The roots of the Maltine tree (left) were advertised as “concentrated extract of malted wheat, oats, and barley.” A major branch of the Maltine tree was the tonic “Maltine with Coca Wine,” each ounce of which contains “thirty grains of assayed Huanaco Coca leaves….” According to an 1894 issue of the National Medical Review, the “Coca boosts the patient and the maltine furnishes the peg that prevents him from slipping back.” Because Maltine had been widely distributed to the public as a stimulant in beverages and in foods (such as Maltine with Coca Wine), cocaine was rapidly accepted by laymen when used as a local anesthetic by dentists and physicians. (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists, Inc.)
The roots of the Maltine tree (left) were advertised as “concentrated extract of malted wheat, oats, and barley.” A major branch of the Maltine tree was the tonic “Maltine with Coca Wine,” each ounce of which contains “thirty grains of assayed Huanaco Coca leaves….” According to an 1894 issue of the National Medical Review, the “Coca boosts the patient and the maltine furnishes the peg that prevents him from slipping back.” Because Maltine had been widely distributed to the public as a stimulant in beverages and in foods (such as Maltine with Coca Wine), cocaine was rapidly accepted by laymen when used as a local anesthetic by dentists and physicians. (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists, Inc.)
George S. Bause, M.D., M.P.H., Honorary Curator, ASA’s Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology, Park Ridge, Illinois, and Clinical Associate Professor, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. UJYC@aol.com.
