La plante Divine Inca

COCA

"The Divine Plant of the Incas."*

*Part of this historical record is from a paper first published in the

Practical Druggist and Pharmaceutical Review of Reviews, October, 1910.

Republished in Lloyd Library Bulletin, No. 18, “History of the Vegetable Drugs of

the Pharmacopæa of the United States,” by John Uri Lloyd, 1911,

HISTORY .—Erythroxylon coca is a small tree or bush native to

the slopes of the Andes (see p. 9), where, especially in Bolivia, large

plantations are cultivated. The leaves have been highly valued, from

the earliest records, by the natives of Peru, Chile. Colombia, and Bolivia,

the tree being called “The Divine Plant of the Incas.” In I569,

Monardes1, of Seville, published an article on the drug, reproduced,

I577, in London. (Dowdeswell2.) This is among the first references to

the drug in print, known to us, and it was followed by the botanical

description, by Clusius3, in I605. The history of Coca, in its many

phases, is presented by several travelers and authors, one of the first of

these to introduce it to Europeans being W. J. Hooker4, in his

“Companion to the Botanical Magazine,” London, 1835. Several pages of

this work are devoted to the South American uses of Coca, the same

being credited to Dr. Poeppig's “Reise in Chile, Peru, und auf dem

Amazonenstrome.” From this historical contribution we present

portions pertinent to the Coca subject.

Among the most interesting of the more recent publications

treating of Coca is a large illustrated volume of near 600 pages, by W.

Golden Mortimer, M. D., under the title, “Peru, History of Coca,” New

York,19O1. From this work we also gain much insight into the early

history and customs of the Coca users, as indicated by the passages that

follow.

That Coca was honored in their sacred ceremonies by the natives

of the lands producing it, is evidenced by the following “recital”5

addressed to the sovereign:

Oh, mighty lord, son of the Sun and of the Incas, thy fathers, thou who

knoweth of the bounties which have been granted thy people, let me recall the

blessings of the divine Coca which thy privileged subjects are permitted to enjoy

through thy progenitors, the sun, the moon, the earth, and the boundless hills.

A plant so regarded necessarily fell under the adverse criticism of

the devoutly religious, early Spanish explorers, who naturally directed

their efforts against everything that, in their opinion, constituted a partof heathen worship and diverted the natives from the true God. This is

shown by the following quotation from Mortimer:

In 1569 the Spanish audience at Lima, composed of bishops from all parts of

South America, denounced Coca because, as they asserted, it was a pernicious leaf,

the chewing of which the Indians supposed gave them strength, and was hence:

“Un delusio del demonio.”

In this connection the following quotation will indicate how

distasteful are the methods of the natives, even yet, to those whose first

duty consists in suppressing such ceremonies as are therein described .

When the period for departure (on a dangerous journey.—L.) actually

arrives, the Indians throw Coca in the air, just as did the Incan priests of old, to

propitiate the gods of the mountains, who, presumably, do not wish their domains

invaded.

The native Indian use of Coca was unquestionably exhibited

where it was necessary for men to make the most exhausting physical

effort, as the Indian “runners” of the Andes, carrying with them a

modicum of food or other burdens. A few coca leaves sufficed as a

hunger pacifier, and upon this as a basis the runners underwent the

most exhausting and exacting journeys. It was accepted by observing

travelers that the leaves, being chewed, would yield an abundance of

“vital strength.” The endurance of people thus employing the drug is

noted also by the Jesuit Father Blas Valera4 under the name Cuca. After

observing the methods of the Jesuit explorers, he writes as follows:

It may be gathered how powerful the Cuca is in its effect on the laborer

from the fact that the Indians who use it become stronger and much more

satisfied, and work all day without eating.

In further support of this phase of the Coca subject, Dr. Poeppig, in

the beginning of the last century, records as follows, in his work on

Chile and Peru:

The miner will perform, for twelve long hours, the formidably heavy work

of the mine, and, sometimes, even doubles that period, without taking any further

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