Koller's  experiments  were  carried  out  in  the  laboratory  of
Professor  Strieker  upon  guinea  pigs.  It  was  found  that  a
minute  quantity  of  a  solution  of  hydrochlorate  of  cocaine
dropped  in  the  conjunctival  sac,  produced  such  complete  local
anaesthesia  that  the  cornea  could  be  irritated  with  needles  and
electric  currents  and  cauterized  with  nitrate  of  silver  until  it
became  opalescent.  This  experiment  suggested  that  anaes-
thesia was  not  merely  upon  the  surface  but  involved  the  entire
thickness  of  the  cornea.  After  experimenting  upon  animals
the  investigator  applied  cocaine  to  his  own  eye  and  examined
the  efficiency  of  the  anaesthetic  in  diseased  eyes.  A  prelimin-
ary paper  upon  the  result  of  this  discovery  was  sent  to  the
annual  meeting  of  the  Deutsche  Ophthalmologiche  Gesell-
schaft,  held  at  Heidelberg  Sept.  15-16,  1884,  which  was  read
by  Dr.  Brettauer  of  Trieste.  With  this  paper  was  a  vial  con-
taining a  few  grammes  of  cocaine,  which  was  all  of  the  alka-
loid that  Merck  could  furnish  at  that  time.12  Meantime  Koller
continued  his  experiments  and  asked  specialists  in  other  de-
partments to  employ  the  alkaloid  in  their  practice,  for  though
satisfied  that  he  had  found  a  local  anaesthetic  adapted  to  the
surgery  of  the  eye,  he  believed  that  it  was  also  suited  to  other
special  uses,  a  fact  soon  confirmed  by  several  observers
who  based  their  researches  upon  this  original  investigation.
This,  briefly,  is  the  story  of  the  adaptation  of  this  alkaloid  of
Coca  to  minor  surgery,  which  is  modestly  all  the  merit  of  "dis-
covery" that  is  claimed  by  the  one  through  whom  cocaine  has
been  made  a  boon  to  suffering  humanity,  fully  as  important,
and  in  many  cases  superior  to  the  great  anaesthetics,  chloro-
form and  ether.
