143
ation probably would be made if information of a
reliable character could be obtained, but this is not
often done. The alteration would not be made
without the permission of the Magistrate. Form
C ought to be filled up by the Magistrate. That has
been my experience in four other stations. The Civil
Surgeon has not the same facilities as the Magis-
trate for collecting the required information as to
history and cause. The case comes to the Civil
Surgeon for observation only. As Superintendent
of the Asylum, I should not alter the register,
of which the entries have been derived from Form
C, without reporting the matter to the Magistrate.
Any alteration of the kind would have a record in
the shape of an erasure and a reference to the Magis-
trate. The Magistrate has the facility of making en-
quiry that is supplied by the attendance of the rela-
tions in some cases. I don't know the procedure
followed by the police. In the case of Guljar Shah
the entry in the asylum register is ganja-smoking.
That does not agree with head 12 in Form C,
where the entry is " The abovementioned ganja-
smoking and religious and isolated habits," and
the assistant admitted to me that a mistake had
been made in not copying the whole entry which
appears in Form C. In the case of Rangnath
Trimbak, the cause entered in the asylum register
is " Drinks bhang," while the entry against head 12
of Form C is " Unknown." It is probable that
the entry in the register was taken from the entry
against head 6 of Form C, which is apparently
copied verbatim. This was not in my time, but
I think that if an entry in Form C shows that
the lunatic drinks bhang it would be a mistake to put
cause unknown against head 12 of the form, even
though bhang may not have been the only cause.
In the case of Trimbak Vinayak, the entry against
head 12 of Form C is " Ganja-smoking and absti-
nence from food," and in the register the cause
is put down as " Ganja-smoking." This occurred
before my time. The Superintendent may not
have considered that abstinence from food was an
existing cause, but I think he was wrong in mak-
ing the entry he did. In the case of Laxman
Nandram, the entry " Ganja and liquor " reverses
the order in which the drug appears in head 6 of
Form C, and is contrary to head 12 of Form C,
where the entry is " Unknown." I can't explain
why this was done. In the case of Hari Trimbak,
the entry against head 12 of Form C is " Unknown
beyond the habit of smoking ganja," and in the
register " Ganja-smoking." In the case of Paras-
ram there is no entry of cause in Form C, but
against heads 11 and 12 appears : " He had an
illness seven years ago, but does not give a clear
account." The register shews " Ganja-smoking."
In these six cases the register entry does not agree
with the Civil Surgeon's certificate, and there ought
to be something on the record to explain the differ-
ence. I cannot explain the procedure of that time,
for Dr. Hughes was in charge and the assistant is
dead. It is from this register that the annual
returns are compiled which show these six cases
as the only hemp drug admissions of 1892.
In the case of Guljar Shah there is no further
information beyond that furnished in the papers.
I think ganja has been properly entered as the
cause. It was in my opinion the chief and the
existing cause; and I think that, if the man had
not taken the ganja, he would not have become
insane, although the ascetic and isolated habit may
have predisposed him towards insanity. The fur-
ther information that has been gathered by recent
enquiry in the case of Rangnath shows that the
b h a n g ¬ d r i n k i n g w a s mo d e r a t e , a n d i n a c c o r d a n c e
with what I had previously been told. But my
private opinion is that the bhang drinking must
have been greater. As a rule the insanity from
bhang drinking passes off quickly, and I think
there must have been a predisposing cause in the
present case, because the man had previously been
insane, and his present attack had lasted two and
a half years. I believe that country liquor is
more likely to cause insanity than bhang, and I
have no reason to doubt that in the present case
the man did take liquor, as he himself said. The
case may therefore have been due to both liquor
and bhang, and liquor may have been the more
important factor of the two. The asylum records
show that during the last five years there have
been 31 admissions from ganja, 1 from bhang,
and 10 from country liquor, and I therefore regard
liquor as a more prolific cause of insanity than
bhang.
In the case of Trimbak Vinayak, I think the
cause is ganja, the effects of which were increased
by the abstinence from food. In the case of Lax
¬ m a n N a n d r a m , t h e l u n a t i c w a s i n s a n e f o r t w o
and a half years before he came into the asylum
and one and a half years since. I see no reason to
doubt his statement that he only smoked ganja
occasionally and drank liquor frequently for years.
The dose of ganja, as shown in the recent enquiry,
is moderate. If the man's statement regarding
his drinking is accepted, I think it may have been,
as much as ganja, the existing cause, or perhaps
the more important cause. In any case, there was
probably some predisposing cause.
In the case of Parasram, the recent enquiry
has not resulted in confirming the alleged ganja
habit. But I think nevertheless that the man's in-
sanity was due to ganja, because he admits the prac-
tice; and I do not believe that he gave up the habit
five or ten years ago. He says this sometimes, but
at other times he admits the habit. His
appearance also confirms me in my opinion. The
fact that in the recent enquiry people who knew
the insane say that they never saw him indulge
in ganja makes us regard the case as a doubtful
one. If I were preparing statistics for the
purpose of showing the effects of hemp drugs, I
should not class this as a hemp case.*
In the case of Hari Trimbak, the Civil
Surgeon evidently had doubts as to the cause of
insanity. I have never known insanity to arise
from cholera, though the disease might predispose
it by weakening the constitution. I don't at-
tribute the attack of insanity in this case to the
cholera. If the insane had not resumed his ganja
habit after recovery from the cholera, I don't
think he would have become insane. The cholera
weakened the man's constitution and rendered him
more liable to the ganja poison.
Out of the six hemp cases admitted to the
asylum in 1892, I would only exclude the two
cases of Rangnath and Parasram for the reasons
given above.
The usual type of hemp drug insanity is acute
mania. Acute mania may be due to various causes.
* Extract from a letter No. 112, dated 6th December 1893,
from the Magistrate, 1st Class, Bhusawal, Khandesh, to the
Superintendent, Lunatic Asylum, Poona, read over to
witness.
* * * * * * *
" None of the persons who knew anything of Parasram
says that he was ever addicted to smoking ganja or taking
any other narcotic or alcohol in any form whatsoever. There
is nothing except the medical certificate (copy not retained.
here) sent you that he ever smoked ganja at all."
* * * * * * *