Cocaine has been the vaunted remedial local anæs thetic in all forms of pain and suffering; yet it seems that its use in dentistry cannot be availed indiscrirminately. I have been called a number of times, by a neighboring dentist to attend his patrons, to whom he had given cocaine hypodermically, and without anæsthetic influence; per contra, a decidedly deleterious effect had been wrought in each person, requiring several hours for its complete counteraction by the use of opiates and stimulants.
The first case to which I was called was that of a young man, single, and a saddler by occupation, by the incidental right of his trade, a strong man, yet under the deleterious influence of cocaine, was completely unnerved. The dentist had inserted the cocaine in the gums. When seen, the patient was bathed in a cold perspiration, his eyes glistening, yet the pupil was not dilated; complaining