CH. XII.] REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. 251
series of experiments on monkeys. A full account of the experiment with ganja
is given in paragraph 483. Dr. Cunningham reports on naked-eye inspection that
"the cerebro-spinal nervous centres were all apparently perfectly healthy." The
results of the histological examination are not before the Commission, but it is
hoped that they will be received in time to be included in the appendix. So far
as the information from all sources before the Commission is concerned, there is
no evidence of any brain lesions being directly caused by hemp drugs, as they
have been found to be caused by alcohol and dhatura; and there is evidence that
the coarse brain lesions produced by alcohol and dhatura are not produced by
hemp drugs.
Cerebral stimulants.
537. The precise physiological effects induced by the inhalation of the
products of the destructive distillation of hemp resin
and those arising from the exhibition of the resin by
the stomach are probably not identical, but in both cases there is ample evidence
that the use of the drug in either form may first cause cerebral stimulation, and
then depress the functional activity of the brain. François Franck and Pitre's
experiments (Arch. de Physiol., 1883), quoted by Lauder Brunton, indicate
that in the case of dogs the excitability of the brain is increased by the
administration of Cannabis, a purified form of hemp resin, so that the tendency
to epileptic convulsions is greatly increased, and may be induced by very much
slighter stimuli than usual. Alcohol is a typical cerebral stimulant, and any
drug which, like alcohol, increases the functional activity of the brain, may,
like alcohol, give rise to what is technically known as "an intoxication." The
effect of alcohol may result in three principal sets of symptoms, which are
admirably se tforth by Legrain (Dictionary of Psychological Medicine).
(a) Taken in large amounts, in a short time it produces acute symptoms,
which are immediate, but temporary—intoxication or drunken-
ness.
(b) Alcohol if taken often and in great quantities, or if the drunkenness
is nearly continuous, or if the individuals are not very strong in
brain, accumulates in the organism without being at any time
completely eliminated, and gives rise to acute symptoms of longer
duration than mere intoxication—delirium tremens.
(c) Alcohol regularly or irregularly introduced into the system for a
long time in doses even short of producing immediate symptoms
is known to produce general disorders and progressive lesions,
characterized by weakening of the faculties and premature
dementia, the ensemble of the symptoms constituting chronic
alcoholism.
The analogues of these chief effects of alcohol may also be traced in the
symptoms induced by hemp drugs, in which we have—
(a) The condition of more or less delirium with hallucinations and
merriment as occurring in a person who has taken what is to him a
large dose of the drug, the symptoms being only temporary—
hemp drug intoxication.
(b) The condition of wild frenzy, with symptoms of transitory mania
occurring in a person who has systematically indulged largely
in the drugs—hemp drug delirium.