144
ment combined together have a very bad effect,
particularly on males. It is used by low class
prostitutes. Better class using alcohol seldom
indulge in the use of these drugs. Males, after
long use, become impotent and weak in mind and
body.
50. Excessive use of these drugs requires scarcely,
if any, remarks. In the male it causes loss of
sexual appetite and power. The females become
inert, and do not feel any excitement while under
their influence.
56. Those who use these drugs in moderation
do not require the admixture of any of these
drugs. Poor people who want to have excessive
intoxication at little cost mix dhatura seeds.
Thugs also mix dhatura seeds with bhang and
charas or ganja to administer to their victims.
Cantharides or nux vomica may be mixed to
increase the aphrodisiac powers, but I have no
experience upon this point.
57. Ganja and charas are sometimes eaten not
for any intoxicating effect, but for aphrodisiac
purposes. It is said that by their means the
sexual act can be prolonged, and emission does
not occur soon.
In conclusion, Cannabis (and its preparations) is
an intoxicant of the poorer classes. Those who
cannot afford alcohol use bhang, charas, and
ganja. It is a great solace to the people, but it
makes them lazy and indolent; they loose all
energy by degrees. Those addicted can only
work while under its influence. It demoralises
the person, reduces him to a low state of exist-
ence, and unfits him for any intelligent occupa-
tion. These drugs are mostly used by low
classes and fakirs. Exceptionally wealthy people
whose moral character is low, use it.
Oral evidence.
Question 1.—I am an Assistant Surgeon in the
Government service. I am L.R.C.P., London,
and M.R.C.S., England. I have had no special
experience of insanity. I have had twenty years'
service.
Question 29.— Dhatura is used by the poor
classes of people, who cannot afford to pay for in-
toxicants which have to be bought.
Question 30.— I have seen children of the poor
people smoking ganja. A father smokes and makes
over the chillum to his son.
Question 45.—I have seen cases in which per-
sons have become insane after one smoke of charas.
I did not know the men before they became insane.
There are so many smoking who do not become
insane, that I suppose that there must be some
predisposition when that result ensues. I have
treated private patients who have become insane
from smoking charas. I have not seen any ganja
cases. Only a few days ago I had a case of a young
man of 18 or 19, who had been hale and hearty,
and belonged to respectable people. He did not
drink, nor was he given to sexual excess. He
made the acquaintance of a Hindu fakir and smoked
charas and drank bhang with him. He did it two
or three times. I did not know the boy until the
parents brought him to me. The boy was suffer-
ing from maniacal excitement. He had bitten his
father's finger, which was amputated in the hos-
pital. He was violent and abusive, striking all
who came near him, His eyes were red. The
pupils were slightly dilated. Charas dilates the
pupils. I have noticed this effect in cases of charas
smoking. The contrary may be the effect. I have
not had very much experience. I am sure the
pupils were dilated. The case occurred only a few
days ago. The boy was under my observation
for ten days. He had been insane for a fortnight
before he was brought to me. He gradually be-
came better under my treatment. After ten days
I told the parents the treatment might be discon-
tinued. I have heard that sadhus and fakirs use
dhatura. I think the case I have described was
due to charas. Dhatura might have been mixed
with it. That would account for the dilatation of
the pupil. I think there must have been some ab-
normal condition of the brain in the boy. There
was no family history of insanity. I believe that
predisposition must be present for the moderate
use to cause insanity. Long-continued excess
might perhaps produce insanity. I can recall no
case of this having occurred. I draw this opinion
from my general medical knowledge. Dhatura is
a more violent intoxicant than charas. Dhatura
might cause temporary insanity without predispo-
sition. I cannot say that dhatura would be a
more reasonable explanation than predisposition in
the case I have described. There are many cases
which might give the same symptoms as appear in
hemp insanity. The insanity is diagnosed on the
previous history of the case, and it may be called
diagnosis by exclusion. That would be the only
mode of diagnosis in this ease. I enquired about
dhatura in this case; neither the patient nor rela-
tions could give any information. About fourteen or
fifteen years ago I was Assistant Surgeon of Jaga-
dhari, in the Umballa District. A case came to my
notice there of which I can give a general outline.
There was a young man, son of a patwari. He
fell into the company of charas smokers and smoked
for about a fortnight. He became insane, and was
brought to the hospital by the police. He was
very violent. I kept him under observation and
treatment for a month. He only partially recover-
ed. He became less violent, but seized with a
desire to wander about. One day he went away
and never returned. It was a case of madness I
consider. The charas smokers referred to were, I
learnt, sadhus. There was no insanity in the
family. His physiognomy gave me the idea that
he was of weak intellect. He had not been a bad
liver. I learnt nothing of dhatura in the case, only
I think it might have been used by the boy. I do
not think the smoking would have caused insanity
without predisposition.
My general opinion is
that the moderate use of charas cannot produce
insanity, without predisposition, but that excessive
use may do so without predisposition. Both these
views are based on à priori reasoning from my
general medical knowledge and not on experience.
I argue from my observation of the general effects
of the use of the drug throughout the community.
Question 48.— I think the use of the drug, even
moderate, affects the intelligence of the children to
some extent, This arises from the effect of the
drug on the brain of the parents. The children
are of inferior physique also in the case of excess-
ive smokers, and, as a matter of fact, few of these
have children. The moderate smoker does not
want for children.