Local Intrauterine Anesthesia

The first local anesthetic to be discovered was cocaine an alkaloid in large amount (0.6 to 1.8%) on the leaves of Erythroxylon coca a shrub growing in the Andes Mountains. Vast quantities were consumed orally and annually. The plant ash when chewed releases the plant alkaloid and absorbed across the mouth mucous membrane. In 1880 Niemann noted that the tongue was numb with no sensation upon chewing this substance. It is well known that Lidocaine was absorbed across the mucous membrane.