( 5 1 )
Province.
District.
Sample.
Percentage
of resinous
extracts.
REMARKS.
MADRAS . . .
Salem . . .
Ad a iGá n j a , Tr i pa t ur . . .
3.6
G á n j a w i t h s e e d s T r i p a t u r
3.5
Gánja without seeds, Tri-
patur.
1.8
Arcot . . .
2.3
North . . .
South . . .
8.7
Bazars . . .
5.2
Godavery . . .
A . . . .
2.5
B (Coconada) . . .
2.8
Nellore . . .
. . .
3.4
Rajamandry . . .
. . .
i
3.8
Chingleput . . .
. . .
5.5
South Kanara . . .
. . .
6.0
Kurnool . . .
A. (three samples) . . .
7.7
All taken together,
being small.
B., (Nandial) . . .
8.0
Madura . . .
A. . . .
14.3
Sample B too
examination.
C. . . .
10.3
D . . . .
11.9
E. . . .
6.1
F. . . .
4 . 1
G. . . .
4 .5
Atee, etc. . . .
. . .
5.5
Several small samples taken
together.
Bellary . . .
Ha rpembali . . .
10.1
Penkunda . . .
6.7
Bellary . . .
9.9
Dharmsala . . .
6-5
Madaksira . . .
7.9
The most striking features in this table are the extreme variability of
the quantity of resinous extract obtainable from different samples and the low
percentage of even the richest as compared with that given by O'Shaughnessy.
Dr. Macnamara's report being only a statement of results, it is impossible to ascer
- t a i n w h e t h e r o r n o t t h e g án
j á
w a s r e d u c e d t o p o w d e r b e f o r e d i g e s t i o n i n a l c o h o l ,
or how long the sample was digested—points, it need hardly be remarked, that
are of the utmost importance if one set of experiments are to be compared with
another. But, though the table cannot be used for this purpose, its value is still
great, as it shows the extent to which samples of gánjá vary. Even in this respect,
however, its evidence must not be pushed too far, for gánjá becomes much
altered in appearance and properties by keeping, and there is nothing to show
that these sample represented fresh gánjá, or even that they all represented gánjá
of the same season's growth. Mr. Kerr, 1 commenting on the results given in
this table, mentions at least two other subsequent estimations of the same nature
by Rai Kanai Lall De, Bahadur. Here gánjá purchased in the Calcutta bazar
yielded 10.63 per cent. of extract, and bhang yielded from 7 . 5 to 8 . 9 per cent.
The same disadvantage applies to these estimates as to Dr. Macnamara's ; the
age of the specimen not being known, and the treatment of the sample prior to
exhaustion by alcohol not being detailed, we can make no use of the results.
The interest in hemp, which had again languished, was revived in 1876 by
the publication by PREOBRASCHENSKY2 of the statement that lie had discovered
not only in commercial huschish obtained by him in Central Asia, but also in
the flower-tops of the hemp plant itself, and in the pure extract prepared from
these, an alkaloid which he recognised as nicotinc, the characteristic alkaloid of
tobacco.
As hemp does not possess the physiological properties of tobacco, DRAGEN
- D O R F F
a n d M A R Q U I S
3 on this ground alone doubted the accuracy of Preobras--
chensky's observation, and suggested that, as huschisch is used along with tobacco,
his sample may have been contaminated with that substance. In this view
D y mo c k 4 c o n c u r s , b u t t h e s e a u t h o r s d o n o t s e e m t o h a v e l a i d s u f f i c i e n t s t r e s s o n
the fact that Preobraschensky had declared that he found the alkaloid which he
supposed to be nicotine in the flower-tops themselves as well as in the haschisch.
An examination of alcoholic extract by DEPREZ 3 in 1878 yielded no inter
- e s t i n g r e s u l t s .
At Dragendorff's suggestion MASIG6 undertook an examination of hemp and
did not find any trace of an alkaloid, and it has been abundantly proved that
1 H. C Kerr, Report, pp. 9, 10.
2Pharmaceut, Zeitung für Russlands, 1876, p. 705.
3 Pharmaceut. Zeitung, 1877.
Pharmacographica Indica, iii, 332.
5 Amer. Pharmaceut. Journ, November 1878, p. 518.
Dragendorff, Die gerichrlich-chemische Ausmittlung von Giften, ed. ii, p. 240.
11