155
Drinking bhang is considered a safer and more
healthy practice than smoking ganja.
39. It is generally admitted, and I believe with
much truth, that the habitual excessive smoking
of hemp induces a tendency towards producing
insanity, and this opinion is confirmed by some
cases which have come under my professional
observations.
40. In some cases of asthma and diseases of the
lungs smoking of hemp is recommended as a great
palliative of the attack. Amongst cattle, and especi-
ally amongst buffaloes, it is given with the object
of causing an increased flow of milk. Bhang
leaves are used for fumigation in hœmorrhoids and
fistula of anus.
41. A. moderate use of bhang is beneficial in
its effects—
(a) as giving a stimulus to appetite;
(b) as a restorative under severe strain of the
system or in alleviating the effects of
fatigue.
(c) It is said to be a febrifuge in malarious
districts.
It tends to keep up the vital powers, especially
amongst those accustomed to hard labour, as wood-
cutters and carriers of heavy loads.
42. I consider the moderate use of bhang bene-
ficial as discussed in the above question. Jewel-
lers and goldsmiths generally take a small quantity
of bhang before commencing their usual daily
avocations.
44. The immediate effect is that of slight ex-
citement with incoherent and a rapid succession
of thoughts. In small doses it is refreshing. In
large doses it produces intoxication. The effects
last for four or five hours. The after-effects are
languor and lassitude.
45. No, it does not.
46. Hxbitual excessive use of the drug produces
derangement of the mental powers. It reduces
the vital powers of the system, and renders the
consumer liable to attacks of dysentery and bron-
chitis. It has the effect of impairing the moral
sense, and produces habits of immorality or de-
bauchery. In cases where insanity is produced
by the use of hemp drugs, the type is generally
that of imbecility or idiotcy, and is almost in-
curable.
49. It is said that a moderate use of bhang is
made as an aphrodisiac by prostitutes. Excessive
and constant use of hemp has a tendency to pro-
duce impotence.
50. Excessive use of these articles, especially of
ganja, is prejudicial to health. It destroys ap-
petite instead of stimulating it. It undermines
the vital powers of the system, ands lastly it leads
to insanity.
56. The admixture of dhatura to bhang is in
use only amongst those who have contracted ex-
cessive and inveterate habits, with the object of
intensifying the effects of the drug at a minimum
of cost.
Oral evidence.
Question 1.—
I
was educated in the Grant Me-
dical College, and am G. G. M. C. (Graduate,
Grant Medical College), having taken my degree
before the University came into existence. I
have thirty-three years' service all in this presi-
dency. I have no special experience about insani-
ty : no asylum experience. Being in charge of
the Mahikantha Agency for one year gave me
vol. vii.
some experience of ganja ; there were 1,000
people employed on the horses, of whom about one-
third used hemp drugs. This was in 1860. I
have had occasional experience since.
Question 3.—By the last clause I mean that
it is now more easy to obtain liquor surreptitiously
than it used to be. I am only speaking from
experience in the city of Surat.
Question 46.—My statements here as to in-
sanity are based on my Mahikantha experiences
among the troopers. I have no more recent ex-
perience. I have had one case more recent than
these (which occurred in 1860). I have had a
case in Surat, six years ago. I have no case since
then ; teat is my last case. Nor do I remember
any case between 1860 and the Surat case. The
man was a Hindu about 24 or 25. I believe he
was single, but do not know. He was brought to
me for treatment in 1887 suffering from dementia.
He was brought by his relations as a private patient.
His relations informed me that at the age of 15 or
16 he contracted the habit of smoking ganja. I
was not told where he learned the habit : these
people are not accurate in their statements. Since
he had contracted the habit he had left off going
to school and was constantly in the habit of wander-
ing in the streets. I was told that his habits
gradually became filthy, not particular about clean-
liness, and that his memory so far disappeared
that he could not recognize even his friends or re-
lations. He was not violent or a terror to his
neighbours. I did not send him to the hospital,
and recommended that he should be washed, and
declared that the case was almost incurable. He
was brought before me on two or three occasions at
intervals of two or three months. He was only
brought to me as an out-door patient, i e . ,
f o r a
few minutes or half an hour at a time. He was
not an official patient ; so I took no notes of the
case.
The only cause the relations could assign for
his insanity was smoking ganja. I enquired as
to whether he was a great student or had any
strain on his brain ; but they could not give me
any positive reply. I also asked about immoral-
ity. They could nit give me any answer. I believe
they were either ashamed to reveal the real
state of his mind or perhaps they did not know.
They said there was no hereditary tendency :
that he had no mad relative. I do not remember
whether I asked about liquor, as he was a Hindu.
They said he had begun to fail at about the age
of 15 or 16, and had grown gradually worse. I
formed the opinion at the time that this insanity
was due to ganja. I cannot say that I am con-
vinced that it was not due to venereal excess.
The relations told me be was a lively boy up
to fifteen. I had not seen him before he was
brought to me. The only peculiar symptoms of
hemp drug insanity are a peculiar despondency of
mind and dread of relations and friends. I be-
lieve there is also a loss of venereal power. I re-
gard these as typical symptoms, using the word
" typical " in a medical sense. From these symp-
toms I would be led to form an opinion that the
insanity was due to hemp drugs. I would be in-
clined to diagnose it even without any history.
Any or all of these symptoms might be due to
other causes. I would attach some importance to
the history also. I believe I cannot say that any
case of insanity is due to hemp drugs from the
symptoms without the history. History is not the
sole means of arriving at a diagnosis: symptoms
must also be taken into consideration. I base my
z 2