CH. X.] REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. 187
cular movement. The nature of the hallucinations depends greatly on the charac-
ter of the individual, and people seem to be able to determine their nature as in
the case of opium. The dreams produced by Indian hemp in inhabitants of
Eastern countries are usually of a sexual character, but when taken by more
civilized people of Western nations they are not sexual, and are often of a disagree-
able nature. During this stage of hallucination the person may conduct himself
rationally, and answer clearly any question put to him. The drug produces in
some persons a curious loss of sense of space and time. This stage is generally
followed by deep sleep. The sensory nerves are benumbed, and there is frequent
tingling and partial anæsthesia. The pupil is dilated. Respiration may be
either quickened or slowed. The action on the pulse is very uncertain. Usually
it is at first quickened, then slowed, sometimes vice versâ. The temperature
rises or sinks according as the drug produces muscular movement or sleep.
The urine is increased. The processes of digestion are less altered by Cannabis
indica than by opium, and the after effects of opium (nausea, headache, etc.) are
not produced." Dr. Russell (Bengal witness No. 105), in his note furnished to Dr.
Prain, gives the following effects of "doses pushed to produce a decided effect":
"Mental effects appear in from three to five minutes; exhilaration and excitement
of a pleasing nature: the subject talkative and merry; laughs and gesticulates;
plays on imaginary musical instruments and sings; converses with imaginary per-
sons; illusions and delusions, usually of a pleasing nature; objective of these
very responsive to external impressions and suggestions; rarely quarrelsome or
combative. Then ensues a condition of repose and quiet contemplation with fixed
stare and immobile pupil. Then drowsiness and restless sleep in from two to
three hours, lasting several hours: on waking, dulness, heaviness, profound depres-
sion, and irritability lasting for many hours. Physical effects in stage of exhi-
laration—conjunctiva reddened, pupil immobile; venous turgescence of face
and head; respiration increased in frequency by three or four per minute; tem-
perature raised two degrees or more; skin dry; a general condition of febrile
excitement, vascular tension, increased pulse, quickened by ten beats or more per
minute, hard, jerky, irregular. At later stage of reaction and drowsiness, skin cold,
dry, pale; temperature subnormal (97° Fahr.); pulse slow, soft, compressible, very
irregular; respirations lessened in frequency and shallow; copious diuresis."
These experiments refer to the drugs bhang and ganja smoked and drunk as an in-
fusion (vide the details of certain of Dr. Russell's e xperiments instituted in 1883
and appended to his evidence). Dr. Prain in his report on the cultivation and use of
ganja refers to some experiments made on cats with alcoholic extracts of ganja, and
Dr. Evans, Officiating Chemical Examiner, Bengal, at the suggestion of the Com-
mission, also instituted a series of experiments on cats. Both these observers refer
to the idiosyncrasy exhibited as to effects in the animals under experiment.
Dr. Evans remarks "that some cats under the influence of the drug were prone
to sleep, and others to the development of the phenomena ascribed to the disturb-
ance of the sensory-motor apparatus; that the same dose relative to the body
weight would in some animals induce disturbance of the sensory-motor mechan-
ism, and in others a varying degree of narcotism. Apart, however, from indi-
vidual idiosyncrasy, the quantity of the dose was found to play an important part
also in determining the character of the effects produced by the drug. For in
certain animals who after certain doses had been recognized as prone to develop
sensory-motor disturbance without marked sleep or narcotism, an increased