550 



CANNABINE^. 



smoke it witli tobacco, or swallow it in combination with other 

 substances.^ 



■ 



Charas. 



No account of hemp as a drug would be complete without some 

 notice of this substance, which is regarded as of great importance by 

 Asiatic nations. 



Charas or Chiirrus is the resin which exudes in minute drops from 

 the yellow glands, with which the plant is provided in increasing num- 

 ber according to the elevated temperature (and altitude ?) of the 

 country where it grows. The varieties of hemp richest in resin, at 

 least in the Laos country in the Malayan Peninsula, scarcely attain the 

 height of 3 feet, and show densely curled leaves.^ Charas is collected 

 in several ways :— one is by rubbing the tops of the plants in the hands 

 when the seeds are ripe, and scraping from the fingers the adhering 

 resin. Another is thus performed : — men clothed in leather garments 

 walk about among growing hemp, in doing which the resin of the plant 

 attaches itself to the leather, whence it is from time to time scraped off. 

 A tliird method consists in collecting, with many precautions to avoid 

 its poisonous effects, the dust which is caused when heaps of dry hkwj 

 are stirred about.^ 



By whichever of these processes obtained, charas is of necessity a 

 foul and crude drug, the use of which is properly excluded from civilized 

 medicme. As before remarked (p. 547) it is not obtainable from hemp 

 giown indiscriminately in any situation even in India, but is only to 

 be ^t from plants produced at a certain elevation on the hills. 



The best charas, which is that brought from Yarkand, is a hroMn, 

 earthy-looking substance, forming compact yet friable, irregular masses 

 of considerable size. Examined under a strong pocket lens, it appears 



grains of brown resin, agglutinatea 



tobe made up of minute, transparent 



with but little 



with short hairs of the plant. It has a hemp-like odour, 



taste even m alcoholic solution. A second and a third quality of Yar- 



Chavas vie^ved 



kand charas represent the substance in a less pure state. 



under the microscope exhibits a crystalline structure, due to inorganic 

 matter. It vi^hk fvnn. i +. ^ ^f -^^ weight of an amorphous resin, 



to 



which IS readily dissolved by bisulphide of carbon or spirit of wme. 

 ihe resin does not redden litmus, nor is it soluble in caustic potash, it 

 has a dark brown colour, which we have not succeeded in removing by 

 anima charcoal. The residual part of charas yields to water a "^ " 

 chloride of sodium ^ . ^ - - J . » , „ 



and 



Httle 

 of 



, . , , consists in large proportion of carbonate _o 



calcium and peroxide of iron. These results have been obtained m 



examining samples from Yarkand.^ Other specimens which we have 



also examined, have the aspect of a compact dark resin. , . , 



Charas is exported from Yarkand^ and Kashgar, the first of ^vhicn 



^.,.? J", '''■ '"^™ation, consult Cooke's 

 5em ^^lers of Sleep, Lond., chap, xv.- 

 xvii ; also Jahresberlcht of AVi-<;crs and 

 Husemann, 1872. 600 



ial ^^r V ^'^?"r"'' P'-o<^i(cts of the Pvn- 

 Jf^l'^oorkee, 1868. 293. 



Obtained by Colonel H. Strachey, and 



now in the Kew Museum. I* !^ ]*{ ere 

 means evident by what process tney 



collected. nr-^ahm to 



» Forsyth, Corrr.^pondence on ^J'f}, 

 Yarland, ordered by the House oj ^.^^^ 

 mons to be printed, Feb 28, 1»> ' ^ ^ 

 Henderson and Hume, Lahore to 1 om 

 Lond. 187.3. ,S34. 



I 



