ABSTRACT
Good ideas catch on slowly, but if the history of cocaine is any guide, bad ideas spread like wildfire. In 1884, Karl Koller assured his place in history, and helped to usher in the era of modern surgery, when he announced his discovery that a few drops of cocaine solution could prevent the pain of eye surgery (Figure 6.1) Koller got all the credit, but he was not the first to make this observation. A succession of other physicians had already discovered that cocaine was a local anesthetic, and they wrote about their findings.
