283
46. The excessive use does impair the constitu-
tion, and has evil effects both moral and mental.
There is no doubt about this. It injures the
appetite and digestion finally. It causes bron-
chitis, asthma, and dysentery. It impairs the
moral sense in every way. It has been the exciting
cause of insanity (homicidal mania) in two cases
under my observation in hospital. There have been
also five cases of insanity under my observation in
the Central Jail, and the type has been that of
mania with homicidal tendencies. The insanity
is in many cases temporary, but it may be re-
induced by a return to the use of the drug. No
doubt of this. The symptoms are violent, and
there is a tendency to homicide. Insanes do not
usually confess to the use of the drug. I have
noticed in several cases that the patients were
suffering from old standing disease, chiefly stric-
ture.
47. No.
49. (a) and (b) Yes.
(c) It is generally used in small doses, and is
less injurious than its use as an ordinary narcotic.
It is also accompanied with good food.
(d) The use of the drug ends in impotence.
50. The drugs are not used in large or excessive
doses as a rule when required for aphrodisiac
purposes. Such use would defeat its purpose.
56. The effects of the drug are weakened when
taken in moderation by the admixture of opium,
betul-nut and nux vomica for personal consumption.
Oral evidence.
Question 1.—I have twenty years' service, nine-
teen of which have been passed in civil employ. I
first practised privately for a year, and was then in
military employ for one year before entering on civil
employ. I have been twelve years in North Arcot.
I served in the same district as well as in South
Arcot and Salem as Sanitary Officer during the
famine of 1877. I have had no special experience
in insanity. I have been in medical charge of the
Central Jail at North Arcot while I have served in
that district. During the time I have been in
North Arcot I have also had charge of the military
hospital for details and sick from Burma.
Question 29.—Nux vomica and betel-leaf are not
intoxicating.
Question 33.— The drug has for several genera-
tions among Hindus unduly fallen into its great
disrepute, and with Europeans in India, as it is
the drug of the poor man and associated in their
mind with squalor; poverty and crime, and the
knowledge that it is used in the haunts of vice and
in the low bazaars of big towns. The beneficial
uses of the drug have been quite forgotten owing
to its abuse. The use is not common in Southern
India. Crime is not unfrequently associated with
the drug without suff icient grounds.
Question 45. —The cases mentioned under
Question 39 are the same as those mentioned under
Question 46. I have had no opportunity of notic-
ing the effects of the moderate use of the hemp
drugs. They have not come before me.
Question 46.—My answer regarding the effects
of the excessive use (excluding insanity) are based
on my inspection of smokers in the ganja shops
and the opinions of Muhammadan private practi-
tioners whom I have consulted. So much of my
answer, therefore, is not the outcome of my pro-
fessional experience gained in the course of treat-
ment. The examinations at the shops were made
only with a view to answering the questions of the
vol. vi.
Commission. I did not find men actually suffer-
ing from any of the diseases named, but I found
them in broken-down health. There was a large
proportion of men in broken-down health, but I
only paid three visits in all to the shops, and the
same man did not come under my observation a
second time. The men in broken-down health
were decidedly poor people. Their physical condi-
tion may have been in my opinion to some extent
due to their poverty: it is the drug of the poor man.
Except the five cases of insanity and two of homicidal
mania, I have not in my twenty years' experience
ever had the evil effects of the drug brought to my
personal notice.
All the seven cases of insanity I have mentioned
were ultimately transferred to the lunatic asylum.
The two eases (homicidal mania) first mentioned
occurred in the Military Hospital at Nellore. One
of them was a case which occurred the very day I
took charge from Dr. Pemberton. The man was
sentenced to 8 years' imprisonment. The man was
sent ultimately to the asylum in 1891, because he
became insane again, apparently from using the
drug, for he was found. in possession of a bundle of
ganja which had been smuggled into the jail. The
other was the case of a sepoy who was admitted
one night into the Regimental Hospital because he
had been found in the regimental lines behaving
in a violent manner, striking and beating people.
He was in a state of violent delirium when brought
in. His brother and other relatives told me that
he had been smoking in a ganja shop that night ;
that he was a quiet man at other times, and that
this condition was due to ganja ; that he was in the
habit of taking ganja ; that this was not the first
time lie had become violent. After about two days
he became quiet, and was sent for further observa-
tion to the jail, as I could. not keep him in the
Military Hospital any longer. At the jail also he
was under my observation. I reported upon his
case as District Surgeon, with the result that he
was sent to the lunatic asylum. He tried to strike
the Hospital Assistant and his relatives, and there-
fore I have called his case one of homicidal mania.
In the jail the type of his insanity changed, and he
became more or less imbecile. It was the fear of
his breaking out again which induced his relatives
to ask me to send him to the asylum, as he had six
children at home. I had a good deal of commu-
nication with the relatives about this man. I re-
ported the case as due to ganja. I enquired into
the cause of his insanity. The history as well as
the marks on his hands showed it to be a case of
ganja insanity. I asked the relatives what the
cause of his condition was, and they told me he had
been to the ganja shop. That was the enquiry
which I made, and which led me to attribute the
case to ganja. I asked no other question with re-
gard to cause, as the relatives gave a complete his-
tory of ganja. I cannot remember now, but I
must also have asked if there had been family
troubles. I looked upon ganja as the exciting
cause; I cannot say whether any predisposing
cause was present. Any cause which would drive
a man to smoking, such as sorrow, poverty, I should
regard as a predisposing cause. I did not make
enquiry regarding heredity in the case. I
cannot remember if notes of the case will appear
in the books of the Military Hospital. The Sub-
Collector sent the man up and issued the warrant
for his detention in jail for further observation.
The military authorities moved the civil authorities
to take action in the matter. I am doubtful if
the case was entered in the military book.
The other five cases of insanity were cases which
came under my observation in my capacity of
2 Q 2