Report of Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel A. H. Leapingwell, Superintendent, Vizagapatam Lunatic Asylum, on the case ascribed to hemp drugs in 1892 (No. 83, dated sth May 1894)-

ln reply to your letter No. 264, dated 2ist January 1894, I have the honour to report that I have not been able to obtain any further information regarding the lad Pasapaleti Narasinham from the Joint Magistrate, Godavari, or the Civil Surgeon, Rajahmundry, as will be seen from the letters herewith forwarded (not printed).

I have, however, succeeded in tracing the lad and find that he is now employed on the East Coast Railway as a peon. He came, to me yesterday with his mother, and from them I learn as follows.

The attack of insanity for which he was treated here was the first. He had been smoking and eating ganja occasionally for six months prior to admission. He could not tell me how much he smoked at a time, as he said he never bought any, but smoked what was given him by his companion, whom he joined in smoking. He did not smoke every day, but about once a week. The effects produced were "giddiness " and " lazi-neEs." He also drank arrack, and appears to have led a somewhat loose life generally. His mother says that it was not the lad's grandfather, but her grandfather, who was insane, and that she knows of no other relations who were insane.

When admitted iato the Rajahmundry Jail he was suffering from insanity with excite-ment, and his mental disorder was consequently described as "mania." After admission into this Asylum he was never at any time excited, but greatly depressed, crying and refusing food, so that it was necessary for the first two months to frequently feed him with the stomach tube. His condition then could only be classed as " melancholia." His weight on admission was 75 lbs. and he gained 18 lbs. in weight while under treatment. His mental condition at once improved when he began to gain weight, or, in other words, as soon as his general health improved.

With reference to the last paragraph of your letter, in which I am required to give a clear opinion as to the type of insanity and the cause, I can only say that in this case we have an instance of a lad with a history of insanity in the family whose health from some cause completely broke down, and, as a result, insanity supervened, at first with excite-ment and subsequently with depression, and that as soon as his physical condition improv-ed his insanity disappeared. Such cases are seen every day in Asylums. To what extent the smoking of ganja may have contributed to his debilitated condition, which in my opinion was the immediate cause of his mental disorder, I am unable to say, and I do not think it is possible for any one to give a more definite opinion in this case.