CH. XII.] REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. 241
Dhatura.
525. There are three "mixed" cases in which dhatura has been-ascertained
to be a possible cause of insanity. In view of the
facts that dhatura is a more potent intoxicant than
the hemp drugs and produces furious delirium, and that Dr. Cunningham's
experiments appear to indicate clearly that grave cerebral lesions are very early
produced by dhatura and are not produced by ganja, it would probably be safer
to accept these cases as due to dhatura and not to hemp drugs. The Commis-
sion have, however, accepted them as "mixed" cases. It is unnecessary to
make any special remarks on the "mixed" cases in which causes other than
heredity, alcohol, and dhatura appear to contribute to the insanity.
Cases due to hemp drugs.
526. Even in regard to the remaining 61 cases, it must be borne in mind
that it is impossible to say that the use of hemp
drugs was in all the sole cause of insanity, or
indeed any part of the cause. The following considerations combine to demand
caution and reserve in pronouncing an opinion on this point.
Firstly, there are twelve cases in which it has been found impossible to
obtain any further information by local inquiry. In these cases we are thrown back
on the original papers and the asylum history. Besides these, there are ten
more cases in which the patients are beggars and foreign labourers about whose
past history no satisfactory information is obtainable. Thus there remain only
39 of these 61 cases about which anything like a satisfactory inquiry has been
possible. Further, a great majority of these cases come from the lower orders
of cultivators and labourers, from whom information of any value is very difficult
to obtain as to other than the most apparent causes. The fact of the existence
of the hemp habit is easy enough to ascertain, but that it is the cause, or one of
the causes of the insanity, or that it even preceded the insanity, is much more
difficult to establish.
Secondly, the method of inquiry has not been satisfactory in regard to all
the cases referred for local inquiry. In regard to the great majority, the instruc-
tions issued by the Commission as to the agency by which this further inquiry
should be conducted have been carried out. But in some, it will be observed,
even this further inquiry has been left to the police. Then again there are cases,
such as those of the Hyderabad (Sind) Asylum, in which the Superintendent has
necessarily been the principal agent in the inquiry, and has, perhaps, not unnatur-
ally, but certainly unfortunately, evinced a strong tendency to defend the old
asylum entries regarding cause. The series of questions framed by the Civil
Surgeon of Delhi for use in the further inquiry also illustrates a tendency to
assume that the cases were hemp drug cases, and thus to limit the scope of the
inquiry.
Thirdly, it may be noted that excess in the use of hemp drugs is very fre-
quently only one of several vices in which a dissipated man indulges. Further
inquiry has proved this in several cases. There is strong probability that had
information been complete, it would have been established in many more cases. It
is impossible in such cases to say definitely to what form of excess insanity may be
mainly due. Further, it is an accepted and established fact that intemperance of
any kind may sometimes be not the cause of insanity, but an early manifestation
of mental instability. Dr. Conolly Norman (Hack Tuke's Dictionary of Psycho-
61