Cocaine Dependence
Cocaine
World of Scientific Discovery. Kimberley A. McGrath and Bridget Travers. Online. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2007. From Student Resource Center - Gold.
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Updated11/20/2006
For centuries, Peruvian natives have chewed the leaves of the coca plant because of their stimulating and exhilarating effect. In 1855 the German Gaedicke isolated the active alkaloid in coca leaves. Albert Niemann (1880-1921) studied the white powder and named it "cocaine" in 1859-60, noting also the temporary numbing effect the compound had on his tongue.
During the 1880s in Vienna, Austria, Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) studied cocaine as a treatment for morphine addiction. Freud suggested the possible use of cocaine as a local anesthetic to a Viennese colleague, Carl Koller (1857-1944), a young ophthalmologist. Koller experimented on animals and then presented his findings to the Congress of Ophthalmology in Heidelberg, Germany, in 1884, demonstrating the successful use of cocaine as a local anesthetic during eye surgery. Koller's findings were accepted enthusiastically. Koller himself emigrated to the United States in 1888 and established a practice in New York City.
American doctor William Halsted soon followed up on Koller's work by experimenting with cocaine injection into nerves to produce local anesthesia. By the end of 1885, Halsted had performed over 1000 operations using cocaine as an anesthetic. Unfortunately, Halsted also discovered another of cocaine's properties: he became addicted to the substance and spent many years overcoming his dependence. Harvey Cushing (1869-1939), a student of Halsted's, coined the term "regional anesthesia" for this local use of cocaine, in contrast to the "general anesthesia" produced by ether. In the 1880s James Leonard Corning (1855-1939), a New York neurologist, injected a cocaine solution as a spinal anesthesia; August Bier (1861-1949)
World of Scientific Discovery. Kimberley A. McGrath and Bridget Travers. Online. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2007. From Student Resource Center - Gold.
HIDE DETAILS
SHOW DETAILS Document Type: | Topic Overview | Bookmark: | Bookmark this Document |
Updated11/20/2006
For centuries, Peruvian natives have chewed the leaves of the coca plant because of their stimulating and exhilarating effect. In 1855 the German Gaedicke isolated the active alkaloid in coca leaves. Albert Niemann (1880-1921) studied the white powder and named it "cocaine" in 1859-60, noting also the temporary numbing effect the compound had on his tongue.
During the 1880s in Vienna, Austria, Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) studied cocaine as a treatment for morphine addiction. Freud suggested the possible use of cocaine as a local anesthetic to a Viennese colleague, Carl Koller (1857-1944), a young ophthalmologist. Koller experimented on animals and then presented his findings to the Congress of Ophthalmology in Heidelberg, Germany, in 1884, demonstrating the successful use of cocaine as a local anesthetic during eye surgery. Koller's findings were accepted enthusiastically. Koller himself emigrated to the United States in 1888 and established a practice in New York City.
American doctor William Halsted soon followed up on Koller's work by experimenting with cocaine injection into nerves to produce local anesthesia. By the end of 1885, Halsted had performed over 1000 operations using cocaine as an anesthetic. Unfortunately, Halsted also discovered another of cocaine's properties: he became addicted to the substance and spent many years overcoming his dependence. Harvey Cushing (1869-1939), a student of Halsted's, coined the term "regional anesthesia" for this local use of cocaine, in contrast to the "general anesthesia" produced by ether. In the 1880s James Leonard Corning (1855-1939), a New York neurologist, injected a cocaine solution as a spinal anesthesia; August Bier (1861-1949)