| Monday, October 25, 2004 |
| MORE THAN JUST A SUGAR BUZZ.....Original Coca-Cola did use the realthing...from GEOGRAPHICA by Margaret G. Zackowitz |
WHEN ATLANTA Pharmacist John Pemberton invented Coca-Cola
in 1886, he named it that reason. his "Brain Tonic"
included extracts of the kola nut, a high-caffeine
stimulants thought to be an aphrodisiac, and coca leaf
extract, containing a small amount of cocaine. It's
been a hundred years since Coke included that particular
ingredient.
Before Coca-Cola, Pemberton had created a version of coca-wine,
a popular cocaine-laced beveraged endorsed by Queen Victoria
and Pope Leo XIII. In his new cola beverage, he eliminated
alcohol in a nod to the temperance movement but kept coca
extract. When pharmacies began mixturing his syrup with water,
sales bubbled up.
In the late 19th century cocaine was hailed as a painkilling
break through and found in dozens of products, from throat
lozenges to suppositories. But public concern began to grow
about its safety, and in 1904 Coca-Cola was completely
"Decocanized" (though coca extract with all traces of the
drug removed remaind and ingredient to this day).
Despite the omission, Coke's popularity continued to rise,
owing in part to a promotion campain. Growing suspicious
of the drink's success, officials at the U.S. Bureau of
Chemistry (percursor of the Food and Drug Admninistration)
had a shipment of Coke syrup seized in Chattanooga, Tennessee,
in 1909. The product they charged, violated the Pure Food
and Drug Act of 1906, prohibiting sale of "Adulteratedor Misbranded" foods. The "Adulterating" chemical: Caffeine.
The governemnt lost its case.
MORE STRANGE ELIXIRS:
Heroin Marketed as a cough medicine, 1898 to 1913
Opium Used in vaporizers to treat asthma, around 1900
Morphine Used in a syrup for quieting infants, also around 1900
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Name: infraternam meam
Home: Chicago, United States
About Me: I am now at the prime of my life
and have been married for the past 25 years.
Sickly at times, but wants to see the elixir vita,
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