FURTHER ENQUIRIES REGARDING THE ALLEGED HEMP DRUG CASES OF 1892. 105
11.—Case of Bindeshwari.
To the Deputy Commissioner.
Enclosed is the evidence recorded by me. Unfortunately the Civil Surgeon was un-
able to come and assist in the inquiry.
To me the evidence seems to show that the main causes of Bindeshwari's madness
were a long illness, though not a very serious one, and his father's death. The latter event
happened when he had been ill and probably in bad spirits for some time, and seems to
have finished the upsetting of his mental equilibrium. He is now quite a sensible man
and gives rational answers, and is evidently much better informed than the average of vil-
lagers in these parts. The evidence shows that there is no madness in the family, those
who survived their childhood having lived to a good age and kept their wits all the time.
The man took bhang and takes it still. He took ganja for a while before he was mad.
This may have been a contributory cause to his madness, but not, I think, the main one.
Dated 11th January 1894.
A. SABONADIÉRE.
Will the Civil Surgeon kindly go through these statements, and after recording any
remarks he may wish to make, return them to me for transmission to Superintendent of
the Asylum ?
I can find no trace of Prag's case.
H. W. REYNOLDS,
Dated 12th January 1894.
Deputy Commissioner.
I have read carefully, and am of opinion that mental anxiety, family troubles, and ab-
stinence from food contribute to indulgence in bhang and ganja. These sedatives help to
bring about derangement of brain.
Prag's case is nowhere to be found either in jail or hospital.
W. SAND,
Dated 17th January 1894.
Civil Surgeon.
[Note.—A brother and three friends speak to the very moderate use of bhang by Bindeshwari. He was in
the Calcutta Police, broke down in health, and was seven months in hospital from boils. He returned home in bad
health. Five months after this his father died, and Bindeshwari went mad. All the witnesses ascribe his madness
to grief. So does Bindeshwari. He alone mentions the use of ganja. He says his bhang cost him "an anna a
month."]
Copy of report in case No. 13 (Ramanand).
No. 121, dated Sultanpur, the 3rd February 1894.
From—The Deputy Commissioner, Sultanpur,
To—The Superintendent, Lunatic Asylum, Lucknow.
With reference to your No. L.A./588, dated 23rd November last, and to G. O. No. 257,
dated 8th idem, I have the honour to report the result of the enquiries instituted regarding
the past personal and family history of Ramanand lunatic.
2. Ramanand first showed symptoms of madness in July 1888 and then got gradually
worse. In July 1889 he was sent to the Lunatic Asylum at Lucknow, where, after treat-
ment for 10 months, he apparently got cured and was released as sane. He was only
about 19 years old when the symptoms of insanity first appeared. As a boy his intel-
lectual powers were average, but he received no education. Previous to the commence-
ment of the symptoms he had not been suffering from any disease. The residents of the
village where he used to reside, while attributing the cause of insanity to a sunstroke, de-
clare that he was not a consumer of hemp drugs or any other intoxicant, nor had he any
domestic trouble, grief, or fright, to which his insanity might be attributed. His mother
is in good health. His father, who is dead, was a man of less than avarage intelligence
and of very silent and retiring disposition, and died of some internal disease. No former
member of the family is said to have been affected with insanity in any shape or way. He
belongs to the Sarwaria clan of Brahmans, which is, no doubt, partial to the use of
"bhang," but there is nothing to show that he was in the habit of using it, or even an
occasional consumer. In cases of this nature I have never found the villagers backward
in attributing lunacy to drugs if caused by them. Not long ago I came across a case seem-
ingly similar to this, due, I was told, to a sunstroke. There is every reason to believe
that this was the real cause in Ramanand's case, though, as the Superintendent of the
Asylum has noted, it is perfectly possible that the use of bhang may have been the im-
mediate predisposing factor.
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