HEKBA CANNABIS. 54y 



little shoots s})rout from the stem, and that these picked off and dried 

 form what is called gavja.} 



Chemical Composition — The most interesting constituents of 

 hemp, from a medical point of view, are the resin and volatile oil. 



The former was first obtained in a state of comparative purity by 

 T. and H. Smith in 1846.- It is a brown amorphous solid, burning with 

 a bright white flame and leaving no ash. It has a very potent action 

 when taken internally, two-thirds of a grain acting as a powerful 

 narcotic, and one grain producing complete intoxication. From the 

 experiments of Messrs. Smith, it seems to us impossible to doubt that 

 to this resin the energetic effects of cannabis are mainly due. 



When water is repeatedly distilled from considerable quantities of 

 hemp, fresh lots of the latter being used for each operation, a volatile 

 oil lighter than water is obtained, together with ammonia. This oil, 

 according to the observations of Personne (1857), is amber-coloured, 

 and has an oppressive hemp-like smell. It sometimes deposits an 

 abundance of small crystals. With due precautions it may be separated 

 into two bodies, the one of which, named by Personne Cannahene,^ 

 is liquid and colourless, with the formula C^^H-^ ; the other, which is 

 called Hydride of Cannahene, is a solid, separating from alcohol in platy 

 crystals to which Personne assigns the formula Ci'^H--. He asserts that 

 cannabene has indubitably a physiological action, and even claims it as 

 the sole active principle of hemp. Its vapour he states to produce when 

 breathed a singular sensation of shuddering, a desire of locomotion, 

 followed by prostration and sometimes by syncope.'* Bohlig in 1840 

 observed similar effects from the oil, which he obtained from the fresh 

 herb, just after flowering, to the extent of 03 per cent. 



It remains to be proved whether an alkaloid is present in hemp, as 

 suggested by Preobraschensky. 



The other constituents of hemp are those commonly occurring in 

 other plants. The leaves yield nearly 20 per cent, of ash. 



As to the resin of Indian hemp, Bolas and Francis in treating it with 

 nitric acid, converted it into Oxycannahin, C-*'H-*^N-0". This interesting 

 substance may, they say, be obtained in large prisms from a solution in 

 rnethylic alcohol. It melts at 176° C. and then evaporates without 

 decomposition ; it is neutral.'' One of us (F.) has endeavoured to obtain 

 it from the purified resin of charas, but without success. 



Uses — Hemp is employed as a soporific, anodyne, antispasmodic, and 

 as a nervous stimulant. It is used in the form of alcoholic extract, 

 administered either in a solid or liquid form. In the East it is con- 

 sumed to an enormous extent by Hindus and Mahomedans, who either 



1 Powell, Economic Products of the Pun- caustic lime or soda lime, and exposure to 



jah, Roorkee, i. (1868) 293. a temperature of 300° C. (572° F.)! That 



* Pharni. Journ. vi. (1847) 171. the resin of the Edinburgh chemists does 

 ^ Joxirn. de Pharm. xxxix. (1857) 48; not owe its activ'ity to volatile matter, is 



Canstatt's Jahresbericlit for 1857, i. 28. proved by their own experiment of expos- 



* Personne, though he admits the activity ing a small quantity in a very thin layer 

 of the resin prepared by Smith's process, to 82° C. for 8 hours : the medicinal action 

 contends that it is a mixed body, and that of the resin so treated was found to be un- 

 further purification deprives it of all volatile impaired. 



matter and renders it inert. This is not ' DragendorfiPs Jahresbericht, 1876. 98. 



astonishing when one finds that the "puri- » Cliemical News, xxiv. (1871) 77. 



fication" was effected by treatment with 



