‘The most prominent property of Coca, which is hardly to be found in any other remedy, consists in the exalting effect it produces, calling out the power of the organism without leaving afterwards any sign of debility. The Coca is in this respect one of the most powerful nervines and analeptics. These experiments, as well as the circumstance that the natives have used the Coca from the earliest period as a remedy in dyspepsia, flatulency, and colic, have induced Dr. Mantegazza, and several of his colleagues, in South America and Europe, to employ the leaves of the Coca in a variety of cases, partly as masticatory, partly in powder, as infusion, as alcoholico-aqueous extract in the dose of ten to fifteen grains in pills, and as clyster. Dr. Mantegazza has used Coca with most excellent results in dyspepsia, gastralgia, and enteralgia; he employed it not less frequently in cases of great debility following typhus fever, scurvy, anæmic conditions, &c., and in hysteria and hypochondriasis, even if the latter had increased to weariness of life. The Coca might also be employed with great benefit in mental diseases where some physicians prescribe opium. Of its sedative effect in spinal irritation, idiopathic convulsions, nervous erethism, the author has fully convinced himself. He proposes its use in the highest dose in cases of hydrophobia and tetanus. It is a popular opinion that the Coca is a reliable aphrodisiac; the author has, however, observed only two cases in which a decided influence upon the sexual system was perceived. ‘Dr. Mantegazza, finally, recommends this remarkable plant, which could be easily introduced into trade, to the profession for further physiological and therapeutical experiments, and adds the full history of eighteen cases by which the medicinal virtues of the remedy are proved to satisfaction.’ CHAPTER IX. BOTANICAL SOURCE AND DESCRIPTION. _Erythroxylon Coca_, Lam. Syn. _Khoka_, Aymara; _Cuca_, Peruvian; _Coca_, Spanish; _Ypadú or Ipadú_, Tupin (Brazilian). By recent botanical authorities, the genus Erythroxylon is classed in the natural order _Linacæ_, tribe _Erythroxyleæ_. The genus contains a number of tropical plants growing principally in South America, the West India Islands, Madagascar, Mauritius, and some in India and Ceylon. The folding of the leaf in its vernation, which causes the peculiar marked line on each side of the midrib, is characteristic of many of the species. One has large leaves eight or nine inches long. Lindley thus describes the Coca plant and genus:— ERYTHROXYLON. “Calyx 5-parted, 5-angled at the base. Styles 3, distinct from the very base, not consolidated. Cultivated on the Andes of Peru from 2,000 to 9,000 feet above the sea.”