DRUGS. 



the names " in composition" of many other plants as Nagkeshur, Kesura^ 

 vukoola, &c. See Crocus sativus helow. See " Dyes and Colours." 



N. O. 199. URTICACE.E. NETTLEWORTS. 

 Cannabis saliva. W. Common Hemp. 



Linn. Syst. Dioecia Pentandria. 



The herb and the resin. 



Vernacular. Bhanga, Gunjika, Fz/y,'Sans. Bhang, Hind. Gan- 

 jar, Beng. Ganja, Dec., Tam., Malay. Tsjeroo-cansjava, Mai. 

 Gangah, Tel. Mat-kansha, Cey. Kinnub, Arab. Bin, Burmah. 

 Guiji-lacki-lacki, Malay. Kinnabis, Defroonus, Yonanee. 



Habitat. Caucasus, Hindoo Koosh, Himalayas. Cultivated in 

 Europe for its fibre, and in Africa and Asia for the sake of its 

 narcotic properties. 



Remarks. The tdwaQis of the "Greeks. Herodotus (Book iv. chs. 74 

 and 75) mentions its seeds being used by the Scythians as a narcotic, and 

 Dioscorides that its expressed juice cures headache. In India the herb 

 is used as " the increaser of pleasure," " the assuager of grief, " " the 

 causer of laughter and a reeling gait," under several forms, as Gunjah the 

 dried plant, after having flowered, and from which the resin has been 

 taken ; Bang, Subjee, Sidhee, larger leaves and capsules without the 

 stalks, &c. The Hashish of the Arabs consists of the tender tops of the 

 plant after flowering. The resin in India is called Churrus and Momeea, 

 the latter the finer. Bhanga is the name also of Ferbesina prostrata, N. O. 

 120. Adamson and Royle suggest that the vrjTrevdfs of Homer (Od. iv., 

 1. 221) may have been Hemp. Saifron, Elecampane, Mandrake, and Dwale 

 have also been suggested by others. Homer, in truth, can mean no parti- 

 cular substance by vfaevOes, but only the quality of some substance, for he 

 uses the word as an epithet, not as a name. He sings simply of a (ap/za/cw 

 vTiTrevfas, " a drug bttuiskinff sorrow, wroth allaying, and causing oblivion of 

 all evils." Nepenthes can therefore no more be a drug than the word 

 aKoXov or any other of the epithets in the description. The paregoric 

 medicament referred to, however, may have been some portion of Canna- 

 bis, but I believe not. Pope translates the passage referred to thus : 



" Meantime \vith genial joy to warm the soul, 

 Bright Helen mixed a mirth inspiring bowl. 

 Temper'd with drugs of sovereign use t'assuage 

 The boiling bosom of tumultuous rage. 

 These drugs, so friendly to the joys of life, 

 Bright Helen learn' d from Thone's imperial wife; 

 Who swayed the sceptre where prolific Nile 

 With various simples clothes the fatten'd soil. 

 From Pseon sprung, their patron-god imparts 

 To all the Pharian race his healing arts." 



Now it was at Thebes that Menelaus sojourned in Egypt, and Helen 

 learnt to mix this virtuous bowl, Diodorus likewise tells us that a potion, 

 79 



