134
REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94.
[APP.
His main delusion throughout has been that he is a successful Railway Engineer and
has performed wonderful engineering feats (building railways and digging tunnels, &c.).
Makes his own silver from "gitti" by heating it. Says that his pay was Rs. 1,006 per
mensem and that he now has over Rs. 18,000 saved up. Calculates 32 days to the month
and 15 months in the year. His physical health is fairly, good; he usually is contented and
cheerful. Patellar reflexy completely absent. Pupils somewhat contracted, and respond
sluggishly to the stimulus of light and for purposes of accommodation; no marked tremor
of tongue on protrusion; no distinct paralysis, but he is inclined to totter when he stands
with his eyes shut and walks backwards very slowly.
His left hand shows a central thickening and discoloration of the palmar surface,
somewhat towards the inner side, but no corn or callosity.
Here we have an instance of a condition of mental unsoundness owning, in my opinion,
a very complex causality. Assuming that the facts of the family history and personal history
obtained are trustworthy, we note first a history of alcoholic indulgence in both parents and
in one uncle and a further history of ganja indulgence on the part of the father: and
taking into consideration these facts, we are not surprised that his relative Dajiba states
that Atmaram was given up to vicious habits from an early age.
It has been frequently observed that the offsprings of alcoholic parents show sooner
or later some signs of mental instability, with not uncommonly some indications of a liking
for narcotics and stimulants and the excitement they produce. We have evidence that
early in his life Atmaram was a ganja-smoker, a wine-bibber, and a thief. There is no
history of sexual excess and he himself denies it; but as ganja is a supposed aphrodisiac,
his denial may be taken for what it is worth. With this history I think it not improbable
that the habit of ganja-smoking was not only not the sole or chief cause of his mental
aberration, but more probably one of its remoter consequences. In the same way his
drinking propensities may probably be attributable to the same cause. Setting aside
heredity for the moment and seeking for another cause, I can find nothing either in his
mental condition and behaviour during his past life in the Asylum or in his present symp-
toms to justify the expression as to causation in the certificate—"perhaps the use of
ganja." Why not "perhaps the use of alchohol"?
His condition in some respects, mental and physical, resembles an early condition of
general paralysis of the insane. As a rule there is general condition of bien être. He has
exaggerated ideas of grandeur, wealth, powers, and capabilities; his patellar reflexes are
absent; pupil reflex is sluggish. In some cases excessive indulgence in stimulants and
narcotics have been not uncommonly noticed as amongst the prodromata of general
paralysis.
In this particular case the man freely admits to having used both ganja and bhang;
but I am not on this account prepared, for the reasons stated above, to conclude that his
insanity is solely attributable either to ganja or to the bhang which he has taken.
I am, however, quite ready to admit that a mentally weak-fibred individual with an
unstable brain will always be further mentally enfeebled, whatever the narcotic or stimu-
lants he indulges in.
2. Tajodin.—This man admitted to me that he used to take ganja two or three times
daily and described how he prepared it. He said he rubbed it to powder in the palm of
his hand, and washed it 7 times in water and then smoked it. The intoxicating effect
used to come on at once. Says that he also drank "daru" and other kinds of alcohol
daily. (His conversation was very incoherent, and it was very difficult and scarcely possi-
ble to keep him to the point.)
He says that he was discharged from the 8th Madras Native Infantry at Saugor.
The medical history states that "I am informed that he is a confirmed ganja-smoker."
Nothing is given in support of this information, or whether the informant was a trust-
worthy person and one whose testimony was worthy of credence.