In 1876 author Robert Brown, Ph.D., began publishing his book series, The Countries of the World: Being a Popular Description of the Various Continents, Islands, Rivers, Seas, and Peoples of the Globe. In the third volume, he depicted the coca shrub, the pesticide-like cocaine of which wards off insects. However, the stimulant properties of the cocaine alkaloid led to what Brown captioned as “Gathering the Coca Plant (Erythroxylon coca) in Bolivia” (above). As landlocked descendants of the Incans, many indigenous Bolivians kept laboring on the steep Andes or on the highland plateau by carrying a “little leathern bag of the dried [coca] leaves, and a gourd of powdered [quick]lime.” According to Brown, the coca leaves were “chewed four times a day, mixed, either with the powdered lime, or with the ashes of Cecropia, or quinoa.” Cheekfuls of coca leaves provided trace amounts of cocaine, which were prized as an appetite-suppressing and energizing remedy against the attitudinal lows (fatigue) and perhaps the altitudinal heights. (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology.)