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To the Editor:
—Advertisements which appear in ophthalmic journals and literature regarding the newer local ophthalmic anesthetics contain statements seemingly finding fault with cocaine. Statements by manufacturers are so worded as to make it appear that cocaine has many disadvantages compared with the newer synthetic drugs.Having used cocaine as a local anesthetic in the eye for the past twenty-five years, I wish to make a statement for the benefit of those with lesser experience : I find cocaine the ideal anesthetic in ophthalmic surgery.In not a single instance did I ever find cocaine toxic to the patient when used as a local anesthetic in cataract operations. This experience is not only my own but that of my associates, with whom I have conferred about this matter. In a series of 200 consecutive cataract operations in which a 1 per cent solution of cocaine hydrochloride was used subconjunctivally and in