‘Be it that the praised efficacy of the plant is merely the effect of fancy or tradition, or that the plant really contains a powerful principle unknown to science, the solution of this mystery is certainly a worthy theme for scientific enquiry, and the investigations of Dr. Mantegazza deserve, therefore, our full attention. ‘The child and the feeble old man seize with equal eagerness the leaves of the wonderful herb, and find in it indemnification for all suffering and misery. ‘Dr. Mantegazza observed that the chewing of a drachm of the leaves of the Coca increased salivation, giving at first a somewhat bitter, and afterwards an aromatic, taste in the mouth, and a feeling of comfort in the stomach, as after a frugal meal eaten with good appetite. After a second and third dose, a slight burning sensation in the mouth and pharynx, and an increase of thirst were noticed; digestion seemed to be more rapidly performed, and the fæces lost their stercoraceous smell, the peculiar odour of the juice of the Coca becoming perceptible in them. On using the Coca for several days, the author observed on himself as well as on other individuals a circumscribed erythema, an eruption around the eyelids resembling pityriasis; from time to time a not unpleasant pricking and itching of the skin was felt. An infusion of the leaves, taken internally, was found to increase the frequency of the pulse in a considerable degree. In making observations on the frequency of the pulse, the author was very careful to consider all the conditions which might influence it; he found that, the temperature of the air being the same and the liquids being heated to an equal degree, an infusion of Coca will increase the action of the heart four times its normal standard, while cocoa, tea, coffee, and warm water only double it. By taking an infusion prepared from three drachms of the leaves a feverish condition was produced, with increased heat of the skin, palpitation of the heart, seeing of flashes, headache, and vertigo; the pulse rose from seventy to one hundred and thirty-four. A peculiar roaring noise in the ear, a desire to run about at large, and an apparent enlargement of the intellectual horizon indicated that the specific influence upon the brain had commenced. A peculiar, hardly describable feeling of increased strength, agility, and impulse to exertion follows; it is the first symptom of the intoxication, which is, however, quite different from the exaltation produced by alcoholics. While the latter manifests itself by increased but irregular action of the muscles, the individual intoxicated by Coca feels but a gradually-augmented vigour, and a desire to spend this newly-acquired strength in active labour. After some time the intellectual sphere participates in this general exaltation, while the sensibility seems to be hardly influenced; the effect is thus quite different from