On 17th century "cocaine"
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On 17th century "cocaine"
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Re: On 17th century "cocaine"
#2Can anyone with a scientific background give an opinion about the first comment to the linked post? They say they are sceptical because "there are a number of Tropane alkaloids which are very close to cocaine and are present in other plants - especially nightshades (e.g., belladonna) - which were known to and used for various purposes by Europeans for a long time."
Re: On 17th century "cocaine"
#3Can anyone with a scientific background give an opinion about the first comment to the linked post? They say they are sceptical because "there are a number of Tropane alkaloids which are very close to cocaine and are present in other plants - especially nightshades (e.g., belladonna) - which were known to and used for various purposes by Europeans for a long time."
As you would expect, this is covered in the actual paper [0]:
> Therefore, the 3rd molecule detected in the brain tissues of our subjects, hygrine (an alkaloid present in the leaves of Erythroxylum spp. only), was essential to determine that the molecules detected in these human remains derived from the chewing of coca leaves or from leaves brewed as a tea, consistent with the historical period.
If I'm reading this right, they checked for a number of markers and one of those is found only in coca leaves.
[0] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030544032...
Re: On 17th century "cocaine"
#4Can anyone with a scientific background give an opinion about the first comment to the linked post? They say they are sceptical because "there are a number of Tropane alkaloids which are very close to cocaine and are present in other plants - especially nightshades (e.g., belladonna) - which were known to and used for various purposes by Europeans for a long time."
As you would expect, this is covered in the actual paper [0]: > Therefore, the 3rd molecule detected in the brain tissues of our subjects, hygrine (an alkaloid present in the leaves of Erythroxylum spp. only), was essential to determine that the molecules detected in these human remains derived from the chewing of coca leaves or from leaves brewed as a tea, consistent with the historical period. If I'm reading this r…
Thank you! I should have thought of checking the paper first
Re: On 17th century "cocaine"
#5Can anyone with a scientific background give an opinion about the first comment to the linked post? They say they are sceptical because "there are a number of Tropane alkaloids which are very close to cocaine and are present in other plants - especially nightshades (e.g., belladonna) - which were known to and used for various purposes by Europeans for a long time."
As you would expect, this is covered in the actual paper [0]: > Therefore, the 3rd molecule detected in the brain tissues of our subjects, hygrine (an alkaloid present in the leaves of Erythroxylum spp. only), was essential to determine that the molecules detected in these human remains derived from the chewing of coca leaves or from leaves brewed as a tea, consistent with the historical period. If I'm reading this r…
Author here, I had the same question and looked into it. The author of that comment seems to be onto something because hygrine is indeed found in nightshades as well as in coca. Interesting.
Re: On 17th century "cocaine"
#6>As you can see, the Times was not the only news outlet to be confused about the distinction between cocaine and coca
Unfortunately, the author of this article is the one who is confused. Cocaine is the name of the alkaloid present in the coca leaf, much like the coffee bean contains caffeine. If they were using coca leaf, they were using cocaine.
Re: On 17th century "cocaine"
#7Can anyone with a scientific background give an opinion about the first comment to the linked post? They say they are sceptical because "there are a number of Tropane alkaloids which are very close to cocaine and are present in other plants - especially nightshades (e.g., belladonna) - which were known to and used for various purposes by Europeans for a long time."
The research group behind the paper looks reliable, they have a publication record in the area and while it's surprising they can detect metabolites (and surprising that brains were preserved from the 1600s) they seem to have done a lot of detailed work, here's some of their other related work (they also found cannabis residues in some of their material):
"Forensic toxicological analyses reveal the use of cannabis in Milano (Italy) in the 1600's (2023)"
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Forensic-toxicological...
Re: On 17th century "cocaine"
#8Anyone here ever actually try coca leaves? Going to guess its effects are somewhere between coffee and cocaine
Re: On 17th century "cocaine"
#9Anyone here ever actually try coca leaves? Going to guess its effects are somewhere between coffee and cocaine
Only coca tea. It's a small boost, perhaps like coffee if you don't drink coffee everyday
Re: On 17th century "cocaine"
#10Anyone here ever actually try coca leaves? Going to guess its effects are somewhere between coffee and cocaine
Had a lot of them chewed or in tea in Bolivia and it's pretty close to a caffeine buzz, it's very, very mild.