CHAPTER X. EFFECTS—GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

451. There has been some difficulty in obtaining definite information regarding the effects of hemp drugs. This difficulty has not arisen from any unwillingness on the part of witnesses to tell what they know. The Rev. Thomas Evans (North-Western Provinces witness No. 229) has stated that " native officials (and even barristers and pleaders) are afraid to give evidence lest they should thereby give offence to the Government." The Commission have had no experience of this kind, and a perusal of the evidence will show that this alleged hesitation on the part of certain persons to give evidence must have been very exceptional. Witnesses are found among all classes, not excluding even drug vendors themselves, who have made strong statements against the drugs. The difficulty has arisen from the general ignorance of the subject which has not hitherto attracted special attention. One result of the labours of the Commission has been to show how much ignorance prevails regarding the consumption of these drugs and their effects. This ignorance is not confined to Europeans. It extends to a large number of native witnesses. It is not confined to those who live apart from the common people. It extends to many whose duties are believed to bring them into close and constant contact with the people. Not a few persons who were asked to give evidence declined to do so, and others did so somewhat reluctantly, on the ground that they had little or no experience of the consumption of the drugs. To quote a non-official witness on this point, the Rev. George Pittendrigh (Madras witness No. 16o) says : " I have been in India for nine years. I had hardly heard the name of ganja. I had heard it occasionally in connection with handymen and coachmen, and so on, but I had (so far as I know) seen none of its effects. I had heard that they were similar to opium—a narcotic or intoxicant. That was all I knew. It was not till after I heard of the Commission that I made any special enquiry into the matter. I enquired first of Europeans and respectable natives, students and others, graduates and other men of some standing. No one seemed to know anything about it. The ordinary caste native seemed only to know in a general way that it was used by Muhammadans, bairagis, loafers, and ruffians. Europeans seemed to know nothing of its use." The above is by no means an exceptional statement. Much the same evidence is given by officials as well as non-officials, and by natives as well as Europeans. It is not confined to one province, but is given all over India. This state of things is not difficult to explain. As a matter of fact, it is not usual for those who use the drugs, especially those who smoke them, to do so in the presence of others. It is usually only the dissipated who make a practice of publicly using intoxicants. The moderate consumer is generally known only to those who have occasion to join him at his meals or at the times when he takes his regular dose. In this country there is this additional fact to be considered, that custom is distinctly against smoking in the presence of any one who is in any sense superior or entitled to respect. Thus it would be only rarely that a man would smoke in the presence of a neighbour who had not specially come to join him. As to the casual smoker on the street or elsewhere, the passer-by would probably not know that he was consuming hemp drugs ; for he smokes the drug as a rule in the same manner as he would smoke tobacco, and also mixed with tobacco, which to a certain extent conceals the smell. On the whole, then, it is easily intelligible that respectable persons should have a very limited knowledge of the consumption of hemp drugs, and especially of the smoking of ganja and charas, except by dissipated or excessive consumers. As might have been anticipated from a careful consideration of the circumstances, the experience of a large number of witnesses, even of those who have seen something of the use of the drugs, is found to be confined to having seen palki-bearers or boatmen smoke in the midst of hard work, or to occasionally seeing a friend indulge. Some other witnesses have only known the habit as practised by such persons as fakirs or by dissipated persons who consume to excess. Some have only seen the drug used when they have gone in the way of duty, or, in pursuance of this inquiry, to shops or other places where smokers resort. The witnesses are very few who have any extensive and accurate acquaintance with consumption. Witnesses were specially warned to confine themselves to what they actually knew, and efforts were made, wherever the evidence seemed to require it, to ascertain whether they had done so.

452. In estimating the value of the evidence as to effects, this generally very limited acquaintance with the subject on the part of the witnesses has had to be borne constantly in mind. It has been necessary to decline to accept strong or dogmatic statements on one side or the other without taking pains to ascertain on what basis of fact and actual experience they have been founded. This careful inquiry into the actual basis of statements made has been found necessary also in consideration of the different points of view from which such a question as this may be regarded. Some witnesses know only the medicinal use of the drugs, and are prepared to say nothing but good of them, being really ignorant of their use as intoxicants. They know only the use of the drugs as remedial agents, carefully prescribed when necessity arises, or used as a domestic remedy in certain minor ailments. This use is sometimes confounded with the use of the drugs as stimulants or intoxicants. These uses ought to be very carefully discriminated. There are also witnesses who do know the use of the drugs as intoxicants, but know only the moderate use. These have nothing stronger to say of the drugs than would be said of alcohol by the man who only had seen a glass of wine taken at his own table or at the table of a friend. He knows nothing of the effects of excess. Others again have only experience of excessive consumption. The moderate consumer has not attracted their attention. The ruin wrought in certain cases by excess has alone attracted their notice. They feel towards these drugs as that man feels towards alcohol whose experience has been mainly gained among the social wrecks of the lowest parts of a great city. In view of all this, the Commission were careful to do what they could to ascertain the basis of the opinions and closely to examine the facts laid before them. Striking statements made by some of the most careful and intelligent witnesses as to the change in their views when they became aware of the great extent of the moderate consumption of these drugs, the effects of which they had only seen in cases of deplorable excess, will be referred to later on in dealing with insanity and other effects. This ignorance of the effects of hemp drugs on the part of some able, intelligent, and benevolent men, however it may be explained with reference to the above considerations, must still be regarded as indicating that the injury caused by the drugs is comparatively trifling. It must have attracted more attention had evil effects been at all common in comparison with the extent of consumption.

453 Before proceeding to discuss the evidence regarding the effects produced by the drugs, it will be well to notice briefly one or two preliminary questions. One of these is the different effects of the different forms of hemp drugs. Witnesses were requested to compare the effects of ganja and charas, and there is a considerable body of evidence on this subject. Inasmuch as charas is theoretically the pure resin extracted from the hemp plant, and the resin is the active principle in all varieties of the drug, it might be expected that this would be everywhere the strongest form in which the drug is found. But the evidence is not all to this effect. Charas is but little known in Bombay, Madras, Assam, and Burma ; and ganja is but little known in the Punjab. In these five provinces, therefore, but few witnesses institute any comparison ; and though there are some who have seen the effects of these drugs in different parts of India, yet the views of the majority of witnesses from these provinces who do institute the comparison must of necessity have but little weight. In the North-Western Provinces, the Central Provinces, and Sind, where both drugs are more or less known, the great majority (six to one) of those who make any distinction in strength between these two forms declare that charas is the stronger. In Bengal, on the other hand, a majority (two to one) of those who discriminate regard ganja as the stronger. Even in these provinces, however, the evidence cannot be accepted with confidence, for it is not usual for ganja and charas to be smoked by the same person. The evidence shows clearly enough that there is no essential difference between charas and ganja, but that the former takes in the Punjab and in parts of the North-Western Provinces the place among intoxicants which is taken by ganja in other parts of India. The only difference in regard to their effects apparent from the evidence is that some witnesses assert one form to be stronger than the other. There are, however, differences of opinion among the witnesses as to which is the stronger. The importance of these differences of opinion perhaps lies mainly in the necessity for explaining them. There are two general reasons why some of the witnesses might erroneously regard charas as weaker than ganja—viz., (a) that the effect of each smoke depends on the amount of the drug used, and difference of experience as to this has admittedly led to difference of view regarding the drugs ; and (b) that the consumers of charas in Bengal are of the higher class, and would naturally speak in favour of their own drug. There are also two reasons why charas may actually compare less favourably with ganja in Bengal than elsewhere—viz., (a) that charas undoubtedly deteriorates by keeping, and also appears to be largely adulterated for the market ; and (b) that the Bengal ganja, being more highly cultivated and more carefully prepared, reaches the market a better article than the ganja of any other province. There is no evidence of any other difference between these two forms of hemp drugs except one of degree ; and this difference of degree does not appear to be at all a certainty everywhere. The experiments conducted by Dr. Evans and Mr. Hooper are reported in Vol. III Appendices. They indicate that charas from various sources may contain from 44.5 to 18.45 per cent. of resin soluble in alcohol, while Bengal round ganja affords 2r6 per cent. The physiological value of the alcoholic extracts is not, however, the same in all samples of charas compared with that obtained from Bengal ganja. In only one sample of charas were the effects produced comparable to those produced by a similar dose of the alcoholic extract of the " standard " ganja. The resin extracted from the other samples of charas was much weaker, doses varying from 1/100,000 to 1/5000 part of the body weight being required to produce certain physiological effects, while in three samples of Nepal charas doses equal to-500 part of the body weight were inactive. These startling figures seem to indicate not only natural deterioration, but also extensive adulteration of charas.

454 The evidence recorded regarding the effect of the three preparations of ganja (round, flat, and chur) shows clearly that if their effects differ (which is doubtful), the difference is not in kind, but only in degree. There is no difference whatever in kind, and the difference in degree is trifling. Round ganja is practically unknown except in Bengal. There the great majority of the witnesses say that there is no difference even of degree between round and flat ganja. Only forty-one witnesses draw any distinction, and these are pretty equally divided. Some, indeed, think that the manner in which the round ganja is rolled retards deterioration ; others that the close packing of the flat ganja has the same effect. The truth seems to be that the preference: for one or other of these two preparations is purely a matter of habit and varies in different districts, and that there is little real difference between the effects of these preparations. This is borne out by the experiments conducted by Dr. Prain (vide his report on the cultivation of ganja submitted to the Bengal Government in 1893) and by those of Mr. Hooper, though these two sets of experiments differ somewhat in result. Dr. Prain gave the average percentages of resin extracts from Bengal round and flat ganja for the seasons 1889 to 1893 as 22'27 and 22.13 respectively. His specimens had been reduced to the state of chur. Mr. Hooper found chur to afford 25.90 per cent. of resin extract compared with 23.8, 22.6, and 2r8 for small flat, large flat, and round ganja respectively.
In respect to chur the evidence is very much divided and uncertain in tone. So far as it goes, it tends to show that Bengal is the only province where chur is regarded as at least as strong as the unbroken ganja. The explanation of this diversity of opinions is simple. Chur is broken ganja ; and ganja may be broken either purposely or accidentally. In many parts and by many witnesses chur is regarded as the broken or refuse ganja which becomes separated in the process of preparation or transport, and which " even the poor will not buy." A second class of witnesses know chur as the best parts of the ganja heads, separated carefully from the woody matter or stalks, and therefore stronger, bulk for bulk, than the ordinary article. A third set of witnesses point out that before being smoked ganja must be broken ; it must become chur before being used. These insist, therefore, that there is no real difference between chur and other ganja. It may be noted, however, that there seems good ground to believe that chur as packed at present deteriorates more rapidly than the unbroken ganja, and is therefore less popular in at least the more distant markets.

455 The question as to whether the smoking of hemp is more injurious than drinking or eating the drug is of importance mainly in connection with the difference between ganja or charas and bhang. The form in which the question was put by the Commission raised two comparisons—viz., (a) between the smoking and eating or drinking of the same preparation, and (b) between smoking one preparation and eating or drinking another. But unfortunately there has been some confusion in the auwers., some witnesses having manifestly and others presumably overlooked this distinction. At the same time it cannot be said that the evidence is practically clear and decided. Many witnesses feel themselves unable to deal with the matter. A few decline to discriminate between the effects of smoking and those of the other modes of consumption. Well over four hundred witnesses, however, institute a clear comparison. Of these there are over a hundred medical men trained more or less thoroughly according to European methods, of whom four-fifths regard smoking as the most injurious form of consumption. There are over forty practitioners trained after native methods, of whom nearly three-fourths hold the same opinion. There are nearly three hundred non-medical witnesses Who are similarly divided. These figures show that the decided majority of such witnesses as have given an opinion regard smoking as the most injurious form of consumption, and this is found to be the case both for all classes of witnesses and for all provinces. The majority is least in Bengal, being precisely two to one in each of the two classes of medical, and rather less than that among the non-medical, witnesses who have recognised any difference. It has also to be borne in mind that among the minority there are some who clearly state that though ganja smoking may be less deleterious than drinking or eating ganja, it is more deleterious than drinking bhang. And there are probably others who hold this view, though they have not thought of stating it
There are some witnesses whose experience is that drinking bhang is a habit which is more likely to go to excess than smoking, because more seductive and more sociable. But there are many others whose experience is precisely the reverse. There are one or two witnesses who think smoking less harmful than drinking hemp, because the latter form of consumption lends itself in their opinion more readily to deleterious mixtures. But there is a great deal of evidence to a precisely opposite effect. There are also some witnesses who emphasise the injurious effects of the excessive use of bhang on the digestive system. But the preponderance of opinion is that excessive smoking of charas or ganja has still more injurious effects on the system.
Common experience then as indicated in the evidence of all classes of witnesses seems to teach that smoking ganja or charas is more injurious than taking bhang. There seems no reason to decline to accept this view. The following reasons seem to support it : (a) there is much less of the resin in what is properly known as bhang than in ganja or charas ; (b) the products of the destructive distillation of the resin appear to be capable of doing injury, especially if used to excess, and to be carried to the lungs and readily absorbed by the inhalation which is the invariable method of smoking. At the same time no one can read the evidence or observe the facts without realising that the use of bhang, at all events if carried beyond moderation, may also be distinctly injurious.

456. In considering the effects of hemp drugs, it is necessary not to forget the admixtures used more or less frequently with them. These are discussed more fully in other parts of the report. There are certain of them, such as the spices used to render bhang a more palatable drink and also perhaps less irritating to the digestive system, or the almonds used to emulsify the resinous matter in the bhang, or the tobacco used as the most pleasant vehicle and diluent of charas or ganja when smoked, which need not be discussed here. Their effects are unimportant,
But there are certain admixtures which are taken with the hemp drugs, at least ostensibly, with the express purpose of intensifying their effects. Thus opium is sometimes smoked with ganja. This is probably sheer vice, a dissipated desire to mix intoxicants. Cantharides and nux vomica are sometimes used in bhang. The object of this is apparently to produce aphrodisiac effects. But nux vomica is also perhaps used thus as a tonic. This drug is apparently sometimes smoked, when its effect would be nullified. Arsenic is similarly used in bhang, probably from a belief in its prophylactic and tonic properties. It is also stated to be smoked with charas or ganja. In this form it would be very poisonous, but the evidence seems to show that it is smoked ostentatiously by jogis and fakirs ; and probably it is not really inhaled. It is also sometimes stated that aconite is occasionally smoked. All these admixtures, as well as others.of a more exceptional and extraordinary character, appear to be rarely used. More common than any of them is dhatura. It is generally the seeds, but occasionally the leaves, that are used. This drug is used by those debauchees or other excessive consumers who either cannot afford sufficient ganja or bhang, or who desire a stronger form of intoxication than either can supply. There is also some little evidence of the occasional use by those who supply the drink of an infusion of dhatura to strengthen bhang, perhaps sometimes without the knowledge of the consumers. There is a good deal of evidence both generally of the use of this drug by excessive consumers, and also in particular cases of the gradual formation of the dhatura habit when ganja or bhang has failed to satisfy. Dhatura is clearly more strongly intoxicant than the hemp drugs, and there can be little doubt that the evidence which represents it as decidedly more injurious may be accepted as in accordance with fact. There is a strong popular prejudice against this drug, and it is not used by moderate smokers at all. It does not seem likely that it would ever replace hemp drugs any more than it now supplements them among moderate consumers, but only among persons who deliberately desire intoxication and are indifferent in their choice of intoxicant. At the same time the use of Hyoscyamus muticus (or " Hill bhang of the Western frontier "), already referred to, does indicate the possibility of more general resort to dhatura if ganja were not available. The active principle of this drug is closely allied to that of dhatura in its physiological effects. There are also many witnesses who believe that consumers of the hemp drugs (especially, but not exclusively, excessive consumers) would take to dhatura if they could not obtain the drugs to which they are accustomed, and this opinion is entitled to considerable weight.

457. Dhatura belongs to the same natural order as hyoscyamus and belladonna. The active principle of dhatura is hyoscyamine with small quantities of atropine and hyoscine : the active principle of belladonna is atropine with some hyoscyamine. These three alkaloids are all closely allied in their physiological action. The action of atropine has been fully studied. It is unnecessary, therefore, to say more of the physiological action of dhatura. The leaves, and in even higher degree the seeds, form a very powerful intoxicant ; and the delirium which ensues from the use of the drug is well known-. The effects of dhatura as introduced into the system through the stomach have hitherto chiefly received attention, but the effects of smoking have also been observed. There have, however, been hitherto no physiological experiments to ascertain the effects produced by the prolonged inhalation of dhatura smoke. The Commission requested Dr. D. D. Cunningham to conduct such experiments. His report is contained in Vol. III Appendices. The following extract is of interest : " The subject of experiment, as in the case of that on the effects of the inhalation of the smoke of ganja, was a fair-sized specimen of Macacus rhesus. The treatment was initiated on the 1st June and continued until 11th July, so that the experiment lasted for a period of about six weeks. In its conduct the same inhalation apparatus was employed as in the first experiment. At the outset the seeds of dhatura were made use of as the source of smoke ; but as they appeared to be undesirably potent, leaves were presently substituted for them, and were persistently employed throughout the rest of the experiment.
" The symptoms attending the treatment were not invariably quite uniform in character. On some occasions indications of a certain amount of cerebral excitement were present for some time ; but, as a rule, drowsiness and gradually increasing intoxication manifested themselves from the outset, either alone or associated with symptoms of irritation of the respiratory apparatus as indicated by coughing.
" The animal was killed by means of prolonged administration of chloroform on the morning of the 14.th July, and a post-mortem examination conducted at once with the following results :-
" The lungs were not adherent to thoracic walls, but were both deeply congested almost everywhere, and especially towards their apices, in which numerous tubercular nodules and small cavities were present. Such phenomena were, of course, very frequent in the lungs of monkeys in confinement, but it remains possible that the general pulmonary congestion may have been partially due to irritation incident on the inhalation of the smoke. The visceral pericardium was almost devoid of fat, and was somewhat thickened and opaque, especially over the region of the right auricle. The omentum and mesentery were also very free from fat. The spleen appeared to be rather anmic, and was somewhat fibroid in texture. The liver, pancreas, stomach, large and small intestines, and kidneys presented no abnormal appearances.
"On opening the cranium the dura-mater was found to be somewhat thickened, and especially in the neighbourhood of the superior longitudinal sinus very conspicuously congested. In this region, too, the membrane in the occipital region was fixed to the cranial walls by soft, very vascular adhesions. The pia-mater was thickened and so highly injected throughout that the cerebral surface had a generally diffused pink tint. The cerebral substance was everywhere abnormally soft and so friable as to render any immediate removal of the membranes impossible without the occurrence of much destruction of the nervous tissue. Like the surfa, e, although in minor degree, it was of a pinkish tinge owing to abnormal accumulation of blood. Conditions of this kind appeared to be universally diffused throughout the w iole of the cerebral centres, the texture of the hemispheres, of the cerebellum, and of the basal ganglia being alike soft, and the evidences of abnormal congestion universally distributed. In spite of this, however, the spinal cord and its membranes were to all appearance perfectly healthy.
" In so far as a single experiment goes, the results in this case would then seem to show that the habit nal' inhalation of the smoke of dhatura, even when only practised for a relatively brief period, is sufficient to establish serious morbid changes in the cerebral nervous centres, and that it therein differs from the habitual inhalation of the smoke of ganja extending over a much more prolonged period. This clearly indicates the necessity of distinguishing between cases in which ganja alone is employed from those in which a mixture of ganja and dhatura is substituted for it, as otherwise certain prejudicial effects which are really due to the use of the latter drug may be erroneously credited to the former one."

458. Turning now to the effects of hemp drugs, it seems expedient to take up first their medicinal use. This is not confined to their use as prescribed by physicians, but extends also to their use as popular or domestic remedial agents. Out of a total of 1,193 European and Native witnesses before the Commission, little less than two-thirds refer to the use of hemp drugs by the Vedanti and Yunani schools of native physicians and native doctors generally, while the rest afford no information on the subject or reply in the negative. About one-sixth of the former refer specially to the use of ganja, one-third to bhang, and the remainder state that both forms of the drug are prescribed, several of the witnesses in the North-Western Provinces and Punjab particularising charas as a remedial agent. If the number of witnesses who speak of this use in each province may be taken as approximately indicating its extent, then it would appear that the medicinal use is well known throughout India.

459. Before alluding to the use of hemp drugs by native physicians in the pre- sent day, the Commission consider that it will perhaps be of interest to give a brief résumé of the medicinal properties assigned to hemp by some of the ancient writers. Mr. George A. Grierson, I.c.s., informed the Commission that having searched through all the Sanskrit and Hindi books accessible, he found the first mention of bhanga as a medicine in the work of Su cruta, written before the eighth century A.D. Bhanga is recommended with a number of other drugs as an antiphlegmatic. In the same work Mr. Grierson points out that vzjaya is mentioned as a remedy for catarrh accompanied by diarrhoea, and as an ingredient in a prescription for fever arising from an excess of bile and phlegm. In these two passages, however, vijaya is probably an equivalent of haritaki, the yellow myrobolan, and does not mean hemp ; and Dr. Hoernle informed Mr. Grierson that in the oldest medical works the word vijaya is explained by commentators as referring to the yellow myrobolan. The use of bhang between the fifth and twelfth century is frequently mentioned in dictionaries, and the names used would seem to show that its use as an intoxicant was then known. In the Rajanighantu of Narahari Pandita, A.D. 1300, the effects of hemp on man are described as excitant, heating, astringent : it destroys phlegm, expels flatulence, induces costiveness, sharpens the memory, and excites appetite. In the Carngadharasamhita, a medical work, the date of which is unknown, but which must have been compiled during the Muhammadan period of Indian history, bhang is specially mentioned as an excitant. In the Dhurtasamagama, or " Rogues' Congress," A.D. 1500, the following passage occurs : " Ganja, which is soporific and corrects derangements of the humours, which produces a healthy appetite, sharpens the wits, and acts as an aphrodisiac." In the Bhavaprakaca, written about A.D. 1600, bhang is described as being " antiphlegmatic, pungent, astringent, digestive, easy of digestion, and bile-affecting, and increases infatuation, intoxication, the power of the voice, and the digestive faculty." In the Rajarallabha, a materia medica of rather later date, ganja is described as Indra's food," is acid, produces infatuation, and destroys leprosy. It " creates -energy, the mental powers, and internal heat, corrects irregularities of the phlegmatic humour, and is an elixir vita."
In the Makhzan-el-Adwiya, hemp seeds are said to be " a compound of opposite qualities, cold and dry in the third degree, i.e., stimulant and sedative, imparting at first a gentle reviving heat, and then a considerable refrigerant effect." The qualities of the plant are stimulant and sedative. " The leaves make a good snuff for deterging the brain ; the juice of the leaves applied to the head as a wash removes dandruff and vermin ; drops of the juice thrown into the ear allay pain and destroy worms and insects. It checks diarrhoea, is useful in gonorrhoea, restrains the seminal secretions, and is diuretic. The bark has a similar effect. The powder is recommended as an external application to fresh wounds and sores, and for causing granulations ; a poultice of the boiled roots and leaves for discussing inflammations and cure of erysipelas, and for allaying neuralgic pains. The dried leaves, bruised and spread on a castor-oil leaf, cure hydrocele and swelled testes." Rumphius in the Herbarium A mboinense, A.D. 1695, states that the Muhammadans in his neighbourhood frequently sought for the male plant from his garden to give to persons afflicted with virulent gonorrhoea or with asthma, and the affection which is popularly called " stitches in the side." He also adds that the powdered leaves check diarrhoea, are stomachic, cure the malady named pitao, and moderate excessive secretion of bile. He mentions the use of hemp smoke as an enema in strangulated hernia, and of the leaves as an antidote in poisoning by orpiment.

460. The use of hemp drugs by native physicians, as evidenced from replies of witnesses received by the Commission, may be considered under two main heads—(a) as specifics in the treatment of diseases, and (b) in their general therapeutic applications ; while a few uses of the drugs which do not fall within these divisions are also occasionally mentioned. It is hardly necessary to premise that the use of hemp drugs by hakims, etc., is wholly empirical, the drugs being used apparently haphazard for the most diverse diseases. It is interesting, however, to note that while the drugs appear now to be frequently used for precisely the same purposes and in the same manner as was recommended centuries ago, many uses of these drugs by native doctors are in accord with their application in modern European therapeutics. Cannabis indica must be looked upon as one of the most important drugs of Indian Materia Medica.
In connection with the pharmacy of the drug, the preparations of the hemp plant used by native doctors are bhang, ganja, and sometimes charas : the seeds appear to be very rarely used. B hang is generally prescribed as a cold infusion prepared from the powdered and well-triturated leaves, or as a confection or " moduks," especially in the treatment of nervous debility : into all these preparations a large number of other ingredients usually enter. The admixture of saccharine matter with bhang is popularly supposed to render it more potent as an intoxicant. Bhang is also used as a local application in the form of poultice, and sometimes the finely-powdered leaves are used as a snuff. When ganja and charas are prescribed for inhalation, the drugs are smoked mixed with tobacco; when ganja is used for local fumigation, the smoke from the unmixed drug is employed. These two drugs appear to be rarely used for internal administration. Occasionally an oil prepared with ganja and other ingredients is used as a rubefacient. The expressed oil from the seeds is also used for a similar purpose.

461. In discussing the diseases treated, we may take first diseases of the nervous system. Witnesses refer to the use of the drugs in the treatment of "brain fever," cramps, convulsions of children, headache, hysteria, neuralgia, sciatica, and tetanus. In certain of these diseases, e.g., convulsions of children, neuralgia, and tetanus, the use of hemp preparations has also been advocated by European practitioners. The late Sir W. B. O'Shaughnessy, of Calcutta, appears to have been the first to use hemp resin in tetanus. He found that in many cases it effectually arrested the progress of the disease, but in the hands of others equally good results were not always obtained. O'Shaughnessy explains this by the fact that the use of hemp is so universal among the lower classes, that it is only in those patients who are not habituated to it that beneficial effects are likely to ensue when the drug is administered medicinally. The treatment of tetanus by the inhalation of ganja smoke has also been recommended. In the class of specific infectious diseases, hemp drugs are stated to be used in hydrophobia, ague, remittent fever, cholera," to relieve burning symptoms in phthisis," dysentery, erysipelas, and gonorrhcea. O'Shaughnessy more than 5o years ago used hemp resin with more or less success in hydrophobia and cholera. In the treatment of dysentery the resin has been found of much value by many European doctors, and excellent results have been obtained with it. In addition to the medicinal use of the drug for the treatment of cholera during epidemics, hemp drugs appear occasionally to be used as prophylactics, and for a similar purpose the use of the drugs is recommended in malarial areas to counteract the effects of " bad air and water." In both cases hemp drugs probably act as indirect prophylactics, stimulating the nervous system and allaying depression, thus serving much the same purpose as the popular uso of alcoholic beverages by the lower classes in European countries during the prevalence of epidemics. But, on the other hand, it must be remembered that when ganja is smoked as a prophylactic, it is always mixed with tobacco, and yields members of the aromatic series of hydrocarbons, the lower members of which are known to possess both antiseptic and antipyretic powers. In the treatment of diseases of the respiratory organs, hemp drugs are stated to be used in hay-fever, asthma, bronchitis, and coughs, inhalation of ganja smoke being the usual mode of exhibiting the drug. Pounded bhang leaves are stated to be sometimes used as a snuff in catarrh and " diseases of the nose and head." In several diseases of the organs of digestion hemp drugs are prescribed, flatulence, diarrhoea, dyspepsia, piles,and prolapsus ani being the chief. Bhang has also been prescribed to check salivation. In diseases of the urinary organs hemp preparations are used in diabetes, impotency, stricture, spermatorrhoea, hydrocele, incontinence of urine, and swellings of the testicles. In orchitis a warm bhang poultice applied on a warm fig leaf is recommended to be bandaged over the testicles, and in hydrocele a similar poultice is spread on a castor-oil leaf. In impotency and nervous debility the drug is doubtless used on account of its supposed aphrodisiac power. Hemp drugs are also stated to be prescribed in diseases of the heart, brain, spleen, in rheumatism, gout, and delirium tremens, and they are also used in the treatment of scabies, guinea-worm, and boils. An oil prepared from bhang and other ingredients is prescribed in white leprosy, and bhang smoking is stated to be used against the poisons of fish and scorpions.

462. In connection with the therapeutics of hemp drugs, one of the commonest uses is for the relief of pain, the drugs being used either as local or general anodynes. Thus bhang poultices are frequently mentioned as soothing local applications to painful parts ; and poultices are used for inflamed piles and over the seat of pain in liver and bowel diseases, and to check inflammation and erysipelas. Fumigation with the smoke from burning ganja or bhang is also used as a local sedative in piles. A small fragment of charas is placed in a 'carious tooth to relieve toothache. And the use of the drugs is also referred to for the relief of protracted labour pains, dysmenorrhoea, pain in the stomach, cramps, and neuralgia. One witness states that hemp drugs are used as a substitute for opium. In cases of circumcision the drugs are used as anaesthetics, and a witness mentions that native doctors on rare occasions substitute ganja for chloroform in operations. The tincture of Cannabis has been used as a local anaesthetic in extracting teeth (British Journal of Dental Science).

463. In asthma and bronchitis inhalation of ganja smoke appears to be very frequently prescribed ; while, on the other hand, there is evidence which tends to indicate that both affections may be induced by charas or ganja smoking indulged in as a habit. The inhalation of ganja smoke may very possibly first act as a pulmonary sedative, diminishing the secretion of mucus, and after long continuance as an irritant increasing mucus secretion, and giving rise to a chronic bronchitis. In considering the therapeutic action of ganja and charas smoke in these affections, it must be remembered that the drugs are as a rule smoked admixed with tobacco from a chillum, and the smoke inhaled into the lungs in a similar manner as sometimes in cigarette smoking. In ganja smoking, however, the inspiratory act is far greater and more prolonged, a larger volume of smoke entering the lungs than in cigarette smoking. In smoking ordinary tobacco the composition of the smoke will vary according to the amount of air admitted during combustion, oxidation being thus more perfect in cigar than in pipe smoking. In smoking tobacco from a pipe, pyridine is one of the chief aromatic bases produced. In smoking a mixture of ganja or charas and tobacco, aromatic hydrocarbons must also be formed : pyridine and others from the tobacco, and aromatic hydrocarbons also from the hemp drug, though at present we are not in a position to indicate the precise nature of the hydrocarbons afforded by its dry distillation. The base pyridine which is found in pipe smoke possesses the power, according to Germain See (Comptes Rend. Ac. Science, 1886), of diminishing the reflex activity of the respiratory centre, and may thus act as a pulmonary sedative ; and, according to Lauder Brunton, the inhalation of the vapour of pyridine has been used in asthma with beneficial effect. Tobacco smoking has also been recommended in the treatment of asthma. Irrespective, therefore, of the products afforded by the hemp drugs, the tobacco smoke may be thus of value in both bronchitis and asthma. But long-continued smoking, whether of ganja or of any other substance, doubtless results in the deposition of finely divided carbonaceous matter in the lung tissues, and the presence of other irritating substances in the smoke ultimately causes local irritation of the bronchial mucous membrane, leading to increased secretion, and resulting in the condition which is described as chronic bronchitis in ganja smokers. Whether true asthma can be induced by hemp drug smoking, the Commission consider open to much doubt. It appears to them highly probable that the drugs are smoked in the first instance for the relief of that disease. On the other hand, it is well known that frequent asthmatic seizures result in emphysema of the lungs and attendant bronchi. tis ; and possibly most cases of hemp drug bronchitis are associated with emphysema, induced partly by the strain mechanically thrown on the lungs in smoking, and partly as a result of the chronic bronchitis. So that in considering the aetiology of associated asthma and bronchitis in ganja smokers, they are inclined to the view that in the vast majority of cases the drug is not the cause. In many of the statements of witnesses regarding alleged experience there is no satisfactory evidence of even the co-existence of these diseases with the habit of using hemp drugs. And when that co-existence is reasonably established, there is often no good ground for accepting the relation of cause and effect. The drugs may have been used in many cases owing to the popular notion that they alleviate these diseases. At the same time 'here is some evidence that the drugs may cause bronchitis or bronchial catarrh as above described. There is no satisfactory evidence that they ever cause asthma.

464. The diuretic action of bhang is mentioned in connection with the treatment of gonorrhoea. The diuresis which is popularly supposed to be induced by administration of an infusion of bhang is in accord with Dr. Russell's experiments (Bengal witness No. 105) which are appended to his paper. In these experiments Dr. Russell found that the leaves both from mature and immature plants, whether fresh or dry, and used as a drink or smoked with tobacco, produced diuresis ; but Dr. Russell does not appear to have noticed diuresis following the smoking of ganja. These experiments were made in 1883. Subsequently some supplementary experiments were conducted by Dr. Russell, which are embodied in Dr. Prain's Report on the " Cultivation and use of ganja." In the precis of his experiments, Dr. Russell states : " The only marked effect was diuresis from drinking infusions of fresh (not dried) leaves and stems." In his oral examination before the Commission, Dr. Russell repeated that the dried leaves had no marked diuretic effect. The diuresis was the most marked effect of the fresh leaves. The difference in the action of the fresh and dry leaves is no doubt due, as suggested by Dr. Russell, to the escape of a volatile principle, this volatile principle being, no doubt, a volatile oil. Many volatile oils are well known to possess diuretic properties. It is to the presence of the volatile oil of juniper that that well-known domestic diuretic gin owes its properties. The higher the temperature at which the leaves are dried, the smaller would be the amount of retained essential oil ; but the practical point is the desirableness of using only fresh leaves when the diuretic effect of the drug is required. The flowering tops are known to contain a volatile oil, and the diuresis which follows the exhibition of the extract which is prepared from ganja has been specially noted by Prof. C. H. Wood. The volatile oil present in the flowers is probably a mixture of low and high boiling point oils ; in preparing the extract the low boiling point oil escapes, the peculiar odour of the finished extract being due to the retention more or less of the high boiling point fraction. Some witnesses refer to the febrifuge properties of hemp drugs ; and it is stated that bhang used as a drink cuts short the cold stage in fever. There appears to be but little doubt that when bhang is used by natives in fever, the benefit accrues on account of its diuretic action, and not because it possesses any real febrifuge properties. It is not known to possess the latter.

465. The tonici digestive, stimulant, antispasmodic, astringent, and alterative effects of the drugs are mentioned by some witnesses. It is probably on account of the supposed hemostatic effect that powdered charas is used as an application to cuts to check bleeding and induce healing, and possibly the use of the drugs in menorrhagia is based on similar reasoning. In this connection, however, it is interesting to note that Dr. R. L. Dey, a medical officer of the Eastern Bengal State Railway, in 1866 reported the successful treatment of a number of cases of obstinate menorrhagia with tincture of Indian hemp and liquid extract of ergot, although he could obtain no benefit from the use of ergot administered with sulphuric and gallic acids and other hxmostatics. The use of the drug as an ecbolic is also mentioned. According to Stille and Maisch (National Dispensatory), there is evidence to show that Cannabis appears capable, directly or indirectly, of causing uterine contraction, as in many cases of uterine haemorrhage, and it is also said to cause contraction in the pregnant uterus with as much energy as ergot, but with less persistent action. Some witnesses refer to the purgative action ; it is quite possible that a chillum of ganja may act in the same way as the morning pipe does with many Europeans.

466. The use of the drug in cases of impotency is, no doubt, based on its supposed aphrodisiac effects. The experiments of Prof. Wood indicate that the drug does not possess any aphrodisiac power ; and Lauder Brunton remarks (" Text-book of Pharmacy, Therapeutics, and Pharmacology ") : " Cannabis indica has been regarded as an aphrodisiac, but the trials of it made in this country seem to show that it does not, itself at least, have any such action, and merely induces a condition of partial delirium in which Easterns may possibly have visions of a sexual nature, and indeed they try to give a sexual direction to the mental disturbance which the Cannabis produces by mixing with it musk, ambergris, or cantharides." 0 'Shaughnessy, on the other hand, speaks of the drug acting on the " generative apparatus," and in experiments, which he tried on some of his pupils, he states that, " with scarcely any exception, great aphrodisia was experienced " from administration of the extract. Physiologically the active principle of hemp drugs has, so far as is known, no aphrodisiac power whatever ; and, as a matter of fact, they are used by ascetics in this country with the ostensible object of destroying sexual appetite. But taken as a stimulant to assist in the execution of a specific purpose, its indirect effect is perfectly intelligible. Like alcohol it gives strength and free course to the predominant desires of the animal nature. This effect will be considered more fully later. Meanwhile it is enough to say that the alleged aphrodisiac action seems to be merely the indirect effect of the drug as a stimulant. This effect explains the use of these drugs in the houses of prostitutes, regarding which there is a good deal of evidence, just as alcohol in one form or another is used in similar houses in Europe.
The following are some of the minor cases to which ganja is applied. Occasionally the drug is burnt as a disinfectant and used in lieu of carbolic acid. It is also applied to sores for healing, and ganja ash is used to stop ulceration, By singers the drugs are used to clear the throat ; and they are also alleged to possess vermicide properties.

467. Regarding the use of hemp drugs in the treatment of cattle-disease, out of a total of 1,193 witnesses, one-half give no information ; and of the rest rather over one-half speak to the use of bhang alone, while the remainder speak generally of the use of both ganja and bhang. A few witnesses speak only of the use of ganja, but that is mainly where bhang is not available. This use of the drugs is in evidence in all provinces, though naturally to a less extent in Bombay and Madras than elsewhere, and least of all in Burma. Among the diseases for which hemp drugs are prescribed in native veterinary practice for cattle, horses, sheep, and occasionally elephants may be mentioned colic, bowel-complaints, diarrhoea, sprains, constipation, cow-pox, foot-and-mouth diseases, isoof disease, pneumonia, affections of the throat, colds and coughs, quinsy, and rinderpest. Ganja is used to extract worms in foot-sore diseases of cattle and to remove intestinal worms, and is also burnt to disinfect sheepfolds. A very common use of the drugs is as a tonic to produce condition, to make oxen fleet of foot, to relieve fatigue, and to give staying power. Bhang is sometimes used to increase the flow of milk in cows, and also to stupefy them when they refuse to be milked. The drug is occasionally given to mares shortly before being covered, and it is also used after delivery. Bhang mixed with salt is given to cattle as preventive against purging, to which they are generally subject from feeding on the young shoots of grass sprouting during the early part of the monsoon. Hemp drugs when used for cattle disease are usually administered raw, but always admixed with other ingredients, spices, salt, or gur. Occasionally bhang is first cooked in a metal pot, then mixed with gur, when animals eat it readily, or it is forced down the throat mixed with salt.
The use of hemp drugs for the treatment of cattle-diseases appears to be nearly equally prevalent throughout Northern India. Mr. Driberg, Excise Commissioner, Assam, in his oral evidence before the Commission said : " I have no feeling that the Circular No. 28 of 1882 was necessary. I think it was issued on insufficient information. I never push it forward. I have never seen the stuff used for cattle ; nor have I heard of its being used, except when the use is thus pleaded in excuse. " The Commission, while recognizing the necessity of the popular use of the hemp drugs in veterinary practice, do not find in the evidence any reason for thinking that the practice is more common in Assam than elsewhere in the north of India.
The Commission have said all that it is necessary to say regarding the strictly medicinal use of hemp drugs in the alleviation of human suffering and disease. This is to be carefully distinguished from the popular use of the drugs by the ordinary consumer, which it is now proposed to discuss. It is true that there are points where the two uses can hardly be separated by a hard-and-fast line. The medicinal use seems to merge sometimes into the popular use, where the drugs are used, ostensibly at least, for purposes akin to medical. The popular impression of the drugs also must be influenced by their uses in medicine.

468. It is natural that the people generally should associate certain beneficial results with the use of hemp drugs, and that this recognition should tend to encourage, and should be urged in justification of, their moderate use. At the same time it is necessary to consider the popular use and its effects apart from the medicinal use. A drug may be a useful medicine, but a bad thing to allow into the market freely for general consumption. The evidence regarding the popular use has nOw to be considered. There are only about fifty witnesses who assert that no benefit whatever can be derived by consumers from the moderate use of any form of these drugs. The vast majority assert that in some one or other of their forms they may produce at least temporarily beneficial effects. Many even of those who regard the use of the drugs as on the whole baneful admit such temporary benefits. It is to be noted, however, that, with the very rarest exceptions, the evidence points to the use of the drugs by males only. Women would therefore appear either not to require or to be denied the benefits ascribed to the drugs.

469. Among the beneficial effects attributed to the drugs is their effect as a food accessory or digestive. This effect is more generally attributed to bhang than to the other two forms. But there are a large number of witnesses who attribute it also to the smoking of ganja. The " cooling and refreshing " cup of bhang taken by the well-to-do, especially in the hot weather, to stimulate their energies and to create an appetite for food is frequently in evidence. There would seem to be a very general use of bhang in moderation as a stimulant and digestive by the middle classes, especially in advancing years. Some of the most intelligent and enterprising classes of the community are among those who thus use bhang. This use is generally spoken of without any marked condemnation, and often even with approval ; for it is the practice of the respectable classes. But after all there seems quite equally good ground for believing that the chillum of ganja taken by the labouring man after his food with the object of allaying weariness and assisting digestion is no more harmful ; and there are many witnesses whose evidence is in this sense. The use of bhang in the one case is sometimes compared to the glass of wine taken at meals by a moderate consumer of alcohol, and the use of ganja in the other case to the labouring man's glass of beer or even to his pipe of tobacco. It is possible also that the effects of hemp drugs in this respect may be to a certain extent comparable with those of tea. In connection with the most recent experiments on the subject, the action of tea is thus described by Dr. Edward Smith : " It increases the assimilation of food both of the flesh and heat forming kind, and with abundance of food must promote nutrition, whilst in the absence of sufficient food it increases the waste of the body." If there is anything in this comparison, Dr. Smith's remarks regarding tea may throw some light on the statements frequently found in the evidence regarding the necessity for sufficient or nourishing food to prevent injury to the constitution from the prolonged use of hemp drugs.

470. The use of these drugs to give staying-power under severe exertion or exposure or to alleviate fatigue is very largely in evidence. Here it is ganja especially which is credited with these beneficial effects. For ganja is far more extensively used than bhang by the labouring classes. The latter is mainly used by persons like the Cha.ubes of Mathra, who are very frequently referred to, and professional wrestlers. Gymnasts, wrestlers and musicians, palki-bearers and porters, divers and postal runners, are examples of the classes who use the hemp drugs on occasions of especially severe exertion. Fishermen and boatmen, singhara cultivators working in tanks, dhobis and night watchmen, mendicants and pilgrims, are named as among those who use them under severe exposure. All classes of labourers, especially. such as blacksmiths, miners, and coolies, are said more or less generally to use the drugs as a rule in moderation to alleviate fatigue. In this connection a reference to Dr. Cunningham's experiment described in Vol. III Appendices is interesting.

471. There is also a large body of evidence showing that hemp drugs, both as smoked and as drunk, are used as a febrifuge or preventive of the diseases common in malarious tracts or arising from the use of bad water. This is the justification alleged for the habitual use of these drugs in certain localities. Here, of course, the experience of the witnesses is more limited ; but the evidence is very considerable. Labourers in malarious tracts and cultivators of wet and marshy lands, jungle tribes, and those who have to work or reside in jungle tracts, are among those who are said to use the drugs for these purposes. It is impossible also to shut the eyes to the evidence which often comes up unexpectedly, showing that respectable and intelligent people going on duty to such tracts, and sepoys sent on foreign service or garrisoning comparatively unhealthy districts, often take to these drugs for these purposes.

472. There are a few other effects of a beneficial character which are referred to by certain witnesses. They are, however, of a less important character and less generally contemplated than those which have been already considered. Thus the drugs are said to be used sometimes to prevent insomnia and to relieve anxiety, as the consumer of alcohol sometimes takes a " night cap before going to bed" or a glass of wine when he is of heavy heart. The drugs are said to be cheering in their effects, and to be prized by many on this account. An interesting illustration of this may perhaps be found in the popular belief existing in many parts that these drugs protect against cholera and other epidemic diseases. One very intelligent witness, who has seen much of this use, explains it as due to the stimulating and inspiriting nature of the drugs. The drugs are said to be used to produce concentration of attention not only by fakirs, but also by such tradesmen as jewellers doing very fine work. They are said to be used by the poor and on occasion by others to alleviate hunger when sufficient food is not obtainable. The alleged occasional use in this way by sepoys, who for any reason cannot devote a sufficient amount of their pay to procuring food, is interesting. One witness (Mr. E. J. Ebden, Collector of Ahmednagar) thus refers to this : " I -am told on good authority that native soldiers who have gambled away their pay employ the ganja pipe as a cheap substitute for food until in funds again." Want of money from other causes might lead to the same practice ; and the evidence shows that the practice is not confined to sepoys. It is especially found among wandering mendicants, and no doubt exists among other classes. The practice cannot result in permanent advantage, but the temporary relief is not to be overlooked.

473. There are a few witnesses who stigmatize all such allegations of beneficial results as mere excuses made for a vicious indulgence. As some opium consumers attribute all manner of good effects to opium, liquor drinkers to alcohol, and tobacco smokers to tobacco, so do consumers of hemp attribute these beneficial effects to their favourite drug. It is, no doubt, true that there is a tendency to find excuse for an unnecessary indulgence. But the medicinal uses of these drugs lend at least some measure of support to the popular belief among consumers that some beneficial effects do follow from the moderate use. There are one or two witnesses who assert that the use of these drugs, far from being a protection against malaria, makes the consumer more liable to its influence. This may be true of the excessive use, which may injure the constitution and predispose to noxious influences. There is, however, no sufficient ground for believing that it is true of the moderate use. Other witnesses assert that the effect in alleviating fatigue is merely temporary, and results in the end in greater exhaustion. So far as the moderate use is concerned, this view would appear to be mainly theoretical ; for, as has been already pointed out, there are very few witnesses who even profess to have any experience of evil effects'resulting from moderate consumption. There are also a number of witnesses who attribute these good effects to bhang only, while some limit them to the occasional use of the drugs. These statements may perhaps be taken for practical purposes together. The occasional use of ganja or charas must be rare compared with the occasional use of bhang ; for the smoking habit is more difficult to acquire, and there are therefore few who can with comfort indulge in it only occasionally.
The truth seems to be that while, no doubt, these drugs are more commonly consumed merely as stimulants than from any clearly defined idea of their beneficial results, yet they are popularly believed to have (if moderately used) some such beneficial results as have been above described. Moderate consumers believe this, and would feel a sense of deprivation if they were unable to obtain what they regard as a beneficial stimulant. This deprivation would be more felt among the poorer classes than among the wealthier, whose tastes lead them to more expensive luxuries. It is the poorer people and the labouring classes who as a rule use these drugs for the purposes indicated. They are admittedly as a rule moderate consumers. They do not seem to.exceed in the use of hemp so frequently as in the use of liquor. Those who seem, according to the statements of many witnesses, really to derive no benefit but only harm from the use of these drugs are those who, leading sedentary or idle lives, take the drugs from a merely vicious desire of nervous excitement, and have a strong tendency to excess.
474. The fact that certain beneficial effects result from the moderate use under certain circumstances is not, however, necessarily inconsistent with the view that even the moderate use is on the whole injurious. Witnesses were therefore invited to consider separately the question if the moderate use of these drugs is on the whole harmless. About eight hundred and fifty witnesses (i.e., considerably more than two-thirds of the whole) record their opinion. Of these, over sixty declare that the moderate use cannot be regarded as harmless simply on the ground that it is apt to develop into excess. The remainder (about eight hundred) answer the question clearly in the affirmative or negative for each of the forms of the drugs with which they are acquainted. Nearly three hundred witnesses deal with charas, and their opinion is as four to three against that drug. It is in the Punjab, Sind, and the North-Western Provinces that opinion is strongest in this direction. It is in these provinces that charas is best known, and elsewhere the drug is probably weaker from deterioration. So that opinion in these provinces is probably entitled to more weight than elsewhere. On the whole, then, there is apparently a more unfavourable opinion of charas than of the other forms of hemp drugs.

475. In regard to ganja, opinion is about seven to five in favour of the moderate use being harmless. In every province, except the North-Western Provinces and Sind, the majority take this view. In Sind the drug is known to but few witnesses, and a large proportion of these few fail to discriminate between the moderate and excessive use. In the North-Western Provinces the drug is well known, and the witnesses are divided as three to two against the drug—almost, indeed, in the same ratio as in regard to charas. Here, however, a careful examination of the papers shows that at least one-fifth of these witnesses against ganja have not discriminated between the moderate and excessive use. In other provinces the majority believe the moderate use of ganja to be harmless. In Bengal, where the drug is best known and most carefully cultivated, this majority is about two to one.

476. Bhang is regarded with more general favour than other preparations of hemp. The witnesses who declare it harmless are nearly as three to one as compared with those who think otherwise. This majority is found in pretty nearly this ratio in all provinces. This may, therefore, be accepted as the prevailing opinion.

477. There is a large number of witnesses who either do not know enough, or do not feel strongly enough, regarding the effects to say anything about them. There is also a large proportion of the other witnesses who declare the moderate use of the drugs to be harmless. Finally, there is manifestly a tendency in many of the witnesses against the drug to base their unfavourable opinion on their experience of excessive consumption. In view of all this, there can be little doubt that there is a very large amount of moderate consumption of all these drugs, the evil effects of which are inappreciable, even if this moderate consumption is not quite harmless. There is a good deal of justification of the failure of many witnesses to discriminate between moderate and excessive consumption. That which is moderate and harmless to one man may be too much for another. And the moderate habit may undoubtedly develop into excess in some cases where excess might not have been looked for. It is so with all intoxicants ; but moderation and excess ought to be distinguished. And on the whole the weight of evidence is to the effect that moderation in the use of hemp drugs is not injurious.

478. The great majority of the witnesses are of opinion that the habit of consuming these drugs is easily formed. As a rule these witnesses speak from experience of consumption among the upper and middle classes. There is no doubt that there are some difficulties in the way of a lad learning the habit apart from the deterrent opinion (where it exists) of parents or of society. It is necessary to know how to prepare the drug, though most of the methods of preparation when learned are simple enough. This fact, together with the force of example, explains the very general statement that the habit is acquired in the company of smokers. The first effects produced in the novice by the drug, especially if smoked, are also far from pleasant, and must tend to make the habit somewhat difficult to acquire. The first effects of bhang need not be unpleasant if the consumer is careful to begin with very small doses. But it is otherwise with hemp smoking. To produce any effect, the smoke has to be taken into the lungs by strong inhalation. The effect of this is often unpleasant and distressing, especially to those who are not accustomed to smoke tobacco in this particular way. It is doubtful, however, whether these first effects are ever more deterrent in character than those which European lads experience on their first acquaintance with tobacco, and it cannot be said that they present any real difficulty in the way of those who from any motive desire to consume these drugs. Once these initial difficulties are past, the habit is easily formed. As in the case of every other intoxicant, consumption tends to become habitual.

479 The pretty general belief is that the habit is not easily broken off when once formed ; but the difficulty is not believed to be so great as in the case of either alcohol or opium. It is apparently greater than in the case of tobacco. The experience of our jails seems clearly to confirm the general opinion that the opium habit takes a much stronger hold than the ganja habit, and that no injurious physical effects follow the compulsory cessation of the latter. But even the moderate habitual consumer looks for the effect which he associates with the drug, and finds it a considerable effort to give up the habit—an effort which demands considerable strength of mind in cases where the necessity for abandoning the habit may have arisen. In case of habitual excess the difficulty is greatly increased. The weakness of mind at once displayed and intensified by this excess renders it sometimes impossible to give up the habit without restraint. But even in cases of excessive consumption, the difficulty appears to be less with ganja than with alcohol or opium.

480. It is a general belief that there is a tendency for the moderate habit to develop into the excessive. This belief is based on the general view that such a tendency must exist more or less in the case of all intoxicants, on the fact that as the system becomes accustomed to the use of a drug a larger dose appears to be required to produce the same effect, and on the undoubted fact that there are some excessive consumers who had begun and continued for some time the use of these drugs in moderation. It is, however, a matter of ordinary experience that in the case of a moderate consumer of alcohol, for example, who is in normal health, the effect which he wishes to produce by his moderate use is regularly produced by the same dose without any necessity for increasing it. And the fact that there is comparatively so little of excess in the use of hemp drugs, and that so many consumers, especially of bhang among the middle classes and of ganja among working people, retain their moderate habit and regularly have their accustomed dose twice or thrice a day, seems to show that this tendency is certainly not stronger in their case. While individual differences in strength of mind must always lead to difference in results, and hereditary mental instability is in certain cases a factor which must not be overlooked, the fact seems generally to be that excess is found (as in the case of alcohol) to be mainly confined to idle and dissipated persons, and to be often due to the force of example and foolish emulation in bad company. The man who takes these drugs regularly as a food accessory, or as a stimulant in hard work, does not seem to be prone to excess. Apparently also the tendency is much less towards that occasional excess which in the case of alcohol so frequently 'becomes habitual. The working man, for example, does not seem to have the same temptation to a debauch with ganja as with alcohol.

481. Another question of some interest that has arisen in connection with the hemp drug habit, whether moderate or excessive, is the question whether it is hereditary. No evidence of the smallest value is forthcoming to show that it is. There are, no doubt, witnesses who state this as their belief ; but the basis of that belief is merely the undoubted fact that in many cases the sons of ganja smokers also themselves smoke ganja. This fact is sufficiently explained in the first instance by the universal tendency of sons to imitate their fathers. It has also to be borne in mind that it is an acknowledged fact that the neurotic diathesis which is hereditary frequently exhibits ,itself in a tendency to indulge in stimulants. The weakness which may have led the father to indulgence in ganja may be inherited by the son, and produce in him the same tendency to use this drug; but there is no such evidence as would justify the opinion that the indulgence is itself hereditary.

482. In proceeding to deal more directly with the effects induced by the moderate use of the drugs, the Commission consider it desirable to preface the general analysis of information obtained from ordinary witnesses by a- résumé of the known physiological action of the drugs as determined by competent observers. The earliest experiments of which we possess any record were instituted on animals by Sir William B. O'Shaughnessy. Ten grains of Nepalese charas were given to a middling sized dog ; in half an hour the dog was stupid and sleepy, dozing at intervals, starting up, wagging his tail as if extremely contented, and ate food greedily. On being called to, he staggered to and fro, and his face assumed a look of utter and helpless drunkenness. These symptoms lasted two hours and then gradually passedaway, and in six hours the dog was perfectly well and lively. In another experiment twenty grains of alcoholic extract of ganja were given to a very small dog. In fifteen minutes he was intoxicated : in half an hour he had great difficulty of movement : in an hour he had lost all power over the hinder extremities, which were rather stiff, but flexible : sensibility did not seem to be impaired, and the circulation was natural. He readily acknowledged calls by an attempt to rise up. In four hours he was quite well. O'Shaughnessy conducted experiments on carnivorous as well as graminivorous animals, and found that the former invariably and speedily exhibited the intoxicating influence of the drug, while the latter experienced but trivial effects from any dose administered. As a result of several experiments on pupils at the Medical College, Calcutta, O'Shaughnessy observes : " The result of several trials was that in as small doses as 4 of a grain the pulse was increased in fulness and frequency ; the surface of the body glowed ; the appetite became extraordinary ; vivid ideas crowded the brain ; unusual loquacity occurred ; and, with scarcely any exception, great aphrodisia was experienced." Lauder Brunton states : " Its chief effect is on the brain, and is of a twofold nature ; it excites a form of delirium and hallucinations, usually followed by deep
sleep. Small doses give rise to delirium with hallucinations generally of a gay character causing much merriment, accompanied by a great inclination to muscular movement. The nature of the hallucinations depends greatly on the character of the individual, and people seem to be able to determine their nature as in the case of opium. The dreams produced by Indian hemp in inhabitants of Eastern countries are usually of a sexual character, but when taken by more civilized people of Western nations they are not sexual, and are often of a disagreeable nature. During this stage of hallucination the person may conduct himself rationally, and answer clearly any question put to him. The drug produces in some persons a curious loss of sense of space and time. This stage is generally followed by deep sleep. The sensory nerves are benumbed, and there is frequent tingling and partial anaesthesia. The pupil is dilated. Respiration may be either quickened or slowed. The action on the pulse is very uncertain. Usually it is at first quickened, then slowed, sometimes vice versa. The temperature rises or sinks according as the drug produces muscular movement or sleep. The urine is increased. The processes of digestion are less altered by Cannabis indica than by opium, and the after effects of opium (nausea, headache, etc.) are not produced." Dr. Russell (Bengal witness No. 1o5), in his note furnished to Dr. Prain, gives the following effects of " doses pushed to produce a decided effect " : " Mental effects appear in from three to five minutes ; exhilaration and excitement of a pleasing nature : the subject talkative and merry ; laughs and gesticulates ; plays on imaginary musical instruments and sings ; converses with imaginary persons ; illusions and delusions, usually of a pleasing nature ; objective of these very responsive to external impressions and suggestions ; rarely quarrelsome or combative. Then ensues a condition of repose and quiet contemplation with fixed stare and immobile pupil. Then drowsiness and restless sleep in from two to three hours, lasting several hours: on waking, dulness, heaviness, profound depression, and irritability lasting for many hours. Physical effects in stage of exhilaration—conjunctiva reddened, pupil immobile ; venous turgescence of face and head ; respiration increased in frequency by three or four per minute ; temperature raised two degrees or more ; skin dry ; a general condition of febrile excitement, vascular tension, increased pulse, quickened by ten beats or more per minute, hard, jerky, irregular. At later stage of reaction and drowsiness, skin cold, dry, pale ; temperature subnormal (97° Fahr.) ; pulse slow, soft, compressible, very irregular ; respirations lessened in frequency and shallow ; copious diuresis." These experiments refer to the drugs bhang and ganja smoked and drunk as an infusion (vide the details of certain of Dr. Russell's experiments instituted in 1883 and appended to his evidence). Dr. Prain in his report on the cultivation and use of ganja refers to some experiments made on cats with alcoholic extracts of ganja, and Dr. Evans, Officiating Chemical Examiner, Bengal, at the suggestion of the Commission, also instituted a series of experiments on cats. Both these observers refer to the idiosyncrasy exhibited as to effects in the animals under experiment. Dr. Evans remarks "that some cats under the influence of the drug were prone to sleep, and others to the development of the phenomena ascribed to the disturbance of the sensory-motor apparatus ; that the same dose relative to the body weight would in some animals induce disturbance of the sensory-motor mechanism, and in others a varying degree of narcotism. Apart, however, from individual idiosyncrasy, the quantity of the dose was found to play an important part also in determining the character of the effects produced by the drug. For in certain animals who after certain doses had been recognized as prone to develop sensory-motor disturbance without marked sleep or narcotism, an increased dose, if sufficiently large, could be relied on to produce sleep deep enough to mask or prevent the development of sensory-motor disturbance, with the exception of the rocking movements." Dr. Bovill (Bengal witness No. 109) describes the effects of smoking ganja in cigarettes, and Assistant Surgeon J..E. Bocarro (Sind witness No. 20) gives notes in which he compares the effects of drinking bhang and smoking ganja and charas.

483. The following interesting account of an experiment on the effects of the systematic inhalation of the smoke of ganja conducted by Dr. D. D. Cunningham at the request of the Commission is extracted from his report (Vol. III Appendices). The growth of the habit, the uneasiness arising from privation, the symptoms of the intoxication, especially the appearance of optical delusions, the absence of appreciable indication of cerebral excitement, and the post-mortem appearances, are most interesting features of the report. So far as one experiment can be accepted as establishing anything, and subject also to the more careful histological enquiry to be conducted hereafter, this experiment gives additional evidence of the absence of morbid changes in the brain and of tissue changes generally under the action of hemp drugs even when used in excess. At the same time the general features of the experiment as indicated above are on the whole comparable with the effects of the hemp drugs on the human consumer as established in the evidence recorded by the Commission. The remarks of Dr. Cunningham regarding the diminution of appetite accompanied by local accumulations of fat as indicating the diminution in activity of the normal processes of tissue waste under the influence of ganja throw light on the evidence of witnesses who ascribe beneficial effects to this drug in cases of severe exertion without sufficient or suitable food. Dr. Cunningham writes :-

" Nature of the animal employed, Maeacus rhesus, weighing 16 lbs..

" The first inhalation was administered on the 7th of November 1893 and the last on the 12th of July 1894, so that the experiment extended over more than eight months. During this period one hundred and eighty-one inhalations were administered. During the greater part of the period the administrations were repeated almost daily, save on Sundays, but during March they were repeated only on alternate days, and during April and May only at irregular intervals, owing to the fact that at that time the animal was suffering from a mild but prolonged attack of dysentery. During the earlier part of the course of the experiment the animal apparently disliked the treatment, as he violently resisted introduction into the inhalation chamber, was restless when the smoke began to enter it, and not unfrequently attempted to prevent its entrance by plugging the orifice of the supply-tube. As time went on, however, and the experience lost its strangeness, his objections gradually diminished, and were ultimately replaced by a positive desire for the treatment. He then readily entered the chamber, resisted any attempts to remove him from it before he had had a full dose, was restless and uneasy on days on which the treatment was omitted, and, on two occasions on which he managed to make his escape from his eage, showed an evident desire to enter the chamber on his own account.

" The symptoms attending the process of inhalation were not invariably of precisely uniform character. As a rule they came on quietly and insensibly, and consisted in steadily increasing drowsiness leading on to quiet sleep. During the course of exposure the conjunctiva and eyelids frequently became considerably congested ; but this may, of course, have been merely dependent on direct irritation incident on their contact with the smoke. When removed from the chamber, ere profound sleep had supervened, the animal was evidently intoxicated. In many cases he was incapable of sitting up without supporting himself by means of grasping the bars of his cage, and, when less profoundly affected, was very unsteady on his legs. On being introduced into his cage, he not unfrequently, either at once or after a short delay, lay down and slept quietly for some time. On awaking from such sleep, as well as in those cases where sleep did not intervene, he almost invariably showed symptoms which appeared to indicate that he was for some time the subject of optical delusions. He gazed about attentively in directions in which nothing which seemed likely to excite his curiosity was present, and carefully scrutinized the floor of his cage for objects which did not exist. Such symptoms continued to persist for a considerable time after all other indications of intoxication had disappeared, continuing to manifest themselves in greater or less degree during the entire course of the latter portion of any day on which the treatment had been administered in the morning.

" On a certain number of occasions, however, the symptoms did not follow this normal course. On these the onset of signs of drowsiness was greatly delayed, and had hardly begun to show itself ere the animal was suddenly seized with violent general convulsions, and immediately thereafter became profoundly unconscious. The symptoms on the recovery of consciousness in no way differed from those in cases where the earlier ones had followed the normal course. No satisfactory explanation of the occurrence of such exceptional phenomena could be arrived at, and it must remain uncertain whether they are to be regarded as the consequence of certain temporary subjective peculiarities on the part of the animal or of variations in the quality of the drug.

" In no instance was there any appreciable indication of the development of any cerebral excitement either during the administration of the drug or after intoxication had been fully established. The normal symptoms were those of simple drowsiness and loss of will-power accompanied by optical delusions, those characterising the exceptional cases of temporary abnormal activity of the spinal cord and basal ganglia which may very probably have been dependent on diminution in the inhibitory power of the higher cerebral centres.

"The general health of the animal remained excellent during the entire course of the experiment, save for a period during the months of April and May, in which it suffered from dysenteric symptoms. The occurrence of these, however, cannot be in any way definitely ascribed to the use of the drug, as they are of frequent occurrence among monkeys in confinement apart from any special treatment. The only permanent appreciable effect resulting from the treatment manifested itself in the form of a very considerable diminution in appetite for food, which set in shortly after the initiation of the experiment, and thereafter remained persistent throughout its entire course.

"At the desire of the Hemp Drugs Commission, the experiment was brought to a close on the day following my return to Calcutta on the 12th of July 1894.. Death was induced by means of prolonged administration of chloroform, and a post-mortem examination was conducted immediately it had occurred. The results of this were as follows, in so far as mere casual naked-eye inspection goes ; for I have already pointed out the detailed histological examination of the condition of the various organs and tissues is a matter not of a few hours, but of many weeks' work ; so that it has been impossible for me to carry it out and at the same time to meet the wish of the Commission for the immediate submission of a report. Specimens of all the more important organs have, however, been carefully preserved, and will form the subjects of detailed histological examination hereafter.

" Results of post-mortem examination of the animal.—The body weighed 13 lbs. 7 oz., indicating a loss in weight of 2 lbs. 9 oz. during the eight months of treatment. This, or at all events the whole of this, loss is certainly not fairly creditable to the treatment, seeing that for a considerable period not long before the close of the experiment the animal had been subject to an attack of dysentery, which alone would have been sufficient to occasion considerable loss of weight.

" On laying the body open, the phenomenon which at once attracted attention, as unlike any ordinarily present in those of caged monkeys, was the great amount of fat accumulated in the omentum, the mesentery, and the visceral and parietal pericardium. This was specially noteworthy in connection with the markedly diminished ingestion of food which had characterised the subject of the experiment during the greater part of its course, and with the coincident considerable reduction in body-weight which had occurred. The body generally appeared to be fairly well nourished, and a considerable amount of subcutaneous fat was present.

" The lungs were quite exceptionally healthy for a caged monkey, neither of them being in the least degree adherent to the thoracic walls ; the left one being apparently perfectly healthy, and the right merely showing a few patches of deep congestion towards the base. Under the influence of the osmic acid contained in the fixing solution in which specimens of it were immersed, the muscular tissue of the heart shewed unequivocal signs of the presence of a certain amount of interstitial fat. Whether, however, these were due to true fatty degeneration of the muscular elements proper, or, as is more probably the case, to mere fatty accumulation in the connective tissues, must remain an open question until the detailed histological examination of the tissues has been carried out.

" The liver, spleen, and pancreas appeared to be perfectly normal, save that, as in the case of the cardiac muscle, a slight excess of interstitial fat made its appearance under the influence of osmic acid. The kidneys, the stomach, the large and small intestines, and the cerebro-spinal nervous centres were all apparently perfectly healthy.

" The only peculiar features in the body then which could in any way be rationally regarded as connected with the treatment to which the animal had been exposed were the excessive accumulation of fat in the tissue of the omentum, peritoneum, and pericardium, and the tendency to the establishment of a similar accumulation in the cardiac muscle, the liver, the pancreas, and the spleen.

" But the only persistent symptom attending the treatment during life was a considerable diminution in appetite for food, so that, in so far as the results of a single experiment afford any ground for inference, it would appear that the most important effect of the habitual employment of inhalations of the smoke of ganja is to give rise to diminution in the normal processes of tissue-waste to such a degree that local accumulations of fat are liable to occur even in spite of the coincident and similarly originating diminution in the ingestion of food. The diminution in activity of the normal processes of tissue waste tends, on the one hand, to give rise to decreased ingestion of food, and, on the other, to local accumulation of fat in spite of this. But if the habitual practice of inhalations of the drug really do produce such effects, it is clear that, in place of being hurtful, it may be positively beneficial to people who are obliged to undergo exertions without having the means of procuring a diet fully adapted to make good the amount of tissue waste normally associated with them. As has been already pointed out, it is necessary to exercise extreme caution in coming to any definite conclusions from the experiment, first, because it is an isolated one, and, second, because the post-mortem examination has not yet been histologically completed ; but the evidence which it has afforded is, in so far as it goes, rather in favour of the use of the drug under certain conditions than adverse to it."

484. In considering the effects induced by drinking bhang and smoking charas or ganja, it must be remembered that the same active principle is present in all. The effects, therefore, induced by any one of the three drugs must necessarily depend upon the content of active principle, which is smallest in the case of bhang, and, theoretically at least, largest in charas, weight for weight. Practically it is impossible to compare with anything approaching to accuracy the physiological effects of the three drugs, because at present no definite active principle has been isolated. The alcoholic or other extracts from bhang, ganja, and charas are neither chemically similar in composition nor physiologically equivalent, weight for weight, in the effects they induce ; and it is only possible, therefore, to approximately compare the physiological effects of ganja, charas, and bhang inter se. When, in addition to these initial difficulties, the disturbing . factors, racial and individual idiosyncrasy and habit, come into operation, the question of the immediate effects of the drug becomes a most complex problem to deal with scientifically, or indeed even to generalize on in the broadest sense of the term. And, moreover, though the same active principle is originally present in all three of the drugs, yet when either ganja or charas is smoked, the active principle, not being volatile, must undergo decomposition, new products being evolved. Strictly, therefore, there can be no comparison between the physiological effect of the drug when introduced into the stomach as bhang and the products of the destructive distillation of ganja or charas when smoked and inhaled. And a writer on hemp drugs aptly remarks : " The action of hemp on man is so various that when we read the several descriptions given, differing so widely, we would scarcely suppose we were considering the same agent."

485. Judging from the replies of several witnesses, the immediate effect of the moderate use of any of the hemp drugs on the habitual consumer is refreshing and stimulating, and alleviates fatigue, giving rise to pleasurable sensations all over the nervous system, so that the consumer is "at peace with everybody "—in a grand waking dream. He is able to concentrate his thoughts on one subject : it affords him pleasure, vigour, ready wit, capacity for hard work, and sharpness for business ; it has a quieting effect on the nervous system, and removes restlessness and induces forgetfulness of mental troubles ; all sorts of grotesque ideas rapidly pass through the mind, with a tendency to talk ; it brightens the eyes, and, like a good cigar, gives content ; the man feels jolly, sings songs, and tells good stories ; it causes bravery in the brave and cowardice in the timid, and, like alcohol, brings out the real character of the man. In young men it may give rise to sensual thoughts, and aphrodisiac effects are mentioned. Some witnesses, on the contrary, state that the drug is not refreshing, and that the consumer is sometimes sleepy and sometimes talkative ; or there is no tendency to talk : the conjunctiva become suffused and red, and the moisture dries in the throat and lips; the man becomes peevish, stupefied, sees double ; and occasionally it may 'cause vomiting. Regarding the question of intoxication, witnesses speak of exhilaration and slightly dizzy sensation ; a little intoxication, but no stupefaction ; a feeling of " briskness" followed by sinking, but no stupefaction; a little heaviness in the eyes, slight narcotic effects, or stupor more or less complete. Others say that the first effect is exciting, then soothing ; while some describe the effects as those of intoxication of varying degrees, from moderate to dead drunk. According to certain witnesses, the intoxication of hemp drugs differs from the alcoholic in that only those unaccustomed to the drug are affected, or that intoxication is not much marked in old consumers. Some witnesses estate that the drugs allay hunger ; others that these effects only result from excessive use; while others deny the power of the drug to allay hunger under all conditions apparently. Similar contradictory statements are made in connection with the alleged power of the drug to create appetite. On this point, however, it may be of interest to note that O'Shaughnessy, as a result of observation, records the fact that hemp drugs in small doses possess an extraordinary power of stimulating the digestive organs : " the appetite became extraordinary " is the remark he makes in describing the symptoms induced in certain of his students by the administration of 4 grain doses of the resin. A Sind witness, No. 16, says : " It sharpens the appetite, and in this respect the action of the drug is certain and to be depended on." These are the immediate effects mentioned in the evidence. No doubt some of them would only result from an unaccustomed or excessive dose.

486. In connection with the period during which the effects last, it is very difficult to arrive at any general conclusions, as so much depends on individual idiosyncrasy, on habit, dosage, and on the manner in which the drug is exhibited. According to Dr. Russell's experiments, the mental effects appear in from three to five minutes, and the drowsiness and restless sleep may last several hours in cases in which the drug was pushed to produce decided effects. Assistant Surgeon J. E. Bocarro gives fifteen minutes as the period at which intoxication commences after ganja smoking;. in the case of charas, with the first pull at the chillum. In the case of ganja, the effects last from half to one hour or much longer, and in charas from fifteen to twenty minutes. With bhang the symptoms may set in from twenty to thirty minutes, or may be much delayed ; and, according to Assistant Surgeon Bocarro, may last on an average two hours, or, according to a Bombay medical witness (No. 91), six to twelve hours. According to Dr. Russell's Assam experiments, the effects of two drachms of bhang drunk as goonta came on slowly and disappeared in three hours. With a solution of the resin in alcohol, thirty drops of the tincture are stated to have induced slight excitement within half a minute, lasting for a few seconds. In fifteen minutes a feeling something allied to the early stage of intoxication came on. Three grains of extract gave rise to no symptoms for one hour (Medical Times and Gazette, 1852). Speaking generally, however, smoking produces far quicker effects than the exhibition of the drug by the stomach, as in the latter case in India the resin in bhang is associated with a large amount of inert insoluble matter, and absorption is thereby delayed ; but with pure resin, administered in a finely divided state, absorption from the stomach may occur with great rapidity.

487. Various replies are given regarding the after effects induced by the drugs. A very common answer to this question is that no immediate after effects are induced. Others say that " scarcely " any after effects follow the moderate use. Dr. Crombie (Bengal witness No. to4) says : " I have not seen any after effects in these cases, and have spent days in company with native boatmen habitually using ganja in moderation." Another witness states (Sind No. 2o) : " With bhang none of any importance. Ganja and charas, especially the latter, give rise to a dull frontal headache, singing in the ears, weakened mental power, much thirst, impair the appetite, constipate the bowels, and concentrate the urine." Other witnesses describe the after effects as laziness and languor, stupor, drowsiness, melancholy, weakness, laxity of the body, disinclination to do anything, exhaustion, depression, pains in the body, headache, giddiness, and gnawing at the stomach, nauseous taste in the stomach, and thirst. O'Shaughnessy gives a succinct account of the after effects of bhang and charas. In the case of bhang, " the intoxication lasts about three hours, when sleep supervenes ; no nausea or sickness of stomach succeeds, nor are the bowels at all affected : next day there is slight giddiness and vascularity of the eyes, but no other symptoms worth recording." In the case of ganja, "heaviness, laziness, and agreeable reveries ensue, but the person can be.easily roused, and is able to discharge routine Occupations, such as pulling the punkah, waiting at table, etc." The Commission consider it very probable that in regard to the after effects of the moderate use of these drugs, the evil after effects described by some witnesses are really due to the excessive use, and that witnesses have not always discriminated between the effects of the moderate and excessive use of the drugs.

Replies to the question whether the want of subsequent gratification produces any longing or uneasiness are answered by some witnesses in the negative as regards moderate consumers ; others say that a little longing or even uneasiness is experienced for want of gratification. There appear to be no valid reasons why the want of gratification of even a moderate habit should not cause " uneasiness " in some cases, and a " sensation of longing " in many : it is certainly the case with the majority of habitual moderate tobacco smokers, in whom the want of an accustomed smoke certainly does produce " longing," and which may even amount to " uneasiness " in some instances. In no case, however, is the longing or uneasiness experienced by users of hemp drugs for want of subsequent gratification comparable to the cravings of an opium smoker or eater. This matter has, however, already been discussed in dealing with the formation of the habit.

488. There are few, if any, classes of the community some members of which do not use hemp drugs in some form. There are religious objections to the use of intoxicants by Muhammadans, and these deter such of this class as are orthodox from indulging in these drugs. Many of the Hindus who are both orthodox and respectable consider it contrary to their religion to indulge in these or any other intoxicants, though many of the same class also believe that they may, at least occasionally at feasts, take bhang. Orthodox Sikhs do not smoke, and therefore regard ganja and charas as prohibited, though they do not see the same religious objection to drinking bhang. These are illustrations of classes which generally abstain. Members even of these classes are, however, found among the consumers of these drugs. It may be said probably with safety that there is no class of the community that does not to some extent partake of these drugs. At the same time consumption is in the main confined to particular classes. Ganja or charas is chiefly used by (I) " religious " persons, such as fakirs and wandering mendicants, sadhus and pandahs, the followers of Trinath, and other sects ; (2) the lower classes of both Hindus and Muhammadans, such as artizans and cultivators, fishermen and boatmen, palki-bearers and day labourers, sepoys and night watchmen, wrestlers and athletes, Chamars and Domes, and others of the lower orders ; (3) domestic servants of all kinds, especially those who, as syces, durwans, or dhobis, have especially trying work to do ; (4) aborigines of different races, such as Sonthals, Gonds, and many more ; (5) tradesmen, Kayasths, and others of the lower middle classes. These are among the classes specially mentioned by witnesses as smoking hemp drugs. Among the upper classes this habit is generally regarded as exceptional and indicating a special tendency to dissipation, but not so among these lower classes. Bhang is also used to some extent by these classes, but is more generally used by the more respectable middle and upper classes. Among those who are specially mentioned as habitually using it are Marwaris, Banias, and jewellers, sharp, intelligent, and successful tradesmen. Bhang is also occasionally used more or less generally by practically all classes on certain feast days and at times of social rejoicing. Like all intoxicants everywhere, the drugs are used in moderation, but more frequently to excess, by licentious and dissipated persons of all classes. Except, however, in the case of religious mendicants, the use by all the classes named above is generally moderate. Excess is exceptional.

489. From what has been said above it will be expected that there would be many witnesses whose opinion regarding the use of these drugs as stimulants would not be favourable. The very great majority of witnesses in all provinces declare that this use of the drugs is regarded with disapproval by the people generally. This disapproval rests on several grounds. It depends partly on the classes using the drugs. Many witnesses point out that ganja is the cheapest intoxicant, and that it is principally used by the lower classes, while bhang is more used by the upper classes. They state that it is on this account that ganja smoking is regarded with much more general disfavour than bhang drinking. As one witness points out, the feeling is somewhat akin to that which some Englishmen who do not gee. erally disapprove of stimulants have regarding a " vulgar taste for gin." On the other hand, the use of ganja by religious persons is not thus generally disapproved. Many witnesses share the view which one witness tersely expresses thus : " Sanyasis are respected by the people ; low caste people are not respected." There is no doubt that by far the greater part of the community abstain from any disapproval, and in fact are even strongly in favour, of the use of these drugs by religious persons, although that use is so often excessive. Mr. Monro (Bengal witness No. 206), however, records an instance of his having persuaded the people arhong whom he was working to dissociate ganja and holiness, so that "a sanyasi was laughed out of the town when I convicted him of habitually consuming ganja."

The disapproval of the use of hemp drugs by classes other than these religious classes is, as has been already indicated, based also on a religious objection to intoxicants still held by many, both Hindus and Muhammadans. There can be no doubt that this orthodox objection influences the public expression of opinion by many who have ceased themselves to share this religious sentiment. It is a respectable thing to denounce intoxicants ; and it sometimes requires an effort for a witness to speak favourably or apologetically of intoxicants, especially of those which are used by the lower orders. Another ground for this expression of disapproval by so large a majority of the witnesses is the fact that so many of them have seen nothing but the excessive use. It cannot be too carefully remembered that the moderate use does not obtrude itself, and that much of the evidence given before the Commission deals in truth only with excess. Thus we find a large number of witnesses illustrating the popular disapproval of the drug by pointing out that "ganjeri " or " bhangi " (the names given to the consumers of ganja or bhang) is a term of great reproach. They point out that it means " one who acts as if he had lost all sense ," an unreliable and despicable character. Other witnesses explain that these terms correspond to the English word " drunkard," and that the moderate use is not, so far as their experience goes, regarded with contempt at all. Akin to this is the natural desire expressed by several witnesses to assist the young in resisting the temptations of bad companions by establishing in their minds a wholesome antipathy to intoxicants of all kinds, excessive indulgence in which is followed by disastrous results, especially to the young.

490. In this connection it is well to notice the references made to alcohol. It is only a minority of the witnesses who compare alcohol and hemp drugs. But it is a striking fact that of these witnesses a majority of about three to one declare alcohol to be more injurious than hemp drugs. In every province the majority of the witnesses who make this comparison hold the view above expressed. This majority includes experienced officers of Government. Thus Colonel Hutchinson, Commissioner of Lahore (Punjab witness No. 4), says : " So far as effects have come to my notice, the effects of liquor are infinitely worse than those of drugs." Mr. J. B. Thomson, Collector of Allahabad (North-Western Provinces witness No. 2), gave evidence to the following effect : " I remember no case from which I can deduce the theory that the use of the drugs is in any way connected with crime ; that is to say, from my own personal experience. I cannot say the same regarding alcohol even among natives of this country." Similarly, Mr. Toynbee, Commissioner of Bhagalpur (Bengal witness No. 4), says : " I I6.ve never had persons pointed out to me as social wrecks from the effects of ganja. As far as I have seen, many more cases of evil effects from alcohol than from hemp have come before me."
And Colonel Bowie, Commissioner in the Central Provinces (witness No. 2), says :. " I can call to mind a great many cases which I have had to deal with as a Magistrate and as a Sessions Judge, in which serious hurt and homicide have been caused by persons under the influence of alcohol, but not a single case of crime of any kind which had been committed under the influence of bhang or ganja." Representative officers from other provinces might be quoted, such as Mr. 'Vidal or Mr. Campbell, C.I.E., in Bombay, or Mr. H. E. M. James, Commissioner in Sind. The Rev. Mr. Laflamme (Madras witness No. 153), who took much pains in collecting information, gives evidence in the same sense. It is, however, in the northern provinces that there is most experience of these drugs. The only officer of standing in Upper India who holds the contrary view is Mr. T. Stoker, Excise Commissioner, North-Western Provinces (witness No. 6), who says : " I put these drugs above liquor and opium in their injurious tendencies." In saying this, he differs, however, both from his predecessor, Mr. R. Wall (witness No. 233), who held the office for eleven years, and from the Hon'ble A. Cadell (witness No. I), who is the Member of the Board of Revenue in charge of Excise.

The opinion that alcohol is more injurious than hemp drugs is also expressed by leading Native gentlemen in these provinces, such as Maharaja Bahadur Sir Jotindra Mohan Tagore, K.C.S.I. (Bengal witness No. 163), Munshi Newal Kishore (North-Western Provinces witness No. 231), Babu P. C. Chatterji, Judge, Chief Court (Punjab witness No. 76), and the Hon'ble Gangadhar Madho Chitnavis (Central Provinces witness No. 46). The first of these only need be quoted. He says : " The use of the aforesaid indigenous drugs appears to me to be preferable to the use of ardent spirits and wines now rapidly replacing them to the great injury of the moral and material well-being of our people. Prohibition, I fear, would lead many to take to the use of ardent liquors, and this, in my humble opinion, would be replacing one evil by another of still greater magnitude." These views are held by the great majority of the native witnesses who make the comparison between hemp drugs and alcohol ; and there is really no witness of authority on the other side.

This is also the-opinion of medical witnesses who make this comparison. It is no doubt an accepted and established opinion among medical men that the evil effects of alcohol are intensified in the tropics. This may explain the very strong opinion held regarding alcohol. Perhaps it is unnecessary to refer to more of these witnesses than to two of more than ordinary experience who take a very strong view of the deleterious character of hemp drugs if used to excess, but a still stronger view regarding alcohol. Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel Crombie says : " I believe that the habit of using ganja moderately is absolutely harmless ; but I think even the moderate use of alcohol is liable to produce tissue changes in the long run. Further, I here refer entirely to the native community ; and it is my observation that when a native takes to alcohol, it is extremely difficult for him to remain moderate ; and in life assurance work, of which I have a good deal, I always advise an extra premium in the case of any native who indulges in alcohol even in the most moderate way, and utterly refuse to accept a native life if there is evidence of the consumption of alcohol to any considerable extent which would still be considered moderate in the case of Europeans. My experience leads me to hold the same views of the effects of alcohol on the lower classes.
A native who takes to liquor is lost. As regards the excessive use, I would still place alcohol first. I regard it as most deleterious." The only other medical man who need be quoted is Dr. II. M, Clark, a well-known Medical Missionary in the Punjab (witness No. 46), who says : " As regards charas, I think there can be no such thing as moderate use, if we mean such use as will not leave any permanent bad effect on the system. In whatever quantity it is used, it is bound to be deleterious. I should say that in this country alcohol does more harm than charas." These views are supported by distinguished native medical men like Rai Bahadur Kanny Lall Dey, C.I.E. (Bengal witness No. 117), and others.
It is not within the province of the Commission to come to any definite finding on this evidence as to the comparative effects of alcohol and hemp drugs. The effects of alcohol were not within the scope of the inquiry. As has already been stated, it is only a minority of the witnesses who make the comparison. It was not asked for in the Commission's questions, and has only been incidentally made by certain witnesses. The Commission have not felt called on to test the correctness of the views of the witnesses on this point, as this could only have been done by a full inquiry into the effects of liquor. But it is important to observe the existence of these views. In this connection it is interesting to notice the existence in certain parts of the country of a belief among ignorant persons that "the attack on hemp drugs was due to a desire to foster European liquor " (see the evidence of Mr. William Almon, Assistant Collector, Abkari Department in the town of Bombay, witness No. 38) ; or, as another witness puts it, "the agitation is attributed to them who are anxious to encourage the spread of alcohol, i.e., the persons who import and manufacture liquor" (V. K. Joglekar, Bombay witness No. o). The existence of such misapprehensions can only be explained by the difficulty felt in accounting for an agitation against these drugs alone. The Rev. Mr. Laflamme (Madras witness No. 153) says : " Many are surprised to hear that the Government is concerned about a practice which is confined to so small a portion of the people as is ganja and bhang, and is not concerned about the widespread, rapidly increasing, and much more injurious habit of alcoholic drink, from which much greater harm results. I have been six years in the country, and engaged in village work during four years. Before entering on these inquiries I did not know the hemp drugs were in use among the people, and had only met with them in the temples." One witness of much experience (Khan Bahadur Kadir Dad Khan, C.I.E., Sind witness No. 4) says : " All classes of the people, from the most influential spiritual leader to the lowest beggar, will say that the British Government, while not interfering or prohibiting the use of alcohol in their own country, are stopping them here from the use of less intoxicating drugs, which they have been using from time immemorial, and which is also religiously respected."

491. Among the ancient physicians the evil effects of the drug are thus referred to by the author of the Makhzan-el-Adwiya : "Afterwards the sedative effects begin to preside, the spirits sink, the vision darkens and weakens, and madness, melancholy, fearfulness, dropsy, and such like distempers are the sequel, while the seminal secretions dry up." Alluding to its popular use, the author dwells on the eventual evil consequences of the indulgence : " Weakness of the digestive organs first ensues, followed by flatulency, indigestion, swellings of the limbs and face, change of complexion, diminution of sexual vigour, loss of teeth, heaviness, cowardice, depraved and wicked ideas, etc." Iban Beitar was the first to record its tendency to produce mental derangement, and he even states that it occasionally proves fatal. Taki-ed-din-Ahmad, commonly known as Makrizi, who wrote a number of treatises upon Egypt in the i4th century, states that in 78o Hijra very severe ordinances were passed in Egypt against the use of the drug; the famous garden in the valley of Dijoncina was rooted up, and all those convicted of the use of the drugs were subjected to the extraction of their teeth; but in 799 Hijra the custom re-established itself with more than original vigour. Makrizi states : " As its consequence, general corruption of sentiments and manners ensued, modesty disappeared, every base and evil passion was openly indulged in, and nobility of external form alone remained to these infatuated beings." Rumphius alludes doubtingly to the alleged aphrodisiac powers of the drug, and states that the kind of mental excitement it produces depends upon the temperament of the consumer. O'Shaughnessy in his introduction to certain experiments with hemp drugs remarks : " As to the evil sequelae so unanimously dwelt on by all writers, these did not appear to us so numerous, so immediate, or so formidable as many which may be clearly traced to over-indulgence in other powerful stimulants or narcotics, viz., alcohol, opium, or tobacco." O'Shaughnessy also refers to insanity occasioned by continued hemp inebriation as follows : " Before quitting this subject, it is desirable to notice the singular form of insanity which the incautious use of hemp preparations often occasions, especially among young men who try it for the first time. Several such cases have presented themselves to our notice. They are as peculiar as the ' delirium tremens' which succeeds the prolonged abuse of spirituous liquors, but are quite distinct from any other species of madness with which we are acquainted. The state is at once recognized by the strange balancing gait of the patient, a constant rubbing of the hands, perpetual giggling, and a propensity to caress and chafe the feet of all bystanders of whatever rank. The eyes wear an expression of cunning and merriment which can scarcely be mistaken. In a few cases the patients are violent ; in many highly aphrodisiac ; in all that we have seen voraciously hungry. There is no increased heat or frequency of circulation or any appearance of inflammation or congestion, and the skin and general functions are in a natural state. A blister to the nape of the neck, leeches to the temples, and nauseating doses of tartar emetic with saline purgatives have rapidly dispelled the symptoms in all the cases we have met with, and have restored the patients to perfect health." This description of what O'Shaughnessy considered hemp drug insanity is of considerable interest. It is clear from his account that the symptoms were of short duration, almost typical, and that under treatment recovery was rapid. Such cases as those described by O'Shaughnessy are probably similar to the class of cases which have occasionally come before the Commission as having occurred while under observation of the certifying medical officer, and which on reaching the asylum were sane. They were probably more of the character of intoxication than of insanity. The curious point, however, in connection with O'Shaughnessy's account of hemp drug insanity is the absence of all information as to cases of longer duration, such as the class of cases now met with in asylums and attributed to hemp drugs. And this omission is all the more striking because O'Shaughnessy had devoted special attention to the subject of hemp drugs, and indeed was the first to draw the attention of European practitioners to the value of the drug as a remedial agent ; and it is hardly possible that if in his day any large number of persons insane from the alleged use of the drug had been admitted into asylums, he would have been ignorant of the fact and omitted to notice it in his account of the effects of the drug.

492. The action taken in Turkey, Egypt, Greece, and Trinidad in the direction of the prohibition of the use of hemp drugs will be noticed later (vide Chapter XIV.) The Commission have not before them material to enable them to judge of the statements regarding the effects of the drugs in these countries which formed the basis of the action taken. The note drawn up in 1890 by the Sanitary Board of Greece, on which the action in that country was based, contains a statement of the effects of the drugs as alleged to have been ascertained (a) by scientific inquiry in India and other "warm countries" by experts, among whom O'Shaughnessy is specially mentioned, and (b) from statistics of the Indian (and especially the Bengal) lunatic asylums. But there is nothing given in original of the views of any of the experts named. The views of O'Shaughnessy and the Indian asylum statistics are already before the Commission. They have therefore no new material in this note. They are compelled therefore to set it aside. For the same reason they find themselves unable to arrive at any opinion in regard to the recent controversy between Dr. Ireland and " Pyramid " in the British Medical journal regarding the effects of the drugs in Trinidad and Egypt. They pass on, therefore, to the evidence available in this country.

493. In order to ascertain the alleged noxious physical, mental, or moral effects which are popularly believed to be induced by use of hemp drugs, the Commission considered it desirable in framing the questions on these points to clearly discriminate between the moderate and excessive use. The replies show, however, that in very many instances the witnesses have failed thus to differentiate between the two uses of the drug. This may be partly due to the somewhat inherent difficulty in discriminating or to carelessness on the part of persons who conducted the inquiries. The evidence, moreover, before the Commission clearly demonstrates that any departures from the normal in health, if associated with the mere mention of the hemp drug habit, is in most cases sufficient for " cause" and " effect ".

494. In analyzing the replies given to question No. 45, which deals with the alleged noxious effects of the moderate use of the drugs, the Commission have thought it expedient to indicate first the view taken by the medical witnesses, and then to consider the tenor of the evidence given by all witnesses, including medical. In considering the medical evidence, the witnesses have been divided into three classes—(a) superior medical officers, including assistant surgeons ; (b) hospital assistant class ; (c) native practitioners who have not been trained in Medical Colleges, and who practise according to native methods. In estimating the value which should be attached to the evidence tendered by each of these classes, the Commission consider it necessary to point out that the superior medical officers are by their training necessarily in a far better position to judge intelligently of the effects of the drugs than the other two classes ; but the superior medical officer class comprises both European doctors and assistant surgeons. The former class—in all but exceptional instances—do not see nearly so much of the common or general dispensary practice as the assistant surgeons. Though at head-quarters they visit the dispensaries as regularly as possible, and see some of the patients and assist in prescribing, they are rather the " superintendents of the dispensaries," and occupy generally a position more or less of " consultants " to the assistant surgeons, who actually conduct dispensary practice, and who diagno se the ordinary diseases and prescribe for them. It therefore appears to the Commission  not unlikely that the views of most European medical officers may have been based on less direct contact with the people, and may have even been sometimes derived more or less from the assistant surgeons, their immediate subordinates. The hospital assistants as a class are much inferior to assistant surgeons in medical training and general intelligence ; but they possess one advantage over the assistant surgeons. From their inferior social position they have a more intimate knowledge perhaps of the habits of the persons who frequent dispensaries, and who constitute the class to which hemp-drug consumers belong. The native practitioners probably have a still more familiar knowledge of the habits of the people ; but the absence of systematic training renders them practically incompetent to form a true estimate of " cause " and " effect," and their ideas of the noxious effects of the drugs are doubtless largely coloured by the popular and common views on the subject.

495. In respect to the evil effects—physical, mental, and moral—ascribed to the habitual use of these drugs, there is one feature that must strike any one who reads the evidence—that is, the large number of witnesses who do not answer at all the questions (No. 45 and No. 46) regarding evil effects. Among Europeans over one-half of the witnesses and among Natives about one-third abstain from answering. This must be due in large measure to the fact that the effects have not obtruded themselves on observation. This is what is stated over and over again by witnesses of the greatest experience. Of those who do answer, about one-half of the Europeans and one-third of the Native witnesses ascribe no evil effects at all to the moderate use of ganja and charas. Those witnesses who specially mention bhang do so, as a rule, to except it from their statement regarding the evil effects alleged to result from hemp drugs generally. These are not, however, very numerous. It is unnecessary to do more than take up the evidence regarding hemp drugs generally. About one-half of the European witnesses and two-thirds of the Native witnesses who answer at all the question regarding the alleged evil effects of the moderate use do so in the affirmative. But of these about one-half of both classes do not discriminate between the moderate and excessive use. They answer generally concerning the use of the drugs without drawing the line between moderation and excess. The number of witnesses who really give evidence to the effect that the moderate use of these drugs causes injury is therefore less than those who distinctly affirm that they do not, and forms but a small fraction of the whole body of witnesses. The evidence regarding the evil effects of the excessive use is much stronger. The number of witnesses who are able to give information is indeed much smaller than might have been expected, and certainly indicates that the evil of excessive consumption is not widespread. But of those who do speak of the effects of excessive consumption, the very large majority state that they are evil. There are very few exceptional witnesses who allege that the 'excessive use does no harm. This is precisely what might have been expected. The excessive use of any intoxicant cannot be other than evil, and in the great majority of cases of excess the evil must be manifest.

496. The impressions which the evidence leaves on the mind are these. The evil results from the use of the drugs, whether moderate or excessive, have not hitherto obtruded themselves on observation. The only manner in which they have really attracted attention is in respect to asylum statistics. Apart from this, the majority of witnesses have not seen the effects at all, and know nothing about them. Of the minority, a few witnesses only have had their attention drawn to the effects before this inquiry began ; the rest knew nothing of them until they began to search them out on receipt of the questions issued by the Commission. Some of these witnesses fail to remember that in going to public places, such as shops or shrines where smokers congregate, to ascertain the effects, they have taken measures to see not the moderate, but the excessive, use of the drugs. They thus fail to discriminate between the moderate and excessive use. Their evidence is as unfair a representation of the general effects of the drug as would be the evidence of men regarding the general effects of alcohol who judged of these effects solely from what they saw in public houses in England. Further, a great deal of the evidence is based upon a casual observation of very few cases of actual consumers. The number of cases seen by a witness is as a rule too few to form an adequate basis for definite opinion in respect to results. Yet there are but few witnesses who have seen and admitted this necessity for caution in the expression of opinion. Again, these cases are not only few in number, but as a rule very inadequately observed. There are very few of them indeed which have been known to the witnesses in any way intimately or for any length of time. Occasionally a case is mentioned of a relative or personal acquaintance who has been seriously injured by excess. But as a rule the cases mentioned have been cases of wandering mendicants, devotees at temples or strangers in the street, cases observed in a shop visited for the purpose, or in a collection of social wrecks brought together for the witnesses' inspection, or (in the case of medical witnesses) outdoor patients who have come casually for relief, and whose history is unknown. Clearly these are not cases on which satisfactory conclusions can be based. It must be impossible to say with anything like certainty what features from among the physical, mental, and moral features of the case are due to circumstances and causes antecedent to or independent of the hemp drug habit, and what (if any) may be reasonably ascribed, and in what degree, to that habit.

497. The result of this has been to make much of the evidence vague and unsatisfactory. It has been deemed necessary, therefore, to make an effort to sift and test the evidence. It can hardly be considered necessary to question the view that excessive consumption of these drugs indicates and intensifies mental and moral weakness, and must also be attended in all but exceptional constitutions with some visible physical injury. In regard to the moderate use, on the other hand , it would be quite wrong to accept without clear evidence the view that physical, mental, and moral injury resulted. In the absence of all physiological evidence of tissue changes being produced by these drugs, as they are produced by alcohol, it must be presumed, until the contrary appear, that the moderate use does not cause injury in any but the most exceptional cases. General experience warrants the admission that even the moderate use of such drugs may cause injury in exceptional cases owing to idiosyncracy or peculiar diathesis. But as a rule, practically without exception, the presumption must be against injury from the moderate use. It is necessary then to weigh the evidence carefully so as to ascertain both whether there is any ground for believing that the moderate use is attended by evil results at all, and also what the particular results are which under any circumstances follow the use of the drugs.

498. Leaving out of account for the present the question of the connection of the drugs with insanity, there is no evidence of any weight regarding mental and moral injury from the moderate use of the drugs. Vague statements are made by a small minority of the witnesses regarding the stupidity or moral weakness of consumers whom they have met. But after making allowance for the fact that these observations have often been of excessive consumers, and for the lower mental and moral tone found generally among the lower orders to which the consumers, or at all events the smokers of hemp drugs, almost exclusively belong, there is little left in the evidence on which to base any opinion. The statements, too, are of results of an indefinite character and difficult to gauge or account for even with careful observation of the whole history of a case which is never possible in the instances adduced. Similarly, in regard to physical injury, there are a considerable number of vague statements made regarding " impairment of constitution," debility, emaciation, and other physical results of an indefinite character. These are largely accounted for by the mere fact that it is the poorer classes who ordinarily use these drugs. The poor cultivator or day labourer, who works hard and has nothing but a bare sufficiency of the necessaries of life, cannot be expected to be sleek. Witnesses who have spoken of the use of hemp as making men thin and ill-nourished looking have admitted that their experience is based only on what they have seen of the poor, and that among the poor there is no specially marked appearance of this kind among the consumers of hemp. A similar fallacy is noticed by several witnesses. They point out that the drugs, which are more used in malarious and unhealthy tracts than elsewhere, are credited with the evil effects which result from the malarious and unhealthy conditions. As a matter of fact, the moderate consumer in such localities cannot, they say, be distinguished from the non-consumer. Then, again, a great deal of the vague evidence regarding the general injury to the constitution alleged to result from the use of hemp drugs is based on what the witnesses know of fakirs and wandering mendicants who consume the drugs. It is surprising to find witnesses who have had years of experience, whose work has brought them into close contact with the ordinary life of the people, testifying that they have never seen the drugs used except by religious mendicants, or known any of the effects of the drugs except as shown in these classes. The mendicant, if he is ascetic, is naturally of a very spare and even emaciated appearance. The use by such mendicants is better- known to the community generally than the use by any other class. The mendicant pushes himself to the front wherever he goes, and he has no hesitation in asking for precisely the thing he wants at the time. His use of,hemp is therefore known to all who meet him. The life he leads—a wandering, homeless life of exposure and self-imposed privation and unrest—makes him as a rule thin and miserable in appearance. This appearance of the man, an unknown stranger, once seen perhaps as he passes through the village on his round of India, and never seen again, is often associated in the mind of the witness with the use of hemp and not with the life that really produces it. Allowance must also be made for the large proportion of cases of excess which must have been found among the comparatively few cases observed by the witnesses. The religious mendicant, for example, uses hemp drugs very frequently to excess ; and this is the class which has. hitherto attracted most the attention of the witnesses. As to the cases seen since the Commission's questions drew attention to the subject, it must be borne in mind that they are of necessity chiefly cases of excess. A Civil Surgeon asks a native practitioner to show him cases of the effects of hemp drugs, and the latter selects a broken down consumer from among his patients and produces him. The Civil Surgeon forgets that he has never himself in years of experience seen the effects of the drugs ; he forgets that unless the consumption of hemp is most exceptional, . or his friend's practice exceedingly small, it is only to be expected that there should be consumers among his patients ; and he accepts the case as an illustration of the ill effects of the drugs. A Collector asks a subordinate to collect the consumers in a town or village, and the subordinate gets together the social wrecks from among the consumers of the drugs. No one would willingly join such a party for inspection except dissipated and degraded persons. Yet the Collector, without remembering this, and without enquiring how many of these social wrecks are also consumers of alcohol and other intoxicants or are addicted to other vices, thinks he has got hold of something tangible to enable him to judge of the effects of the drugs. Similarly the missionary, anxious to assist in this inquiry, goes to the drug shop, and sees the habitual excessive consumer at his pipe. Perhaps he finds him a lean, miserable man, though indeed some witnesses of this class have evidently been agreeably surprised at what they have seen. The witness is, however, led as a rule to ascribe anything of misery or evil that he sees to the drug about which he is interested without considering that he knows nothing of the history or circumstances of the men whom he thus meets for the first time. Such mistakes are not confined to European witnesses. Native witnesses of all classes have similarly searched out cases of evil results ascribed to hemp drugs, have obtained assistance in collecting them, have visited the places where consumption to excess is practised, and have often given what they have learned in this hasty inquiry as the undoubted and inevitable effects of the use of the drugs. The mere fact that they had no information to give without making inquiry, and that the effects of the drugs had never attracted their attention before in all their lives, should have warned them of the necessity for caution in generalising from the limited experience they had thus specially to acquire. The difficulty, if not impossibility, of judging under the circumstances in almost any case whether the conditions observed were due to such general causes as poverty or malaria, or to such special causes as vicious or dissolute habits or even disease, quite apart from hemp drugs, has been too often forgotten. And the evidence is vague and unreliable. On the whole, then, it seems best to devote attention to clear and definite issues, and to discuss under physical effects the alleged causation of specific diseases like dysentery, bronchitis, and asthma which are frequently mentioned ; under mental effects, the alleged causation of insanity ; and under moral effects, the alleged connection between hemp drugs and crime.