Coca and its Therapeutic Application, Third EditionMariani, Angelo
History
Coca and its Therapeutic Application, Third Edition
Mariani, Angelo
Coca -- Therapeutic use; Cocaine
Those which have been obtained from it are: the salicylate, oxalate,
hydrobromide, sulphate, acetate, and finally the hydrochlorate, which
forms an exception to the general rule, and is obtained more easily in
the crystalline form than any other.
The solutions of the salts of Cocaine are precipitated by the caustic
alkalies, carbonate of sodium, carbonate of ammonium, the alkaline
bicarbonates, the bichloride of mercury, the protochloride of tin,
bichloride of platinum, and by ammonia, which, added in excess,
redissolves the precipitate formed by it. Iodine water, iodized
potassium iodide, and picric acid precipitate the solutions of salts
of Cocaine. When Cocaine is heated to 100° in a sealed tube with
concentrated hydrochloric acid, it separates into benzoic acid and a
new base, for which M. Wœhler has proposed the name of _Ecgonine_.
Lassen has discovered another nitrogenous base resulting from the
separation of Cocaine—_hygrine_.
_Preparation._—The process used by Niemann for obtaining Cocaine is as
follows:
This chemist digested Coca leaves, cut into very small pieces, in
alcohol (at 55°), for several days, adding sulphuric acid. The tincture
which resulted from this operation was separated by expression,
filtered, and treated with slaked lime. The liquid, which was primarily
of a greenish-brown, was both divested of a part of its chlorophyll and
also of a certain waxy substance. Niemann then neutralized this with
sulphuric acid and evaporated it over a water-bath. The residue was
then treated with water, which caused the separation of the rest of the
chlorophyll and of the sulphate of Cocaine that it contained, and which
was precipitated by means of the carbonate of sodium. He separated it
finally with ether and purified it by several re-crystallizations in
alcohol. This process was modified by Lassen, who precipitated the
aqueous solution with the subacetate of lead.
In this way he was able to obtain about six grammes of Cocaine from a
kilogramme of Coca leaves.
Moreno y Maïz proposed a third process. He mixed intimately, slaked
lime with finely-pulverized Coca leaves, letting the mixture stand for
nearly twenty-four hours, in order that the lime might react suitably
on the alkaloid, imitating in that, the Indian who mixes with his quid
the _llipta_, of which we have already spoken. He afterward lixiviates
it with alcohol at 40°.
II.—PHYSICAL STUDY.
We have reviewed the works of the different authors who occupied
themselves with Coca; their various labors, although very interesting,
did not reach the famous discovery of local anæsthesia, and it is to
Köller, of Vienna[10], that the honor belongs of having brought to
light the remarkable effect of Cocaine when applied to the conjunctival
membrane.
This soon awakened general curiosity. From all quarters came works on
the subject. Reuss, Kœnigstein, Jellinck, Schrotter, Knapp and others
hastened to give to the profession the result of their researches.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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