The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1885-07-24
THE MAGICAL DRUG.
Which Takes FROM the Knife Of Sur
gerry Its Patn-wondsrfuls Success Of the
New Anasthetic-A Great Demand for
Cocaine.

Which Takes FROM the Knife OF Sur
gerry Its Pain Wonderful Success Of the
New Anesthetic-A Great Demand for
Cocaine.
From the New York Tribune.
A prominent eye surgeon was remov-
ing the bandages from she eye Of a
patient at the Post Graduate School of
Medicine recently when a Tribune re-
porter entered the room and asked,
"Do you still use cocaine as an anesthet-
ic?"
"WHei I I I shoaiia. sayS sc. Il operations
upon the eye / feel now that i 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 a
shrub, originally wild but now largely
cultivated, known as the crythroxy lon
coca. 1t grows in..South America, prin-
cipally in Peru and Bolivia, and looks
much like the ordinary tea leaf. DIR. 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. It's 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 a
therapeutic agent. That it would pro-
duce local anRsthesia was unknown un
TIL it was accidentally discovered by a
young medical student named Roller,
at Vienna, last September. Its merits
have since been thoroughly tested and
discussed all over che civilized world. i
think that it has been tried in more
leases in this country than in any other.
and / believe that the palm for bold ex-
p~erimentation and demonstration of
its anasthetic properties in many
branches of minor surgery should be
awarded to America. There is hardly y
field in which it 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. 1t 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
i~rritability Of the mucous lining Of the
mouth, so that laryngoscopic examine
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
q pleasure, and the pulling Of teeth
painless. Its value is incalculable IN
gynacology and genito-urinary sur
gerry"
as 1T true, as reported, that injurious
effects have been found to follow the
use of cocaine in some cases?"
$50 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-
qresnecs ! have heard of Z case OF
hysterical paralysis and a number Of
cases of prostration following
it's use. do not believe these condi-
tions were the results ofthe cocaine, but
/ think they grew out of another cir
cumstance that appears in all the opera
tions In which it is used. 1t is only Q
local anasthetic the ems remain per-
fectly 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 ii the
patient has not strong nerves the sight
Of these things will awaken horror II
the mind and rapidly exhaust the vita
energy. 1t is fear more than cocain I
that produces an i'll effect. There are
also special cases in which cocaine can
not be used to advantage. Take, TO,
instance, q person of delicate ervou
organization, troubled with squint OF
some other eye difficulty where an op