FEIGNEAUX, Achille.

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L'Erythroxylum coca. La coca et la cocaïne. First edition of this study on the medicinal qualities of the coca plant and its products, including cocaine. This copy was bound for presentation to the pharmacologist Édouard van den Corput, with the front cover gilt-stamped "À monsieur le docteur Van Den Corput. Hommage et reconnaissance de l'auteur". Lambert Eugène "Achille" Feigneaux (1822-1891) was a surgeon and doctor with particular interests in midwifery, public health, and military medicine. He was a founding member of the Royal Belgian Society of Public Medicine, later serving as its secretary general, and acted as a medical officer in the Franco-Prussian war, namely at the Battle of Sedan and the Siege of Paris. Convinced of the beneficial properties of coca, he asserted that its discovery was, "for therapeutics, one of the triumphs of the 19th century" (p. 9, our translation). Among the maladies for which he recommends it are toothache, anaemia, and gastrointestinal issues.A professor of clinical medicine and pharmacy, Corput (1821-1908) was one of the founders of the Belgian Société de pharmacie. He and Feigneaux were contemporaries at the University of Brussels.WorldCat traces only two institutional holdings: the Royal Library of Belgium and the New York Academy of Medicine.

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