372 VEGETABLE DRUGS 



double consciousness, and great prolongation of time, so 

 that minutes are drawn out into hours, and hours into days. 

 Sometimes sexual excitement, exaltation, and hilariousness 

 are exhibited; at other times a dreadful premonition of im- 

 pending death seizes the human subject. The drug is not 

 fatal, except in colossal doses, but the effects may appear 

 alarming. Intrajugular injection into a small dog, of five 

 drachms of the fluid extract (10 minims of which proved 

 active in man) only caused death after several hours 

 (Hare). Preparations of Indian hemp vary greatly in 

 strength, many being entirely inert, and this fact constitutes 

 one of the principal objections to its use. The practitioner 

 is recommended to experiment until he secures a reliable 

 preparation, and use no other thereafter. 



Uses. — Cannabis is indicated for the relief of: 1, pain; 

 2, spasm ; 3, nervous irritability. It is not comparable to 

 morphine as an analgesic, on account of the uncertainty and 

 slowness of its action, and because anaesthesia is only pro- 

 duced by an unwarrantably large dose. It is only superior 

 to opium in not causing constipation, anorexia and indiges- 

 tion, and is therefore sometimes given in colic to horses, 

 for the relief of pain and spasm. The permanency of the 

 action of Indian hemp suggests its use in conditions of long 

 continued pain or spasm. In thirty-five cases of tetanus 

 in the human being, treated with cannabis, twenty-one 

 recovered and fourteen died. The results reported in veter- 

 inary practice have been almost as favorable ; over half the 

 cases have recovered when subjected to this medication. 

 Cannabis ludica is occasionally employed as a sedative for 

 irritable cough, and to relieve the spasms of chorea. 



Caffeina. Caffeine. C^H^oN^O, + H^O. 

 (U. S. &B.P.) 



Synonym. — Theine, guaranine, E.; coffein, G.; cafeine, Fr^ 



A feebly basic, proximate principle, obtained from the 



dried leaves of Thea sinensis Linne (nat. ord. ternstroemia- 



