viii , Journal of Comparative Neurology. 



nounces his belief that many a nervous or idiotic child is the result of 

 the tobacco-using habit of his parents. The baneful effects of tobac- 

 co-using are not so immediately noticeable as those of the liquor 



habit. 



In view of the numerous facts pointing out the pernicious charac- 

 ter of this drug, and the baneful effects of its habitual use, it is aston- 

 ishing that physicians are not unanimous in their opposition to it. 

 Still more astonishing is it that there are to be found many physicians 

 who themselves indulge in the use of the weed. Dr. Bremer men- 

 tions the case of a physician who rewards his thirteen-year old son 

 with extra strong cigars whenever he obtains high credit marks in 

 school. It is astonishing that such a father should have a son capable 

 of getting high credit marks. The physician, above all other men, 

 should be free from habits which, like tobacco-using, are noisome, 

 repulsive, and degrading. 



Hemp Drugs and Insanity. 



In an extended article under the above title, Surgeon-Captain J. 

 H. Tull Walsh, of the Lunatic Asylums, Calcutta, discusses (in the 

 Journal of Mental Science for January), the effects of the abuse of 

 the various preparations of Cannabis sativa. 



He concludes, i, that hemp drugs are largely used in Bengal; 

 smoked as ganja and chunus, drank as bhang and siddhi, or eaten as 

 majune. The smoking of chunus and eating of majune are not very 



common. 



2. Among healthy persons ganja smoked alone, with tobacco, or 

 with a very small addition of datura (2-3 seeds) produces a condition 

 varying from mild exhileration to marked intoxication. The violent 

 intoxicating effects are less marked, or not seen at all, in persons hav- 

 ing a regular and wholesome supply of food. Much the same may be 

 said of bhang, etc. 



3. Among persons of a weak mind, or with marked neurotic 

 tendency, even a.moderate quantity, or only a slight excess of hemp 

 drugs, may so increase the insanity, evident or latent, as to make such 

 persons violent, morose, or melancholy, according to the neuropathy 

 with which we start. The presence of adulterations such as datura 

 will increase these effects. 



4. Abuse of hemp drugs, especially when adulterated with datura, 

 will produce even in healthy persons a very violent intoxication simu- 

 lating mania, or may lead to a morose melancholic condition, or to 

 dementia. These conditions are generally of short duration, and the 

 patient ultimately recovers. 



