A Significant Bump In The Road
In 1884, two years after the surgery on his mother, Dr. Halsted learned of a study released in Heidelberg Germany which described experiments with cocaine hydroclorate as an anesthetic. Intrigued by the findings, Dr. Halsted wanted to investigate more. To make things more dramatic, Dr. Henry Noyes wrote that: “It remains, however, to investigate all of the characteristics of this substance. We may yet find that there is a shadow side as well as a brilliant side to the discovery.”
Regardless, Dr. Halsted sees the importance of the work and decides that if cocaine could block the nerves in the eyes (which it did in the original experiment) it should work throughout the body. To find out he started testing on himself, colleagues and students. The findings were astonishing as it did work as an anesthesia when injected into nerves, but the group became addicted to the cocaine and all but Dr. Halsted and Richard Hall died. Shortly thereafter, they both moved to Santa Barbara.
This was likely due to the fact that his erratic behavior and lack of reliability lost him a great deal of respect. Keep in mind that cocaine was not understood as it was today, so those that he worked with just saw a man falling off the rails. In Santa Barbara he published an article that explained his findings, which included the statement printed at the start of this article. The cocaine had taken a once brilliant man and sent him into a stupor from which his return was unsure.