HERBA CANNABIS. 



549 



littl 



ittle shoots sprout from the stem, and that these picked off and diiVd 

 form what is called garija.^ 



Chemical Composition— The most interesting constituents of 

 hemp, from a medical point of view, are the resin and volatile oil. 



The former was first obtained in a state of comparative purity hy 

 1. and H. Smith in 1846.2 It is a brown amorphous solid, burning With 

 a hright white flame and leaving no ash. It hiis a very potent action 

 when taken internally, two-thirds of a grain acting as a powerful 

 narcotic, and one grain producing complete intoxication. From the 

 experiments of Messrs. Smith, it seems to us impossible to doubt that 

 to this resin the energetic effects of cannabis are mainly due. 



When water is repeatedly distilled from considerable quantities of 

 hemp, fresh lots of the latter being used for each operation, a volatile 

 oil lighter than water is obtained, together with ammonia. This oil, 

 according to the observations of Personne (1857), is amber-coloured, 



and has an oppressive herap-Iike 



ell. 



It sometimes deposits an 



abundance of small crystals. With due precautions it may be separate*! 

 into two bodies, the one of which, named by Personne Cannahene,^ 

 IS liquid and colourless, Avith the formula C^-'H^^ ; the other, which is 

 called Hydride ofCannahene, is a solid, separating from alcohol in platy 

 crystals to which Persopne assigns the formula C^^H^^. He asserts that 

 cannabene has indubitably a physiological action, and even claims it as 

 the sole active principle of hemp. Its vapour he states to produce when 

 breathed a singular sensation of shuddering, a desire of locomotion, 

 followed by prostration and sometimes by syncope.* Bohlig in 1840 

 observed similar effects from the oil, which he obtained from the fresh 

 herb, just after flowering, to the extent of OS per cent. 



It remains to be proved whether an cdhdoid is present in hemp, aa 

 suggested by Preobraschensky. . . 



The other constituents of hemp are those commonly occurring m 

 «ther plants. The leaves yield nearly 20 per cent, of ash. . . 



, As to the resin of Indian hemp, Bolas and Francis in treatmg it with 

 nitric acid, converted it into Oxycannabin, C-m^'l^'Ol This interesting 

 substance may, thev say, be obtained in large prisms from a solution in 

 niethylic alcohol, "it melts at 176° 0. and then evaporates without 

 decomposition ; it is neutral." One of us (F) has endeavoured to obtam 

 It from the purified resin of charas, but without success. 



Uses-^Hemp is employed as a soporific, anodyne, antispasmodic, and 

 a« a nervous stimulant. It is used in the form of alcoholic extract, 

 administered either in a solid or liquid form. In the East it is con- 

 sumed to an enormous extent by Hindus and Mahomedans, who cither 



iV,/ ^^^^'^V- Economic Products of the Pun- 

 r'f>, RoorUe, i. (18G8) 293. 



J yiann. Jo urn. vi. (1847) 171. 



Canfri?.'- l^"" narm. xxxix. (1857) 48; 

 ^anstatt s JahresJm-ldit for 1857, i. 28. 

 of tl ^'■^*^""«'. though he admits the activity 

 ,.Lf i^^^l" prepared by Smith's process, 

 Wi!"'^^ t'l'-^t it is a mixed body, and that 

 "irther purification deprives it of all volatile 

 natter and renders it inert. This is not 

 swnisW when one finds that the "puri- 

 '^ation was effected by treatment with 



caustic lime ^^ -^^r^' fSt2^%T'^^':. 

 JbrrStHl^' |l£rih^en.L does 

 rt owe its activity to volatile matter^ 

 OToved by their own experiment of cxpofl- 

 C a sni-all quantity in a very thm layer 

 to s *° C for 8 hours : the medicmal action 

 S the resin so treated was found to be un- 



'TDra^^^ndorff-s Jahreshcrirht 1876. 98. 

 « Chemical NeicK, xxiv. (18il) ll. 



