FURTHER
ENQUIRIES
REGARDING THE
ALLEGED
HEMP
DRUG CASES OF
1892.
139
LUNATIC ASYLUM,
MADRAS,
(SUPERINTENDENT,
DR.
THORNHILL.)
Hemp
Drug
cases admitted
in 1892.
Name, race, occupation,
district, age, and register
number of lunatic.
Alleged
cause of
insanity
Statement
VII).
Type of
insanity
(Statement
VI).
State of
health on
admission.
Facts ascertained from the papers.
Asylum history and facts ascertained
iron) registers and from inquiry
from Superintendent.
1. Kamal Sahib: Mu-
salman; Cultivator;
Cuddapah;
40;
32.519.
Ganja.
Mania
Bad
The papers show that nothing
was known of this man's history
or of the cause of his insanity.
His incoherence, excitability, and
sleeplessness are the principal
signs of his insanity.
Admitted, 10th February 1892.
On admission he was "incoherent
and noisy.
Repeats questions
put to him. Bad health, spongy
gums." He died of pneumonia on
January 18th, 1893. There are
no post-mortem notes except that
there was consolidation of the low-
er lobe of the left lung.
In the
Asylum there was no improvement
in mental condition, while his
physical health became
daily
worse.
2. Mustan Saheb; Mu-
salman; Cultivator;
Anantapur;
34;
32.520.
Ganja.
Mania
Fair
The papers show this man to have
been five years insane.
The
cause is "unknown." The man
was under the delusion that he
was Emperor of Delhi, that he
had unlimited wives, and that
the whole world belonged to him.
He was sleepless also and refus-
ed food.
Admttted, 10th February 1892.
On admission this man was "vo-
luble and rather noisy, but on the
whole fairly rational." On 21st
July he is stated to have
"much
improved," but still suffers from
delusions.
The insanity is as-
cribed to ganja, because the man
admits that he used that drug.
He informed us that he had
smoked ganja for twelve years,
that he never used datura seeds,
but that he frequently smoked the
dried leaves of the datura which
produced a pleasant intoxication
and was more easily obtainable
than ganja. He said he thought
the seeds much stronger than the
dried leaves.
3. Tanikachellum;
Hindu;
occupa-
tion
unknown;
Madras; 36; 32.525.
Ganja.
Mania
Fair
The papers show that the cause
of this man's insanity is "un-
known," that he "speaks irra-
tionally and is very dirty in his
habits and sometimes noisy."
"His chin is swollen where he
knocked it against the wall a few
days
ago."
The Presidency
Magistrate's inquiry does not
attempt to reach the cause of
insanity.
Admitted, 18th February 1892.
On admission this man was found
to have a fractured jaw, which
would have to be cured before his
mental condition
was inquired
into. On 21st July he was re-
ported to be "quite rational and
much improved and nearly fit
to go." He was released on 22nd
March 1893.
The Asylum case
book contains no reference to the
cause of insanity, nor is there any-
thing to show how the cause was
determined. The Deputy Super-
intendent (Mr. Judge) explains
that the cause is entered in the
appropriate column of the annual
register at any time when it is dis-
covered by the Asylum authori-
ties, for the Government presses
to have every effort made to as-
certain the cause in all cases.
4. Sheikh
Hussain;
Musalman; Peon;
Anantapur;
41;
31.179.
Bhang.
Mania
Good
The papers show that this man
had borne a good
character
to the end of 1890. "At
I
o'clock of the 1st December 1890
the prisoner, in a state of intoxi-
cation, voluntarily
caused by
eating ganja, beat to death bru-
tally with a heavy stick on the
head an old man." He was sen-
tenced to transportation for life,
which Government reduced to 10
years' imprisonment. The High
Court found on 16th July 1891
that "the evidence of the Dis-
trict Surgeon shows clearly that
the abnormal state of mind of the
prisoner was merely the tempo-
rary effect of the intoxicant which
he had taken and could not pro-
On admission Dr. Dobie entered
the type as mania, adding "re-
ported to be bhang, i.e., ganja."
The man was "quite melancho-
ly, says he has been a year in
Jail. Says he is accustomed to
ganja and asks for it." He has
not improved in the Asylum.
He
still remains "violent at times."
Before
us he
admits
taking
ganja.