New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1885-05-13
THE MAGICAL DRUG.

Which Takes From the. KNIFE. Of Sur
,<ery It's Pain-wonderfui Success of the
Cocaine.
From the New York Tribune.
A prominent eye surgeon was remov-
ing the bandages from the eye of
patient at the Post Graduate School of
Medicine recently when Tribune re-
porter entered the room and asked,
"Do you still use cocaine as an anasthet-
ic?n
@Well, I should say so. In operations
upon the eye feel now that could not
get along without it. In general practice
it has driven ether and chloroform out of
the field. 1t is not only a wonderful
discovery, but it is astonishing how rap
idly it has risen into favor. Even the
most conservative in my profession, who
look with disfavor upon anything new,
will acknowledge that they have at least,
heard Of it.
What is cocaine?"
It is the alkaloid of the leaves of
shrub, originally wild but now largely
cultivated, known as the crythroxy Ion
coca. 1t grows in South America, prin-
cipally in Peru and Bolivia, and looks
much like the ordinary tea leaf. DR.. A.
Neimann, OF Goslar, Germany, gave it
its present name in 1860. But little
was then known of the properties of
the drug. In some experiments it was
found that dogs could be killed by it
when given in large doses. Its effect
was to paralyZe the respiratory organs.
Experiments have been made from time
to time with it since but it has never
been looked upon as of much value as
therapeutic agent. That it would pro-
duce local anasthesia was unkn own I'M
til it was accidentally discovered by
young medical student named Roller,
at Vienna, last September. Its merits
have since been thoroughly tested and
discussed all over the civilized world. I
think that it has been tried in more
cases in this country than in any other.
and I believe that the palm for bold ex-
Fermentation and demonstration of
it's ansesthetic properties in many
branches of minor surgery should be
awarded to America. There is hardly
field in which 1t has not been used with
success. Too much cannot be said in
its praise in surgical operations upon
the eye, ear and nose. Almost every
conceivable operation has been tried in
these parts with cocaine, and in cases,
the first the patient knew-so far as
feeling went-that any cutting had been
done, was when the wound was being
bandaged. It is much easier to tell
where it has not been used than where
it has been. 1t has brought sleep to
eyes that would not close, soothed an
CRY wounds so that they were painless,
stopped acute hemorrhages and distress
ing asthmatic spasms, has allayed the
irritability of the mucous lining of the
mouth, SO that laryngoscopic examina-
tions could be made without distress,
and food could be given in the last
stages of consumption, and has made
the boring of the dental engine almost
pleasure, and the pulling of teeth
painless. Its value is incalculable in
gvnacology and genito- urinary sur
gerry"
lis 1t true, as reported, that injurious
effects have been found to follow the
use OF cocaine in some cases?"
so far as my experience goes.-and
have treated hundreds of cases in which
it has been freely used--I have yet to
report the first case of injurious conse-
quences. l have heard of ore case of
hysterical paralysis and a number of
cases OF nervous prostration following
its use: [ do not believe these condi-
lions were the results of the cocaine, but
] think they grew out of another cir
cumstance that appears in all the opera
tons IN which it is used It is only
local ansesthetic; the senses remain per-
tectly active, and the operations of the
mind normal. Although no pain
is felt when the knife or other
instrument enters the patients flesh,
yet the glistening knife and the
squirting blood can be seen, and if the
patient has not strong nerves the sight
OF these things will awaken horror in
the mind and rapidly exhaust the vital
energy. It is fear more than cocain
that produces an i'll effect. There are
also special cases in which cocaine can
not be used to advantage. Take, for
instance, a person of delicate nervous
organization, troubled with squirt or
some other eye difficulty where an op-
GRAFTON is necessary. The eye could be
anesthetized, but not the mind, and the
patient would become exceedingly
troublesome, and twist and squirm
from purely mental impressions, and
render the surgeon liable to infict an
injury that might be fatal to the eve.
In cases Of this nature the old anas-
thetics must be used"
Is cocaine made in this country ?"
eyes, it is made b7 number of firms.
When first used last fall it was put up
only by Merck, German chemist, was
very scarce, and worth more than it's
weight in gold. It was made by a
secret process. American chemist. as
soon as there was a demand for it. how.
aver, began to experiment., and after
months of patient trial and the destruc-
ion OF large quantity Of coca leaves,
lave at last given us an alka1oid as