Synonym. Erythroxylon coca. Natural order. Linea Habitat. A shrub indigenous to Peru and Bolivia. Preparation. Tincture from the coarsely powered dried leaves.
GENERAL ANALYSIS.
Coca stimulates the nerve centers, without engorging their substances and disordering their functions like alcohol, opium and hashish. It has in a marked degree the property belonging to this classes of substances, of diminishing tissue waste, so that hole under its influence there is little need of food, the bowels are costive, and the urine is deficient in solid matters. (Hughes). According to Allen, ‘its remote effects are disastrous.
CHARACTERISTIC SYMPTOMS
Mind. Mild cerebral excitement; hallucinations (Anacardium, Hyoscyamus, Stram). Excited fancies; wonderful visions (Can. ind.). Lively mood;l inclination for mental work (Angust., Coffea c., Lachesis). Depressed; apprehensive; Irritable; morose. Mind much clearer; spirits much better. Very changeable mood (Aconite, Aurum, Ignatia, Nux moschata)
Head. Confusion of the head; vertigo. Headache; fullness and pressive pain in forehead dull frontal headache; better on walking in the open air. Sensation as if a band were stretched over forehead from temple to temple (Gelsemium, chel., mercurius, Nitr. ac.). Pressing pain in temples. Pressive headache in occiput (Gelsemium, Nux v); as if held from ear to ear in a vise.
Eyes. Pressure and pain in the eyes. Heaviness of the lids (Causticum, Coni., Gelsemium, Natr. carb.). Great photophobia and dilated pupils (Belladonna). Flickering, fiery points and flashes before the eyes (Agaricus, Cyclamen, Mercurius, Phosphorus, Sulphur).
Ears. Hearing painfully acute (Coffea c., Opium). Singing, roaring, and ringing in the ears (Cinchona, Mercurius).
Nose. Sneezing, and running of clear water from the nose. Heat and irritation in nostrils.
Mouth. Dryness of he mouth on waking. Taste: salt, slimy, bitter (Bryonia, Nux v., cinch., Pulsatilla)
Throat. Hawking up of small, transparent lumps of mucus, chiefly in morning. Tickling in fauces and pharynx.
Stomach. Great hunger; loss of appetite. Very little need o nourishment; even during heavy work, with remarkable vigor. Great satiety. Active digestion. Eructations. Feeling of emptiness of stomach (Carls., Hydras., Ignatia, Sepia, Sulphur)
Abdomen. Abdomen distended, with much rumbling. Colic pains; passage of much flatulence (Cinchona, Carb v., Lycopodium, Sulphur)
Stool. Urging to stool, followed by natural evacuation. constipation.
Urinary Organs. Frequent urination, with increased flow (Phosphorus ac.) Decrease of solids in urine. Urine containing yellowish-red or orange- colored sediment.
Male Organs. Weakness; seminal emissions, with voluptuous dreams (Agn., Cinchona, Coni., Phosphorus, Phosphorus ac.).
Female Organs. Menses, after being delayed, come in gushes, awakening from a sound sleep.
Respiratory Organs. Tickling and irritation to cough in trachea and larynx. tickling cough causes tingling. Cough in the morning with expectoration of tenacious, thick, whitish, yellow mucus, as in chronic catarrh. No want of breath on ascending. Incessant dyspnoea, with desire to take a deep breath. Great freedom in chest and whole body; feels fresh and vigorous, with desire to walk rapidly. Heaviness and oppression of the chest.
Heart and Pulse. Nervous palpitation of he heart. (Asafoetida, Coffea c., Coccul., Ignatia). Pulse weak and accelerated; increased arterial tension.
Generalities. Great physical vigor and great endurance, in spite of slight nourishment and little sleep. Nervous excitement, followed finally by weakness, tremulousness and exhaustion (Cinchona). Great lightness while climbing a mountain, without any respiratory trouble. Great weariness, very tired and sleepy. Chewers finally die of general consumption. Chronic sleeplessness (Cimic., Coffea, Hyoscyamus, Opium). All symptoms better in the open air and after dinner.
Compare. Coffea c. Coca is used by the natives of South America as we use coffee, tea and tobacco.
Has been used chiefly to promote digestion, produce sleep, relieve nervous excitement, and alleviate spasms also to prevent difficulty of breathing on ascending, or from exertion in a highly rarefied atmosphere; derangements of he nervous system from onanism or sexual excesses; relieves nervous over action in heart disease; insomnia from nervous excitement; old people who get out of breath easily; nervous excitement; dyspnoea, etc. After abuse of tobacco; nervous sick headache; chronic atonic constipation, other symptoms agreeing.
ALLEN CORSON COWPERTHWAITE was born at Cape May, New Jersey, May 3, 1848, son of Joseph C. and Deborah (Godfrey) Cowperthwaite. He attended medical lectures at the University of Iowa in 1867-1868, and was graduated from the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia in 1869. He practiced his profession first in Illinois, and then in Nebraska. In 1877 he became Dean and Professor of Materia Medica in the recently organized Homeopathic Department of the State University of Iowa, holding the position till 1892. In 1884 he accepted the chair of Materia Medica, Pharmacology, and Clinical Medicine in the Homeopathic Medical College of the University of Michigan. He removed to Chicago in 1892, and became Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College. From 1901 he also served as president of that College. He is the author of various works, notably "Insanity in its Medico-Legal Relations" (1876), "A Textbook of Materia Medica and Therapeutics" (1880), of "Gynecology" (1888), and of "The Practice of Medicine " (1901).