THE USE OF NARCOTICS. 635 



the smooth pale ones. Sometimes it is eaten in soups and sauces, or 

 is taken mixed with the juice of the whortleberry; hut the more usual 

 method is to swallow it Avhole, rolled into the form of a pill, and a 

 single large-sized toadstool thus taken is sufficient to cause the nar- 

 cotic effects during a whole day. These bear a very close resemblance 

 to those of ordinary intoxication, and, like them, often end in com- 

 plete insensibility- Whatever may be the natural temperament of 

 the indi\idual shows itself with unusual distinctness. A man who is 

 fond of music or of talking will be constantly singing or chattering; 

 and secrets often thus slip out, the disclosure of which is the source 

 of much subsequent trouble. In this form of narcotism, too, the 

 power of estimating the size of objects is temporarily destroyed, so 

 that a man wishing to step across a straw or a small twig will raise 

 Lis foot as though about to step across the trunk of a tree. 



The Siberian fungus is not the only nai'cotic in which this last 

 peculiarity is foimd. Similar erroneous impressions are caused by the 

 Indian hemp, which, though it is used in Southwestern Asia, and in- 

 deed in the Brazils as well, is more proj^erly the narcotic of the African 

 Continent, where it is known to the native races from the Mediterra- 

 nean to the Cape of Good Hope, It is the same plant that is grown 

 in Europe for the sake of its valuable fibre ; for, though probably in- 

 digenous to India, it is able, like the potato and the tobacco plant, to 

 adapt itself to a gi-eat variety of climates, and is grown even in the 

 north of Russia. Its narcotic virtues de2:)end on a resinous substance 

 contained in the sap ; and this is much more abundant in tropical cli- 

 mates than it is in temperate. Indeed, the European plant is almost 

 devoid of it, though it possesses a strong odor which has been 

 known to make people ill who have remained long in a hemp-field. 

 Thus, when the dried plant is either smoked or eaten, its effects are 

 both rapid and powerful. In Morocco, where the dried flowers are 

 generally smoked, a single pipe not larger than an ordinary tobacco- 

 pipe is sufficient to intoxicate. Among the Arabs and Syrians, the 

 usual method is to boil the leaves and flowers in water mixed with 

 butter to the consistence of a sirup, which is called hasheesh^ and, as 

 it has an extremely disagreeable taste, is eaten in a confection of 

 cloves, nutmegs, and other spices. But however the narcotic may be 

 used, the 2>leasure it affords is much the same in character. It has 

 been described as consisting in " an intense feeling of happiness, which 

 atteiids all the operations of the mind. The sun shines on every 

 thought that passes through the brain, and every movement of the 

 body is the source of enjoyment." But the most remarkable peculiar- 

 ity of the Indian hemp has yet to be mentioned : a dose of the resin 

 has been known to occasion that strange condition of the nervous sys- 

 tem called catalepsy, in which, notwithstanding the force of gravity, 

 the limbs of the unconscious patient remain stationary in whatever 

 position they may be placed. 



