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moral degradation. It lowers the brain power.
No; on the contrary, increases the appetite consi
-derably. Yes; those who get habituated to its use
usually give up work. This is the case in this
presidency; in the north all the dooly-bearers take
it as far as I know. Yes, it causes acute mania,
which is usually temporary first. A person who
enters an asylum has to stop the drug, and he
begins to improve; when he leaves, he generally
reverts to the habit and comes back worse; in time,
I think, his brain gets into a state which can never
improve. I think it is the exciting cause of insan
-ity. Yes; many used to say that they took ganja.
There may be isolated cases where this would
apply, but in the vast majority it is an easily learn
-ed vice, which a person may not be strong-minded
enough to refrain from. It is a question whether
a drunkard (alcoholic) or a ganja smoker is not a
weak-minded person. I look upon both these as
men with weak intellects; they know alcohol and
ganja are very bad for them, yet they will not give
them up.
46. It is difficult to draw the line; moderation
passes into excess imperceptibly. Many of my
answers apply perhaps more to the excessive use
than to the moderate.
47. The son of a ganja smoker, etc., generally
is said to take to the drug, but not the daughter.
49. It is said to be a powerful aphrodisiac, but I
have had no acquaintance with it under this head.
I have often given it to patients who have experi
-enced the general symptoms, but never this. A
ganja smoker tells me that whilst taking ganja he
has no desire for women.
Oral evidence.
Question 1. — I have been nearly nineteen years in
the service. Out of this I have been about fifteen in
civil employ. I had charge of the Waltair Luna
-tic Asylum from 1885 to 1890. This is my only
special experience regarding insanity.
Question 42.— I have experience of the moderate
use only in this respect, that certain bad characters
in a regiment are said to be ganja consumers. As
they do not get excited, I conclude that they
are moderate consumers. I know no moderate
consumers among the outside population. The
sepoys I refer to did not, so long as they were
under my observation, become excessive con-
sumers. My statement as to the impossibility of
restricting the habit is based on the replies given
to my inquiries by certain smokers whom I ques
-tioned in preparing my paper. They seemed rather
ashamed of the habit. They said they would give
it up if they could, but that the tendency was to
increase. People seem generally ashamed of the
habit in this part of the country, and my experi
-nce is consequently limited. I have seen only
few smokers.
Question 44.—One case was in the jail at Ra
-jahmandri. A dhobi suddenly became excited.
He was ordinarily a quiet character. I went down
to him and found him very violent. He kicked
at me. Ganja and opium used to be found some
times on prisoners. The man afterwards said some
one had given him something to eat. The jailor
said lie believed it was ganja. He did not see it,
neither did I. I concluded it was ganja, because
I found nothing else that it could be. They said
that it was ganja; the jailor did. But he never
found any ganja. I do not think any thing else
would cause mania like this. I cannot say how
long the symptoms lasted. I began to treat him.
I gave him the stomach pump. I found no leaves or
smell -of the drug. This outbreak occurred at
3 P. M. Next day he was all right. I found no
evidence of ganja, but I concluded it was ganja. I
used the stomach pump, because there was some
warder or some one said something had been eaten.
The man himself after recovering said he had
never taken ganja before, and that he did not know
it was ganja he was eating. This was in answer to
an inquiry of mine as to why he had taken ganja.
What led me to speak of ganja was that I knew
of no other thing that would produce this excite
- m e n t . I d i d n o t i c e t h e c o n d i t i o n o f t h e p u p i l s .
The body temperature was not taken. The man
fought so tremendously that we had to have about
six men to hold him. The symptoms are like the
case of very acute mania. I know nothing about
transient mania. I have never seen a case.
My second case is of a recruit boy in the 21st
Pioneers at Secunderabad in the end of 1891 or
beginning of 1892. He was brought into hospital
about 11 or 12 at night. I was not called to see
him; but the Hospital Assistant described the
same kind of violence as in the dhobi's case. I saw
him about 6 A. M.; he was sleeping. I saw him
a few hours later, and he was quite sensible. He
had been quite out of his mind, they said, and re
-quired several men to hold him. A sepoy had
given him something to drink, the boy said. The
boy had just joined. He was eighteen years old.
I had no evidence of what the thing was. I could
not find out. But the Hospital Assistant and I
agreed that it must have been hemp in some form.
I cannot say when it had been administered. I
asked if the boy had been drinking. They said
there was no smell of drink. I did not ask about
the smell of ganja. No emetic was given or sto
-mach pump used; he was simply held down. I
believed it was ganja, because there was no smell
of liquor and no headache, but eyes bloodshot. This
symptom of bloodshot eyes also appeared in the
dhobi's case. I don't remember anything being
noted about the pupils. You see no evidence was
particularly taken. The boy would not point out
the sepoy that gave him what he took. No doubt
ganja and drink were taken largely in Secunder
-abad.
I have never seen a case in which frenzy has
resulted from smoking. The above are the only
two cases within my personal knowledge on which
I base my answer No. 44. Both had taken the
drug for the first time.
Question 45.—I have never been into the ques
-tion of ganja. I never see it scarcely. My first
sentence is based on what a ganja smoker said.
He said,"It is a bad thing. I should like to
leave-it-off; but
I c a n n o t . " .
I have really no experience as to effects of either
moderate or excessive use, except what I have seen
in lunatics in the cases • shown above, and in other
cases in which I have been told regarding sepoys
that they smoked ganja, though I have not been
able to verify it or get them to acknowledge it.
The man who was found getting ganja in the Chin
hills in a parcel from his mother may certainly be
confidently regarded as a smoker. He was a
worthless man who never did any work.
My second sentence is based on asylum expe
-rience. I thought that as many insanes confessed
to the use of the drug, it was probably one of the
causes of their loss of brain power. There was
only one case of lunacy that I can recall absolutely
attributed to ganja during my five years at Wal
-tair.
My fourth sentence is based on sepoy experience
of cases in which it was generally believed that