I 



,- 



i 



UB TIC A GEM 3 23 



most immoderate laugliter, wliich can only be put an end to 

 by taking kernels of tbe pine nut, with pepper and honey, in 

 palm wine." The earliest Western medical writer who dis- 

 tinctly mentions the intoxicating properties of hemp is Ibn 

 Baitar a native of Africa, who died in Damascus in 1248. All 

 the later Mahometan physicians describe the two kinds of 



m. 



third kind called Rindi or Indian. The name Cannabis is 

 derived from the Persian Kanab. which is connate to the Sans- 

 krit S'ana, the Russian Kanopla, the Irish Canaib, the Iceland 

 Hanp, the Saxon Hsenep, and the old German Hanaf. 



The author of the Malchzan-eUAdmya gives Udifarilnas*as the 

 Yunani name, and Kanabira as the Syrian, and also mentions a 

 number of cant terms which are applied to it, such as Wark-el- 

 khyal, Hashish, Hashishat-el-fukara, Arsh-numsi, Chatr-i-akh- 

 zar, &c. Charas is described, and the practice of smoking it. 

 The Bengal- grown hemp is said to be less intoxicating than that 

 grown in more T^Torthern climates. Hempseed ' " ' "^ 

 sian Shahdanah," royal seeds." ™ 

 and conserves for intoxicating purposes. The properties of 

 hemp are described as cold and dry in the third degree, that is. 



The leaves 



first 



and then a refrigerant effect, the drug at first exhilarates^ 

 improves the complexion, excites the imagination, increases the 

 appetite, and acts as an aphrodisiac ; afterwards its sedative 

 effects are observed— if its use is persisted in, it leads to indi- 

 i?estion. wasting of the body, melancholy, impotence and dropsy. 



Mirza 



of the flow of bile, and relates cases of its efficacy in restoring 

 appetite, of its utility as an external application as a poultice 

 with milk in relieving haemorrhoids, and internally in gonor- 

 rhoea, to the extent of a quarter drachm of bhang. 



Charas is only mentioned in comparatively recent medical 

 works. The word is said to be derived from the Sanskrit 



^* 



♦ Some nich word may have been manufactured by the Syrian monks 

 in the Midiile Ages, possibly from fC and 8ta<>tpa. as an equivaleut to the 

 Sanskrit ' Vijaya.' 



