EECBEATIVE SCIENCE. 



293 



HISTOEY AND USES OF THE HEMP. 



The commoa European, hemp, Cannabis 

 sativa, is the same plant as the one called 

 C. Indica. It has been from the remotest 

 period cultivated and highly esteemed, espe- 

 cially in Eastern countries, for the narcotic 

 properties which it possesses, and, in. the more 

 temperate regions, for the valuable fibre which 

 is easily separated from its stems. Herodotus 

 (1. 4, c. 75) informs us that the Scythians 

 had a custom of burning the seeds of this 

 plant in religious ceremonies, and that those 

 who inhaled it became intoxicated with its 

 fumes. Galen also mentions the intoxicating 

 properties of hemp, and it is supposed to be 

 this plant which Homer makes Helen admi- 

 nister to Telemachus to make him forget his 

 sorrows. The hemp belongs to the same 

 natural order of plants as the nettle, which we 

 have before spoken of (p. 77). It is believed to 

 be a native of India, and to have been brought 

 to Europe from Persia, and, like many other 

 plants, has the wonderful power of adapting 

 itself to almost any soil and climate. From 

 this circumstance and its great utility, it is 

 now cultivated in almost all parts of the 

 world. Amongst the Eastern nations, it is 

 chiefly cultivated for the narcotic properties 

 which it contains j but in the Northern coun- 

 tries it does not appear to possess the same 

 quantity of the narcotic principle, and is 

 there cultivated more especially for the 

 valuable fibre which is found in the stems. 



Throughout the whole of Italy, and in 

 most of the southern provinces of France, and 

 in almost every part of G-ermany, the culti- 

 vator of the soil allots a certain portion of his 

 land to the growth of the hemp ; and the 

 industrious women, both young and old, espe- 

 cially in. the rural districts of Italy, may be 

 seen, while tending their flocks and herds, 

 busily engaged spinning it in the ancient 

 manner, with the distaff (Fig. 1), which is 

 generally made of a portion of the stem of 



the bamboo ; they afterwards wind the thread 

 upon bobbins, and weave it into various 

 fabrics for do- 

 mestic use ; but 

 it is chiefly in 

 the northern 

 parts of Russia, 

 even as far north 

 as Archangel, 

 that the hemp is 

 grown as an ar- 

 ticle for expor- 

 tation, and it is 

 from that coun- 

 try that our ma- 

 nufactories ob- 

 tain the greater 

 portion of their 

 supplies. 



The plant 

 grosvs from six 

 to twelve feet 

 high, and is more 

 or less branched, terminating in a bunch of 

 greenish flowers. The leaves are large, di- 

 vided into five to eight narrow lanceolate 

 serrated segments in a palmated manner ; 

 and when the plant is grown separated 

 from others, it has a pretty, graceful appear- 

 ance (Fig. 2.) When the plants have at- 

 tained their full growth, they are pulled up, 

 and the roots chopped off, and then spread 

 out to dry in the sun ; when they are suffi- 

 ciently dry they are beaten so as to sepa- 

 rate from the stem the leaves and smaller 

 branches ; the stems are then immersed in 

 pools or streams of water, until they undergo 

 a species of putrefaction, and when large 

 quantities are going through this process, the 

 stench arising from them is extremely offen- 

 sive. By being thus steeped in water, the glu- 

 tinous matter of the plant is destroyed, and 

 the fibre is in a great measure liberated. 



