Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1901-10-02
COCAINE IN
Remarkable Eject Of nm Injection
Into the Spinal Cord.


The anasthetlc properties of CO.
calne when used as a hypodermlc in
lection have been known for many
years, but until recently only minor
surgical operations on the external
parts Of the body have been performed
with its aid, and cocaine has been
classed as merely a local anesthetic.
Its future has, however, suddenly been
opened along new and startling lines,
says a writer in Popular Science
Monthly, by the discovery that when
il is injected into the spinal cord IL
causes n total loss Of sensation below
the point of p~uncture, so that the most
elaborate and difficult operations may
be carried on while the patient chats
pleasantly with the surgeon and his
attendants.
This discovery, like so many others
in medical science, has been reached
only By successive stages Of expert
ments made by men of various nation
alitles until finally eliminating in prac-
teal results. These experiments have
been reported in medical journals from
time to time in the last fifteen years,
but the discovery needed a dramatic
setting to bring it effectively before the
medical fraternity, and this 1t obtained
ut the medical congress held In connec-
ton with the Paris exposition. At the
clinics Of NJ. Tuffler on the occasion,
with all nations for e~yewitnesses, n
operation after another was performed
on patients who were perfectly con-
Dcious and yet were absolutely insensi-
Bile to pain below the nipple line. His
feats were the talk Of tAe congress.
Many Of the most famous surgeons Of
the world were present and saw how
comparatively simple 1t was, after first
rendering the point Of puncture insen-
slble with a little cocaine, to cause the
patient to lean forward, as IL scorch-
ing on a bicycle. thus stralning the ver-
tebra slightly apart, when 1t was easy
to insert the hypodermlc needle until
the appearance of a few drops Of the
spinal fluid showed that the cord had
been tapped and then to attach the
syringe and inject the cocaine solution.
In some Of these operations the pa
tients left the operating table with al
most no unpleasant sensations, yet in
the majority there were dizziness, nau-
sea and ~frightful headache, which in
some cases lasted as long as eight days
In spite of every effort to bring relief.
These d~isagreeable after effects, for
which as yet no remedy has been
found, together with the fact that con-
seriousness in the patient, even though
no pain Is felt, is undesirable both for
himself and the operator in such cases
as the removal of a limb, must prevent
this new anmsthetic from rlvaling sue
cessfully chloroform and ether, except
in those not %infrequent cases when the
use of these latter would be dangerous
on account of a weak heart, tendencies
to asthma or other complications. But,
though cocaine cannot at present take
h place or other ~an9sthetics, IL q
given a hint Of what may be developed,
and doubtless experiments with 1t will
be continued. The ideal, absolutely safe
and universally applicable general an
aesthetic is not yet discovered, but I'M
q~uestionably a new way has been
pointed out, and within a few years
the results Of scientific experiments
may justify the hope that has sprung
up with this method Of cocainizing the
spinal cord.