( 32 )
in a flask with 100 cc. absolute alchohol and allowed to digest with frequent
agitation for eight days. It was then filtered, the filter and residue being
thoroughly washed with absolute alcohol, evaporated on a water-bath, and
afterwards dried on a hot plate till it ceased to lose weight. In the subjoined
table are given the results of the final weighments, corrected for moisture by
the figures in the left-hand column in table VIII :—
TABLE X.—Total alcoholic extract obtained from different samples of Gánjá.
S E A S O N .
R O U N Dg
á n j á .
F l a t
g á
n j á .
G u r j a t
g á n j á .
1892-93 . . .
. . .
25. 12%
24. 83%
. . . . . .
1891-92
. . .
20. 83%
20.74%
17.09%
1890-91
. . .
. . .
20.31%
20 26%
. . . . .
1889-90 . . . . . .
22.83%
22.71%
. . . . . .
From this table we learn that the quantity of alcoholic extract obtainable
from the finely powdered gánjá of either kind in a particular year is very
u n i f o r m ; w e s e e a g a i n , a s w e s a w i n t h e c a s e o f t h e t a b l e s f o r m o i s t u r e , t h a t
something is lost by gánjá during the first year of storage under the methods now
employed. We see, however, another proof of the fact that samples of the gánjá
belonging to different seasons of growth cannot be compared with each other
without risk of error; the extract obtained from gánjá of the 1890 crop, for
example, is greater in amount than that obtained from either the 1891 or the
1892 crop.
Another point brought out by this table is that Dr. O'Shaughnessy's
estimate of the percentage of extract is not too high. The results obtained
by Dr. Macnamara and by Rai Kanai Lal De, Bahadur, (over 10½%, quoted
by Mr. Kerr),¹ must have been obtained after some other mode of initial
preparation, and cannot therefore be compared with these, which have been
obtained from an examination of the substance actually used by the ganja-
smoker, after all the inert woody tissue that it is possible to remove has been
eliminated from the sample.
Larger quantities of extract were made from the various samples in order
to obtain quantities sufficient for further chemical and physiological examin-
ation the details of this examination are given in the second part of this
report.
The physiological action of the extracts varied according to the age of the
sample taken; the effect of the 1889-90 extract was practically nil; that of
the 1890-91 extract, slight but perceptible ; that of the 1891-92 extract, about ⅓
of the effect of the extract from new gánjá.
In order to ascertain more accurately the nature of the chemical changes
that occur in gánjá, a quantity of each of the samples was operated on by first
freeing it completely from moisture and then placing 10 grains of the moisture-
free powder in a flask, in which it was digested for eight days in 100 cc.
petroleum-ether. At the end of this time the contents of the flask were
filtered, and the filtrate estimated and examined. The residue, thoroughly
washed with petroleum-ether, was then dried thoroughly at the ordinary tem-
perature, removed from the filter and replaced in the same flask, to be digested
for eight days with 100 cc. ether. After this the contents of the flask were
again filtered, the same filter being used as before, and the filtrate estimated
and examined. The residue was then dried at the ordinary temperature,
removed from the filter, replaced in the same flask, and allowed to digest in
100 cc. absolute alcohol for eight days. After this the contents of the flask
were filtered in the same filter, the filtrate estimated and examined. The
residue thoroughly dried in a water-bath at 80ºC. was then replaced in the same
flask as before, treated wish 100 cc. distilled water with repeated agitation for
six hours. The contents of the flask were again filtered through the same
filter, the filtrate estimated and examined.
¹ H . C . K e r r ,
R e p o r t ,
p . 9 .