Transcriber’s Notes
Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations
in hyphenation and accents have been standardised but all other
spelling and punctuation remains unchanged.
Italics are represented thus _italic_, bold thus =bold=.
[Illustration: 1. ERYTHROXYLON COCA. 2. BACK OF LEAF (_Full size_.) 3.
FLOWER (_enlarged_.) 4. FRUIT.]
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.”
_SECOND EDITION._
LONDON:
H. K. LEWIS, 136, GOWER STREET, W.C.
1892.
LONDON:
PRINTED AT 74-76, GREAT QUEEN STREET,
LINCOLN’S-INN-FIELDS.
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.
[Footnote 1: “Chemistry of Common Life,” Vol. ii., p. 398.]
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.
PAGE
PREFACE iii
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER I.
EARLY HISTORY 2
The accounts given by Cieza de Leon, Nicholas Monardes, Augostin de
Zarate, and Joseph Acosta.
CHAPTER II.
SUPERSTITIONS IN REGARD TO COCA 5
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 8
Unnoticed by modern pharmacologists—Extract from Abraham Cowley, the
poet.
CHAPTER IV.
ACCOUNTS OF MODERN TRAVELLERS 10
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 15
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 24
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 28
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 37
Résumé of its uses and abuse in Peru—Personal experiments—Summary of
results.
CHAPTER IX.
BOTANICAL SOURCE AND DESCRIPTION 42
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 46
Report by Hon. R. Gibbs, U.S. Minister—Mode of importation into Europe.
CHAPTER XI.
USE OF COCA AS A RESTORATIVE 48
Resembles Tea in its action—Apt to cause insomnia—Taste, and effects
of its use in infusion.
CHAPTER XII.
PHARMACEUTICAL PREPARATIONS 50
Elixir—Extractum Liquidum—Extractum—Infusum—Pastillus
Extracti—Vinum—Coca Wine.
CHAPTER XIII.
MEDICAL USES AND REFERENCES 52
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 54
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 61
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 69
[Illustration: Decoration]
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.
COCA AND COCAINE.
CHAPTER I.
EARLY HISTORY.
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.
“This _Coca_ is planted on the Mountains _Andes_, from _Guamanga_,
to the town of _La Plata_, where it grows up to little trees, which
they cherish and nurse up carefully, that they may bear those leaves,
resembling our Myrtle. They dry them in the sun, and then lay them
in long narrow baskets, each of them holding about a quarter of a
hundredweight. So highly was this Coca valued in Peru, in the years
1548, ’49, ’50, and ’51, that I believe no plant in the world, except
Spice, could equal it; for at that time most of the plantations
about _Cuzco_, _La Paz_, and _La Plata_ yielded some 80, some 60,
some 40,000 pieces-of-eight a year, more or less, and all in _Coca_;
and whoever had lands assigned him first reckoned how many baskets
of _Coca_ they yielded. In fine, it was more esteemed than the best
wheat. They carried it to sell at the mines of _Potosi_; and so many
fell to planting, that it is now much fallen in the price, but will
always be valued. Several _Spaniards_ got estates by buying and
selling of _Coca_, or bartering for it in the Indian markets.”
[Footnote 2: “The Seventeen Years’ Travels of Pedro de Cieza de Leon
through the Mighty Kingdom of Peru,” chap. lxxxiii. p. 211 (English
Translation, London, 1709).]
Nicholas Monardes,[3] a Spanish physician of the sixteenth century,
also quotes Pedro de Cieza de Leon more fully from his Commentaries
“on Peruvian Things” under the heading of Betre (Betel), “History of
Aromatics,” book i., with annotations:—
[Footnote 3: “Simplicium Medicamentorum ex novo orbe delectorum quorum
in Medicina usus est Historia.” liber iii. Antwerp, 1582 (translated
from the Latin edition of Carolus Clusius). I have been unable to
refer to the original “History of Aromatics” by Cieza, and corroborate
the statements here made in regard to mastiche, tobacco, and oyster
shells.]
“This plant Coca has been celebrated for many years among the Indians,
and they sow and cultivate it with much care and industry, because
they all apply it daily to their use and pleasure.
“It is indeed of the height of two outstretched arms; its leaves
somewhat like those of Myrtle, but larger and more succulent, and
green (and they have, as it were, drawn in the middle of them another
leaf of similar shape); its fruit collected together in a cluster,
which like Myrtle fruit becomes red when ripening, and of the same
size, and when quite ripe it is black in colour. When the time of the
harvest of the leaves arrives, they are collected in baskets with
other things to make them dry, that they may be better preserved, and
may be carried to other places. For from their native mountains they
are carried to other mountainous parts for the sake of trade, and
are exchanged for other goods, such as clothes and flocks, salt and
other articles, which stand to these people in the position of money.
The seed is enclosed in mastiche, and removed from thence is sown
elsewhere in well-cultivated earth in drills or rows, just as we sow
the pea or the bean.
“Its use for many purposes is common among the Indians, for it is a
necessary to them when on a journey, and they also use it when in
their homes for their enjoyment, and in this manner—they burn the
shells of oysters and other shells, and thus make the lime into a
powder, then they grind up the Coca leaves with their teeth, this they
mix with the powder of the burnt shells, and thus mingle both at once,
but the quantity of lime, however, must be less than the amount of
leaf; from this mass they prepare small balls or lozenges, and expose
them to dry.
“When they require to use these, they take one little ball into the
mouth, and suck it, turning it now this way now that way as long as
they can retain it; one being consumed, they take another, and then a
third, proceeding thus the whole time they have need during their long
journeys, especially if they are in neighbourhoods where neither bread
nor water are plentiful, because they assert that by this suction
of these little balls their thirst is removed, and their strength
preserved.
“If, on the other hand, they desire to use the Coca for the sake of
enjoyment, they use it alone, turning it over and over in the mouth,
until all its properties are exhausted, then they take more. But, if
their purpose is to be inebriated, or to be taken to some extent out
of themselves as if by mental alienation, they mix the leaves of Coca
with those of Tobacco, and chew and suck them simultaneously; by this
means they find themselves with their reason lost to them, and are
like drunken men, and they experience thence very great pleasure.
Wonder at this matter is not wanting, when these Indians are observed
to be in this state of delight and deprivation of mind and sense, for
they do indeed use Tobacco and Coca together for this purpose, or even
Tobacco alone, as we describe in the second volume of this history.”
Augostin de Zarate[4] says:—
“In certain valleys, among the mountains, the heat is marvellous, and
there groweth a certain herb called Coca, which the Indians do esteem
more than gold or silver; the leaves thereof are like unto Zumake
(sumach), the virtue of this herb found by experience is that any man
having these leaves in his mouth hath never hunger nor thirst.”
Joseph Acosta,[5] the Jesuit, describes the use of Coca by the natives
of Peru, and says:—
“For my part, and to say the truth, I am persuaded that it is not pure
imagination; but, on the contrary, I hold that it gives strength and
courage to the Indians; for one sees the effect of it, which cannot be
attributed to imagination, as in travelling without food during many
days with a handful of Coca and other similar agents.”
[Footnote 4: “Strange and delectable history of the Discovery of Peru”
(translated T. Nichols, 1581, from the Spanish of 1555, book i. chap.
viii.).]
[Footnote 5: “Natural History of the Indies,” (translated into Latin
by R. R. Cauxois, 1600) from the Spanish of 1590, book v. chap. xxii.]