321
my hospital records I find that out of 49 purely
ganja cases 24 were violent, 7 boisterous, 6 talka-
tive, 1 suicidal, 9 had large delusions, and 2 were
religious maniacs. The practice in the Campbell
Hospital is to send away lunatics to Dullunda, or
to make them over to their relatives when they
have lucid intervals, so re-admissions are not very
frequent; but in my private practice I have found
relapses always follow whenever the old habit of
using hemp drugs is resumed. I know of people who
when very young, about 17 or 18 years old, con-
tracted the habit of smoking ganja, and within a
short time they became inveterate ganja-smokers.
After some four years or so they became insane
temporarily.
There was no family history of
nervous disease of any sort.
47. No. I do not think that such children
suffer from any nervous disease.
49. In small doses used as aphrodisiac. I do
not know whether prostitutes use it for such pur-
poses, and my information goes to show that it
is not much used by them for such purposes.
Not more injurious than other narcotics. I do
not think it tends to produce impotency.
51. Not that I do know of. As far as my ex-
perience goes, the moderate use of these drugs
has little or no connection with crime.
52. I cannot remember of any definite case.
53. Excessive indulgence in ganja does incite
to violent crime. I know of a certain individual
who came from a good family, and who contracted
the habit of smoking ganja very early. At last
he became insane.
One day, after he had
taken ganja he attacked a female relation of his,
and killed her. On judicial enquiry he was found
to be insane, and thus escaped the extreme penalty
of law.
54. I have heard so.
55. Not that I know of. Complete stupefaction
cannot be produced by preparations of hemp un-
less the quantity be very large, which itself will
produce suspicion in the mind of the intended
victim. In McLeod's book of Medico Legal Ex-
perience, page 115, only one case of death from
bhang poisoning is mentioned. It was reported
from Benares, but the issue of this case was not
stated in the original. Majum, a preparation of
bhang by boiling it in milk, and sweetmeats pre-
pared with that milk. Two cases of poisoning by
it are reported from Hoshangabad by Dr. P.
Cullen in the "Indian Medical Gazette" for June
1868. It was not administered with the intention
of causing death, but to effect a criminal purpose.
56. The ingredients I have mentioned before,
and which are mixed with bhang, are used to
make the drink palatable. Dhatura is mixed with
bhang for personal consumption. I do not know
the mixture to have been used for criminal pur-
poses; it is quite possible to be thus used though.
57. I do not know of such instances.
Oral evidence.
I entered Government service in May 1873.
My medical degree is L. M. S. of Calcutta.
Question 20.—Here I speak of the percentage
only of the districts mentioned. I take 20 per
cent. of the entire population. Consumers are 30
per cent. of adult males. About 10 per cent. of
women take bhang also. Of children the per-
centage would be little over nil.
Question 25.—I know several people in my
social experience of Eastern Bengal people, who
smoke ganja to make the intoxication of drink
more profound. They call it "chabuk" (or
whip). My experience of Eastern Bengal is very
limited; but I see many of the people here. I
know a hundred well-to-do people from Eastern
Bengal, and specially from Mymensingh, who
have this double habit. I do not know of any
special circumstances in Mymensingh which could
explain this. It is the force of example. I have
seen the double habit in syces and palki-bearers,
but not as a rule among the labouring classes.
Question 29.—Dhatura is only exceptionally
used.
Question 37.—My statement regarding charas
is based on the statements of some mendicants,
to whom I gave charas. They said it was weaker
than ganja. I have no theory to offer as to this.
I have not thought over it.
Question 46.—I have before me the bed-head
tickets on which I base my figures in this answer.
I was assisted in preparing the figures by my
students. I made the entries as to cause when
the patients were under my treatment. I have
charge (under the Superintendent) of the pauper
insanes who come to the Campbell Hospital.
The Superintendent is also Police Surgeon. These
entries were made on each case in reference to
that case alone, and not in pursuance of any gene-
ral enquiry. They were made in connection with
the reports which I have to make on such cases
to the Superintendent, with a view to his deciding
how they are to be disposed of. These entries are
based (a) some on the information supplied by
the police on the descriptive roll, (b) some on in-
formation given by relatives or friends; this is a
small proportion of the cases, as most of the
insanes are strangers to Calcutta; and (c) some on
information given by the insanes themselves. No
entry of information based on the last two sources
of information would be entered in the descrip-
tive rolls. It would not go out of the Hospital.
I have no authority to make entries in the de-
scriptive rolls. It is not part of my duty or of
the duty of the Police Surgeon to certify as to
cause.
I invite attention, as an example, to the bed-
head ticket of Dharma. In this case I ascertained
that the lunatic used ganja and bhang. Because
I ascertained this I put this down as the cause of
insanity. It is not put down how much he used,
but it was said that he used it often. This is not
put down, but this is my impression. If a man
used any intoxicating drug often, I would accept
that as a cause of the insanity; not necessarily
the only cause. I should not consider it necessary
to prove actual excess. If he took it habitually,
that would be enough. The reason is that I have
seen people of weak mind, who, if they take any
intoxicating drug, go to excess. Hence, when I
get the history of any insane taking these drugs,
I do not stop to enquire whether it is in excess or
not. If there were any peculiarity in the insanity,
I should go on to enquire as to other causes, but
not otherwise; for it is not my duty to do more
really than ascertain the fact of insanity. By
"peculiarity" I mean suicidal tendency or reli-
gious mania or monomania or dementia. I would
go on to further inquiry as to these cases; be-
cause they are the cases which are generally here-
ditary. Apart from hereditary tendency, ganja
cases are simply violent, and have not those charac-
teristics so marked; but they exist. It is a mere
matter of degree.
The only causes shown in the 263 bed-head
tickets are drugs of various kinds and epilepsy.
There were six cases of epilepsy. In all of these
2 X