Woorl.] -^'J^ [Nov. 19, 



Six ounces of the dried leaves of male Kentucky liemp plants were 

 treated witli hot alcoliol and tlien exhausted with a little ether. The 

 tinctures thus obtained were mixed and evaporated. The extract thus 

 procured weighed 252 grains. One drachm of it was rubbed u.p with a 

 strong solution of the Carbonate of Soda to remove fatty matters, &c. It 

 lost nineteen grains or 32 per cent., very nearly one-third of its weight. 

 Six ounces of the leaves, therefore, yielded rather more than two and two- 

 thirds drachms of an extract, from which every thing soluble in an alka- 

 line solution had been removed. The method employed resembles that of 

 the Messrs. Smith of Edinburgh. They obtained from 6 to 7 per cent, of 

 their purified extract from the plant grown in India. I obtained 4 to 5 per 

 cent, of the extractive, and as the operation was on a small scale and con- 

 ducted by one totally unversed in practical pharmacy, there can be no 

 doubt that there was sufficient loss to bring up the proportion fully to 5 per 

 cent. ; moreover the American leaves were probably not so thoroughly 

 dried as the Indian. 



The therapeutic powers of this extract were not tested. 



To test the matter further, I exhausted three ounces avoirdupois with 

 hot alcohol, and the resultant tincture was placed in the hands of Hance, 

 Griffith and Company, Manufacturing Chemists of this city.* Four-fifths 

 of this tincture were evaporated by them to the consistency of a syrup, 

 and to it was added ten times its bulk of water. The precipitate was 

 washed and dried. When given into my hands, it was a softish greenish, 

 adhesive resin. Of this I took f of a grain dissolved in a mixture of alco- 

 hol and ether. It produced marked cerebral disturbance amounting to a 

 mild intoxication. 



These symjatonis were similar to those heretofore detailed, but very, 

 much milder. There were, however, no marked periods of unconscious- 

 ness, merely a feeling of hilarity and a total inability to fix the attention 

 except for a very short period and also some prolongation of time. 



Of this same resinous extract, my friend, Carl Fri'ih, a graduate of the 

 Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, took one grain. He first felt the influ- 

 ence of it about supper time. His head felt as if some one was violently 

 compressing it and at the same time there was a feeling of hilarity, with 

 an uncontrollable desire to talk and laugh, so that those around him asked 

 him what had come over him. 



At supper he was almost ravenous and ate so much that it was noticed 

 by others. Upon attempting to concentrate his thoiights upon any sub- 

 ject, he found it required a very painful effort. In attempting to com- 

 pound a i)rescription, he found it impossible to remember more than one 

 ingredient at a time, and even tliis was almost beyond his powers. In the 

 evening he went to a lecture at the College of Pharmacy. Although he 

 understood all that was said, yet he could not remember it a moment, and 

 at times would forget his surroundings and then suddenly wake up to find 

 himself sitting in the lecture room. Later in the evening he attended a 

 society-meeting, and afterwards went out with a fellow student, but has 

 no recollection of what was said or done. There was a good deal of pria- 



*jSiO\v Ilaiicc, BrothPrs and Wliite. 



