Montreal Gazette - Cocaine paved the way for anesthesia; The right chemistry

(Chemistry professor Joe Schwarcz)

"Dr. Karl Koller looked in the mirror and proceeded to poke himself in the eye with the head of a pin. He felt nothing. The cocaine solution he had dripped into his eye that day in 1884 had clearly done its job. More than that, the experiment would prove to be the springboard for a giant leap in medicine…"