2
understood. A brief sketch is therefore here given of the usual configuration and
disposition of parts ; this is followed by a resumé of the abnormal conditions
hitherto observed or reported ; the facts having been stated, their bearing on the
problems under discussion is then considered : the nature of the ovary and origin
of the ovule are dealt with first ; the character and manifestation of the diclinism
are then examined.
Since 1893, when the writer was deputed by Government to enquire into the cultivation
and use of Gánjá in Bengal, the subject of Cannabis has interested him, and has occupied his
attention at intervals. It is difficult to say in what direction the interest is greatest ; whether
it centres in the form of the plant that held, from the earliest times, in the estimation of the
northern peoples outside the pale of the Egyptian, Assyrian and Mediterranean civilisations,
the place that, as a fibre-plant, flax held among the races which these civilisations
influenced ; or whether it resides in the form of the plant which produces the potent
narcotic that, though unknown to the Arabs till they conquered Persia, has since then spread
to most lands and races influenced by the Arab faith. In either case the study of Canna-
bis offers a series of problems of agricultural, commercial, chemical and physiological
interest, and leads into many historical, ethnological and linguistic bye-paths. The
obscurity of its original habitat ; the strange effects and peculiar character of its narcotic
resin ; the mystery that surrounds the problem of its sexuality ; the dubiety that exists as
regards its floral structure, all conspire to sustain the interest that has been taken by so
many writers in the subject of Cannabis .
In the section dealing with the normal structure of the flowers of Cannabis , subordinate
passages have been added which attempt to trace the gradual evolution of our existing
knowledge. This has more than a direct interest ; it illustrates how features that, if not
obvious, are nevertheless readily apparent when looked for, may long escape the notice of
the closest observers ; it emphasises the value of direct observation as compared with the
uncritical adoption of the observations of previous workers ; it inspires a hope that one's own
imperfect observations may yet prove stepping stones to those who follow.
A considerable number of the teratological facts here recorded were noted in 1893
while the writer was engaged in the enquiry into Gánjá already alluded to. At the request
of friends the drawings were exhibited and remarked on before the Linnean Society of
London on November 15th, 1894 1 ; the invitation to publish a paper was declined because the
deductions that seemed to follow from the conditions observed, which are those contained in
this paper, did not then appear altogether conclusive ; and because it was hoped that in the
already quoted work by Briosi and Tognini, the appearance of which was at the time expected,
the same ground might be covered. That valuable treatise, however, deals only incidentally
with teratological considerations and does not systematically employ them in the discussion o f
the particular problems which it leaves unsolved. The writer has hoped, since Briosi and Tog
-
nini's Intorno all' anatomia della Canapa appeared, that some European botanist with more
leisure than is at his disposal, would deal exhaustively with the teratology of hemp.
He has himself, during the interval, revisited the area to which the cultivation of Cannabis
is in Bengal restricted, and has grown plants experimentally in the Royal Botanic Garden
at Shibpur. In this way he has been able to test and confirm the majority of his orginal
observations of 1893 and in certain directions to supplement them. Now, finding that no
one has been led to take up the subject independently, he offers here the information at
his disposal.
1 Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London : April 1896, p. 3.