degrading effect. A taste for infusion or decoction of Coca or its pharmaceutical preparations is easily acquired; if a good sample of leaves be used it is not even at first disagreeable.

As the plant admits of easy acclimatisation, and yields annually several crops of leaves, should it come into more extended use it is probable that its cultivation in suitable localities in mountainous parts of India, Ceylon, and Jamaica will prove a profitable enterprise to planters now commencing the growth of it.

The following abbreviations are used:—

B.M.J. for British Medical Journal; L. for The Lancet; M.R. for The London Medical Record; M.T.G. for The Medical Times and Gazette; Off. for Official—in the British Pharmacopæia; P.J. for Pharmaceutical Journal; Pr. for The Practitioner.

My thanks are due to my colleague, Dr. Wynn Westcott, for valuable assistance and aid in abstracting some of the references.

Wm. MARTINDALE.New Cavendish St., W.March, 1886.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

The text has been revised; the views of physiologists, therapeutists, oculists, and surgeons generally have been brought up to date; those of chemists of the constitution of Cocaine have been epitomized, and pharmaceutical and chemical notes have been added on the modes of dispensing and testing the purity of Hydrochlorate of Cocaine. Being printed in larger type than the first edition, I trust it may be more acceptable to general medical readers.

W. M.

January, 1892.

CONTENTS.

Preface

Introduction

CHAPTER I.

Early History

The accounts given by Cieza de Leon, Nicholas Monardes, Augostin de Zarate, and Joseph Acosta.

CHAPTER II.

Superstitions in regard to Coca

Mode of use by the Incas—Von Tschudi on its use in Peru—Pöppig on its use as a viaticum in Huanuco—Effects produced by the Spanish conquest of Peru—Condemnation of its use—Owners of mines encourage its use—Continued increase in production.

CHAPTER III.

Coca in Literature

Unnoticed by modern pharmacologists—Extract from Abraham Cowley, the poet.

CHAPTER IV.

Accounts of Modern Travellers

Von Tschudi, “Travels in Peru”—The custom of masticating Coca—Facilitates mountain ascents and any hard labour—Pöppig on average yield—Intemperate use of Coca—Coca-craving among the Peruvians—Sufferings of coqueros.

CHAPTER V.

Dr. Weddell’s Account

Mode of cultivation—Amount of crop—Suitable soils—Mode of collection and drying—Mode of use by Peruvians—Description of the leaves—Effects of the leaves—Relief of hunger, a nutriment, effects of habit.

CHAPTER VI.

Scherzer, Fuentes, and others, on Coca

Carl Scherzer’s narrative—Fuentes on its value to miners, travellers, and those exposed to wet and cold—Flores on its use by the Indians of Bolivia—Martius on its use in Brazil—R. Spruce on its use on the Amazon—Fitzroy Cole describes its use in Peru.

CHAPTER VII.

The Cultivation of Coca

Dr. Rusby on its modern cultivation in Bolivia—Quality of the leaves—The harvest—Diseases of the Coca-plants—Mode of drying and exporting the leaves—Probable results of the exportation of the culture to Mexico, East and West Indies, and Jamaica.

CHAPTER VIII.

Dr. Mantegazza’s Experiments

Résumé of its uses and abuse in Peru—Personal experiments—Summary of results.

CHAPTER IX.

Botanical Source and Description

Synonyms, habitat—Description of the plant—Description of chromo-lithograph frontispiece—Practical hints on choosing leaves—Deterioration by exposure and keeping.

CHAPTER X.

Coca in Commerce

Report by Hon. R. Gibbs, U.S. Minister— Mode of importation into Europe.

CHAPTER XI.

Use of Coca as a Restorative

Resembles Tea in its action—Apt to cause insomnia—Taste, and effects of its use in infusion.

CHAPTER XII.

Pharmaceutical Preparations

Elixir—Extractum Liquidum—Extractum—Infusum—Pastillus Extracti—Vinum—Coca Wine.

CHAPTER XIII.

Medical Uses and References

Tonic effects—Relief of fatigue—Relief of various diseases and symptoms—Coca-craving—Topical effects—Abstracts from the medical journals.

CHAPTER XIV.

Cocaine and its Salts

Cocaina—Chemical constitution—Mode of preparation—Tests and solubilities—Bougies—Ceratum—Collodium—Emplastrum—Oleatum Oleum cum Cocainâ—Suppositories—Pessaries—Tabellæ—Unguentum—Vaselinum—Cocainæ Citras—Cocainæ Hydrobromas—Cocainæ Hydrochloras—Buginaria—Injectio Hypodermica—Lamellæ—Liquor—Pastillus—Pilula—Tabloids—Trochisci—Cocainæ Salicylas—Dentifricium.

CHAPTER XV.

Uses of Cocaine

Local anæsthetic effects—Mydriatic effects, surgical uses—Toxic effects, its mode of action—Diseases for which it is useful.

CHAPTER XVI.

Medical Notes and References

INTRODUCTION.

The medical interest which has centred in Cocaine as a local anæsthetic during the last few years, has gradually become diffused as “public opinion,” the more so, of late, as it has been recommended as a remedy for sea-sickness, from which Britons all more or less suffer on leaving our seagirt home; otherwise, internally, Cocaine has been but little used compared with its probably extended use in the future, when its effects are better known. This now important alkaloid is obtained from the leaves of Erythroxylon Coca, Lamarck, a shrub cultivated on the eastern slopes and plateaux of the Andes, chiefly in Bolivia and Peru, but also in the Argentine Republic, Ecuador, United States of Colombia, and Central America, as far north as San Salvador, and latterly in Java, Ceylon, and some parts of British India.