which aggravates the mental depression of the unhappy individual, who, spite of all his ills, cannot relinquish the use of the herb, to which he owes his suffering, but craves brandy in addition. The appetite becomes quite irregular, sometimes failing altogether, and sometimes assuming a wolfish voracity, especially for animal food. Thus do years of misery drag on, succeeded at length by a painful death. This property of dispelling sleep, as a result of the inordinate use of coca, was noticed by Weddell, as the result also of the moderate indulgence, by way of experiment, in an infusion of the leaves, and which led him to suppose that the chemical principle of tea, called theine, would be found present in them. Professor Frémy analyzed them accordingly, but found no such principle present, although an active bitter principle was found, peculiar to this plant, the full properties of which are still unascertained. Coca has the reputed power of sustaining strength in the absence of any other nutriment. The Indians declare, that when using it they feel neither the pains of hunger nor of thirst, that they are enabled to perform the most laborious operations with little or no food, insensible either to cold or weariness; that by its use they can ascend the steep passes of the Andes, carrying with them heavy loads, and without lassitude or loss of breath. When Tschuddi was in the Puna, he drank always before going out to hunt, a strong infusion of coca-leaves. Then, he states, he could during the whole day climb the heights, and follow the wild animals without experiencing any greater difficulty of breathing than he would have felt in similar movements along the coast. One account states, that a native, who was employed in laborious digging for five days and nights, tasted no food during that period, and only slept two hours each night. He regularly chewed the coca-leaves, to the extent of about half an ounce every two or three hours, and kept a quid of them constantly in his mouth. The work being finished, he went a two days’ journey of twenty-three leagues across the level heights, keeping pace with a mule, and only halting to replenish his quid. At the end of all this labour, he was willing to engage for the performance of as much more without food, but with a plentiful allowance of coca. This man was sixty-two years of age, and was never known to have been ill in his life. For this reason, that it appears to act as a substitute for food, several learned and ingenious authors have lamented that it has not been introduced into countries like our own, where it would be a boon so valuable to the poor in times of scarcity and distress.