322 VRTIGAGEM 



into Clialdea, 



allusion to the rich green colour of the tincture. The Sheik 

 survived the discovery ten years, and subsisted chiefly on this 

 herb, and on his death his disciples at his desire planted it in 

 an arbour round his tomb. From this saintly sepulchre the 

 knowledge of the effects of hemp is stated to have spread into 

 Khorasan. In Chaldea it was unknown until 728 A. H., the 

 kings of Ormus and Bahrein then introduced it 

 ■Syria, Egypt and Turkey." 



Taki-ed-din Ahmad, commonly known as Makri^i, who wrote 

 a number of treatises upon Egypt in the 14th century, mentions 

 the lease of the monopoly for the sale of Hashish in that 

 country, and its abolition in (1286) by the Sultan. 



HajiZein in the Ikhti^rat (1368), after noticing the two 

 kinds of Kinnab mentioned by the Greeks, states that Indian 

 hemp is known as Bang or Sabz in Shiraz ; after describing its 

 properties, he says that in cases of poisoning by it vomiting 

 should be induced by the administration of butter and hot water 

 to empty the stomach, and that afterwards acid drinks should 

 be administered. 



The Greeks were acquainted with hemp more than 2000 

 years ago; Herodotus (iv., 74, 75) mentions it as being 

 cultivated by the Scythians, who used its fibre for making 

 their garments, and the seeds to medicate vapour baths. 

 Dioscorides mentions two kinds of Kavvd^t^^ the wild and the 

 cultivated; the former is the Althcea cannahina of Linneus, and 

 the latter Cannabis satim ; he states that the seeds^ if eaten too 

 freely, destroy the virile powers^ and that the juice is used to 

 relieve earache, Galen and the early Arabian physicians, such 

 as Ibu Sina and Razi, follow Dioscorides in his opinion of the 

 properties of hemp, and do not notice its having any -intoxicat- 

 ing properties, and unless the GelotophylUs of Pliny (24, 102) 

 was Indian hemp, there is no evidence to show that the ancients 

 were acquainted with them. Pliny says :— "The Gelotophyllis 

 (laughing leaf) is a j)lant found in Bactriana, and on the banks 

 of the BorysthcTios. Taken internally with myrrh and wine, 

 ull sorts of visionary forms present themselves, and excite the 



