Cocaine - a short trip in time
In the latter half of the 19th century chemists started to investigate the properties of cocaine. Elucidation of its molecular structure followed some 30 years later
The stimulant effects of coca leaves were known to the ancient Incas, long before the Spanish conquistadors arrived in South America in the early 1500s. However, the coca leaves proved convenient for the conquistadors - not only did intoxicated slaves work harder in the gold mines, but their appetites were suppressed, making them cheaper to feed. Spaniards returning from South America told of the virtues of coca leaves, though such properties rarely survived the long voyage back to Europe.
Even so, coca leaves were gaining a reputation as an 'elixir of life' and an editorial in the Gentleman's magazine of 1814 pushed for more research into the properties of the leaves in the hope that they might be 'used as a substitute for food so that people could live a month, now and then, without eating'.1 And while the Church initially banned the use of the leaves, presumably because of their connotations with earlier religious rites, recognising their economic importance, they were soon legalised and taxed, and at one stage were the major source of income for the Church.2
Despite the early interest, however, it was to be some decades before the active ingredient of the coca plant would be identified.
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