CH. XII.] REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. 229
police statements or descriptive rolls. The first of these is Brigade-Surgeon-
Lieutenant-Colonel Hooper, who says that his "practice has not been to enter the
cause at once, but to wait until a diagnosis of the case has been made. Then, if
the supposed cause, as shown in the Magistrate's statement, is not inconsistent
with the diagnosis of the insanity, or with the information received from friends
who may have come, or with statements made by the man himself if he recovers
sufficiently, that cause is entered in the register." The part played by diagnosis
in the determination of cause is, however, somewhat visionary; for Dr. Hooper
says that there are no symptoms peculiar to hemp drug insanity except perhaps
more speedy recovery, and that an accurate history is "absolutely essential;
it is the only means by which you can arrive at a diagnosis." As to the state-
ments of friends, Dr. Hooper seems to think that friends visit patients in the
majority of cases. If this is so in Lucknow, his experience differs from that of
Superintendents elsewhere. It is possible, however, that he may be mistaken,
for it appears that enquiries from friends are "not ordinarily" made by him, but
by the Deputy Superintendent. The statements of lunatics also appear from
his evidence rarely to affect the entries. There is one point on which Dr. Hooper
specially insists, viz., that any fact established regarding heredity would exclude
the ganja theory. Turning to the cases for 1892, it is found that there was one
case in which the lunatic's brother was insane, and another where a direct an-
cestor was insane; but no notice was taken of these facts in determining cause,
and the cases were entered as due to hemp drugs. It also appears that in 14
out of the 17 cases shown as due to hemp drugs, this cause is entered in accord-
ance either with the entry in the papers regarding cause, or with that regarding
the lunatic's habits. Of the remaining three cases, there is in one an alleged
statement by the lunatic's brother (afterwards denied). In another the lunatic
"recognizes bhang and makes contradictory statements as to its use." In the
third, there is the statement of the lunatic himself while still insane.
The second Superintendent who states that he adopts exceptional practice
is Brigade-Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel Keith of Hyderabad (Sind), who says
that "the only ground, so far as I can remember, on which I would enter cause
would be information of friends or the statement of the insane after he had
recovered his wits." It is striking that of the 13 cases set down to hemp drugs
in 1892, the cause as entered in the register corresponds in 10 cases with that
entered in the papers sent with the lunatic. In the other three cases no basis for
the entry of cause is given at all. In one case the Superintendent told the
members of the Commission who visited the asylum that the entry was based on
a statement made by the father; this the father now denies. In the other two
cases, no such explanation was given by Dr. Keith to the members of the Com-
mission; but that officer now says (probably on the authority of some subordinate)
that these two lunatics used to ask for the drug in the asylum. No record of any
such fact was found in the register. The Commission are unable in view of all
that has been ascertained of these cases to attach much weight to these
statements.
The third exceptional case is that of Surgeon-Major Dobie of Madras.
In his letter of 20th October 1893 (vide Vol. II Appendices) Dr. Dobie said:
"I am responsible for the entry of the cause as ganja in the first 14 cases [of
1892]. In no case have I entered it as a cause without such evidence as led me
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