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lunatics admitted to asylums whose insanity is
caused by ganja. But they may be fairly taken
to represent the proportion which ganja-smokers
bear to the rest of the population of the asylum.
That is how I have regarded it. By ganja-
smokers I mean people who have used the drug
in any degree.
What I mean is that as practically every
smoker's insanity is attributed in the returns to
ganja, the returns really show, not the number
who have gone mad from using ganja, but
merely the number of lunatics who are also ganja-
smokers or have used the drug. That is all I
find in the returns. To ascertain the effects of
ganja in producing insanity it would be necessary
to compare this proportion of ganja-smokers
inside the asylum with the proportion of ganja-
smokers in the outside population. That is, if
the proportion of smokers outside was ten per cent.
and the proportion of smokers inside was thirty
per cent., then two-thirds of the ganja-smokers
inside the asylum may legitimately be taken as
insane through ganja. I could give no reliable
idea whatever as to what is the proportion
outside. That is a matter for native evidence
mainly. Therefore I can give no reliable idea as
to the amount of insanity really due to ganja.
On the other hand, I believe myself that it is a
cause of insanity in many cases. The only
justification of the comparison of these proportions
inside and outside the asylum is that ganja is an
ascertained cause of insanity in a certain number
of cases. In comparing these proportions we
would have to remember the classes from which
the lunatics come to our asylums.
Taking now the records shown me of all the
so-called ganja cases admitted in Dacca in 1887
(my last year) I find—
(1) Gopal Chandra De.—The cause assigned in
the descriptive roll is grief and jealousy, and
I do not think this should have been entered
as a ganja case, merely because he was
addicted to the drug. He also drank
occasionally. This case would more properly
be put down to grief or jealousy.
(2) Guru Dayal, cooly.—Was addicted to spirits
as well as ganja. It is a mixed case, that
is to say, it is doubtful which is the cause.
(3) Isan Haldar.—This case seems a ganja
case, though the man is still insane. It
is a chronic case. There is nothing, however,
absolutely characteristic in the case. There
is no other assigned cause.
(4) Harish Chandra's does not seem to have
been a ganja case. The man became insane
in jail, and the chances are against ganja
being the cause. It was a case of very
brief mania.
(5) Rampriya Brahman's case was clearly not
ganja. Insanity due to peripheral irritation
is well recognized. That was probably the
case here, as there was no improvement for
one year until the man passed four hundred
worms, after which he steadily improved.
(6) Nathu Singh's case was possibly a ganja
case, although the man is still insane; a
chronic case.
(7) Bishnu Ram's case was probably a ganja
case. There is not much reason to doubt it.
(8) Sohan Panchi's case was complicated with
epilepsy. Epilepsy is often followed by
violent crime, such as this man is charged
with. Epilepsy is a cause of insanity.
Ganja is believed to be a cause. It would
be difficult to say which is the cause. This
is a mixed case. Some of the symptoms
point to its being probably ganja rather
than epilepsy
(9) Gobra's is probably a ganja case. There was
no other cause given and it was violent
mania gradually subsiding.
(10) Musammat Jagat Tara's is more likely a
liquor case. There is nothing characteristic
of ganja and the woman took liquor.
(11) Brajanath Surma's case is probably a ganja
case, there being no other cause apparent;
and the sudden violence of his conduct
makes it probable that ganja was the cause.
The prolonged duration is not against this
view. All do not recover. He is still
insane.
(12) Ananta Baisnavi's was possibly a ganja
case. There was, however no violence.
The probability was that she was never
insane at all. She was a little excitable.
That may have been from any cause. There
seems to have been no insanity.
(13) Kakaram Changa's case is possibly ganja.
One would need to know more of the cir-
cumstances of the "grievous hurt" he
caused. But the seven years' duration up
to now in the case of a lad of twenty is
clear against the drug. There is nothing
in the records to make one regard this as a
ganja case.
(14) Rajkumar Roy is shown in the descriptive
roll as using dhatura, bhang, ganja, and
opium. I exclude opium as a cause. I am
not aware that I have seen a case of insanity
unquestionably due to dhatura. I therefore
regard this as due to hemp drugs.
That is, in this year we have out of fourteen,
five cases probably due to hemp drugs, three of
which are mixed or doubtful in cause, and six of
which I should exclude from the hemp drug
category. Taking my whole asylum experience
I think that this may probably be accepted as
fairly representative of the real state of the case.
I cannot of course say more than this. The ad-
missions for the year 1887 were fifty-five, of
which these fourteen were attributed to ganja.
Note by the Commission, appended to
DR. CROMBIE'S evidence.
Dr. Crombie in the last sentence of the Appen-
dix to his written evidence says: "I have, how-
ever, clearly in my mind one case of a Bengali
Babu, who, as the result of a single debauch, in
an attack of ganja mania, slew seven of his
nearest relatives in bed during the night, made a
rapid recovery, and never again exhibited signs of
insanity during the ten years he was under obser-
vation."
Before the Opium Commission, Dr.
Crombie was reported to have alluded to the same
case in the following terms:—"I have never
known a case of 'running amok' produced by
opium. In my experience it has invariably been
caused by ganja. I know the case of a young
Bengali who indulged in a single debauch with
ganja. He went round the house at night and
slew seven of his own relations in their beds."
Dr. Crombie was able to give the Hemp Drugs
Commission sufficient clue to the records in this
case, and they were obtained. The Asylum
papers showed that the man, Kailash Chandra
Maulik, was sent to the Dacca Asylum from