130
other form of consumption. Smoking causes
asthmatic bronchitis and general debility, impairs
the appetite, retards digestion, and leads to
insanity. I have seen two cases of insanity
brought on through smoking charas. Bhang
impairs the senses, causes inactivity and torpid-
ity ; but I have never seen a case of insanity
resulting from the use of it.
40. Yes, by Baids and Unani hakims, both
internally and externally. Internally in the dis-
orders of the alimentary canal and kidney diseases.
Externally it is boiled and used as a fomentation
for piles, or the patient sits over the vessel and
steams the piles. It is also used for the treatment
of colic and kidney diseases of cattle.
41. Moderate use of bhang is supposed (a) to
keep the health, improve digestion ; (b) it is also
supposed to increase the staying-power and pre-
vent fatigue ; (c) it is also supposed to be a pre-
ventive against malarial fever.
42. The moderate use of bhang is probably
harmless. It is well known among natives that
when they go to an unhealthy place, they use
bhang to keep their health, and it does prevent
them getting ill.
44. If a moderate consumer is deprived of bhang
he feels miserable and is fit for nothing. A small
quantity taken then revives and refreshes him :
it excites hunger and he requires food. A dose
lasts about 12 hours. It in no way inconveniences
him afterwards so long as he gets his regular
allowance : it is the want of it appears to affect
him most.
45. Habitual moderate use of bhang, in my
opinion, produces no ill-effects, either physical,
mental or moral, except that once a man gets
accustomed to it he cannot leave it off.
(b) It improves the constitution.
(c) It helps digestion and increases the
appetite.
(d) No.
(e) No.
(f) Moderate use does not deaden the intel-
lect or produce insanity. I have never known a
case of insanity produced by the moderate use of
bhang.
The moderate use of charas impairs the constitu-
tion : it injures digestion, causes loss of appetite,
brings on bronchitis and asthma, deadens the
intellect, and leads to intoxication and insanity.
He is unable to leave off the use of it.
In the two cases of insanity I saw from the use
of charas it was the exciting cause. It produces
mania, but only temporary. Two cases I saw got
well suddenly ; both were raving maniacs. They
were kept in cells for a week, and during that
time neither of them ever tasted food or water.
On the eighth day when I visited them, they
were both quite sane and wanted to be allowed to
go back to their work. They were police con-
stables here, both hill men. They had been drug-
ged by a fakir ; but when they got well they
denied where they got the charas from. This case
came under my own observation since I came here.
They were very violent, and were suffering reli-
gious mania : both of them thought they were
deities. Over-indulgence in the drug would rein-
duce the symptoms after liberation.
47. The habitual moderate use of these drugs is
not hereditary : it is very often by accident the
habit has been forced on a man in this way. A
smoke from a fakir's chillum is supposed to be a
great honour. Almost all fakirs who smoke use
charas, and they put some charas in the chillum
for their guest. At first this guest is violently
drank, but in a few days he gets fond of the
sensation, and begins to use the drug on his own
account. Parents never teach or encourage their
children to use intoxicating drugs. The children
of a moderate consumer are unhealthy. They are
born weakly, and don't thrive. Some of them
get over it as they grow up if they abstain from
the drug ; some of them remain weak.
48. Not even the excessive habitual use of these
drugs is hereditary. A man must begin it for
himself. The children of this class will be also
born weak, and seldom become healthy, strong
men.
49. Charas is given in very small quantity for
aphrodisiac purposes, and is given by prostitutes.
Kashipur in the Terai is a well known place for
this practice. Prolonged use of charas tends to
produce impotence.
50. It is never given in excess for aphrodisiac
purposes.
56. The effects of bhang mixed with dhatura
are much more marked. The subject, if not used
to the mixture, will get delirious at once almost.
None of the other drugs mentioned in this para-
graph are mixed with bhang here.
The effects of an excessive dose of bhang and
dhatura on a man not used to the drugs are very
marked. He would be insensible for two days,
and after the insensibility had passed off he would
be giddy and out of sorts for several days.
Oral evidence.
Question 1.—I am F. R. C.S. and L.R.C. P.,
Edin., and have been thirteen years in the service.
I have been ten years in this province as Civil
Surgeon, except one year in Burma. I have had
no special experience in lunacy cases.
Question 39.—The two cases here mentioned are
the same as those mentioned in answer No. 45.
Question 45.—My remarks about the effects of
the moderate use of charas are not from observa-
tion, but from information received from Assistant
Surgeon Jowala Pershad. Nothing except the two
cases of lunacy is of my own information in any
of my answers.
These two cases are practically one. Two young
constables of about 22 and 24 years of age were
brought to me for observation in the lunatic cells
of the Moradabad Jail. I saw them the morning
after they were brought in. They were then both
maniacs. I was told that they had both gone down to
bathe on the morning of the day before I saw them.
They began to talk to a fakir, who gave them a
smoke. One had to go on guard at the police
lines, the other at the kachari. After they had
been a few minutes on guard, they both threw down
their arms, took off their clothes, and declined to
do further work, saying they were deities. The
elder of the two was violent, and quite prepared to
go for the District Superintendent of Police in
case he ordered them to work. The other was also
violent, but not so bad. They were both put
under arrest. The District Superintendent of
Police saw there was something wrong with them,
that they seemed mad, and he sent them to the
Magistrate. They were kept in the cells for a
week. I saw them every day. They were persist-
ently violent, and would do nothing they were
told. They would not wear clothes. They would
not eat anything, not even drink. I had gharras
of water put in the cells, and they remained there