146
REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94.
[APP.
As directed in your reference No. 100, Magisterial, dated 9th February 1894, I
have held an enquiry into the case of the lunatic Pappa, and arrived at the conclusion that
his insanity has no connection whatever with hemp drugs. The important living relatives
of the lunatic have been examined by me in the presence of Surgeon-Captain W. C.
Wickers, the present Civil Surgeon of Coconada, and not one of them says he ever used
ganja; the warders of the Jail in which he was detained, as also a constable who was on duty
at the Jail, were examined, and they too deny that Pappa has ever even asked for ganja; of
course the use of the same during his detention in the Jail was out of the question as being
against the rules; the depositions given by these witnesses, nine in number, are enclosed.
It seems to me that the only ground for classing his insanity as "toxic" is the entry
by Dr. Patch of the following sentence against item No. 8 in Appendix II relating to
Pappa's case:—
"He is reported to smoke ganja and eat bhang."
It is not clear how and wherefrom Dr. Patch got this information; none of the per
sons examined by me and the Civil Surgeon, who were mostly the same as those whom Dr.
Patch examined, appears to have given Dr. Patch this information; a copy of the said
Appendix II is enclosed. The notes made by Dr. Patch in the visiting book kept at the
Sub-Jail do not also show that Dr. Patch had any reason to suspect that the lunatic Pappa
consumed any hemp drug; a copy of these notes is also enclosed.
The past family history of the lunatic has been ascertained, and nobody either on
his father's side or on his mother's side ever used ganja or exhibited insanity ever so
little.
His father was a peon in the Pittapur Deputy Tahsildar's office for nearly forty years
and died of natural causes at the good old age of seventy years; his paternal grandfather
was a peon in the Tanuku Taluq office and died at a good old age. His mother is alive
still and is hale and healthy, though she is now sixty years old. His maternal grand father
was a peon in the Coconada Deputy Tahsildar's office and died at an old age. Three
of his sisters are now alive, and they have never exhibited any symptoms of insanity. He
had no brothers, but he lost a sister about ten years ago; she fell a victim to some dis
ease consequent on child-birth. Thus there has been no insanity in his family, and his
insanity is unquestionably not a hereditary one.
*This letter gives an interesting
account of an atrocious murder of a
Head Constable by this lunatic while
in the Sub-Jail.
With regard to his personal history, the deposition given by his mother contains a lot
of information. It would appear therefrom that up to his twenty-third year or so he was
quite sane, and that his insanity first appeared three years after his marriage. The first
symptom observed was to talk incoherently, to complain of biliousness, to refuse to eat, and
to run out into the fields. For two years after the appearance of this symptom, he was out
of sorts, complaining of his system being heated and eating and drinking all those things
which are calculated to cool his system. He was a gymnast, and used to eat mutton and
other nutritious food in large quantities. On one occasion he ate a seer of chillies and
quaffed a pint of gingelly oil, and jumped into the well in his house; this appears to be
the first time when he behaved in a manner dangerous to himself. It would appear
that his mother and others fettered him for about six months after this event, and then sent
him on to Rajahmundry for treatment, where, however, the Doctor who kept him under
observation found that he was not insane and procured his discharge. This was in 1890.
It may be noted that by the time he got out of the Jail he was not as fat as before. In
about a year afterwards, he again grew as fat as ever and became mad again, when he
was handed over to the Deputy Tahsildar of Pittapur.
What took place afterwards is to be found in the letter
No. 5,* dated 9th January 1892, of my predecessor's, of
which a copy is enclosed.
The man's insanity is certainly not toxic; it would seem to be due to over-eating
and over-bloodedness in the system, which always made him court fight and behave as