CANNABINACEjE. 



573 



C. sativa. 



C. sativa, Linn.— Annual, covered with a very fine, rough 

 pubescence, scarcely visible to the naked eye. Stem erect, 

 branched, green, angular. Leaves alternate, or opposite, on 

 long, lax petioles, digitate, scabrous, with linear-lanceolate, 

 serrated segments ; stipules subulate. Flowers in axillary 

 clusters, with subulate bracts; males lax and drooping, 

 branched, and leafless at base ; females erect, simple, and 

 leafy at base. 



Linn., Sp. PL 1457 ; Woodville, t. 27 ; Pereira, 

 Elem. Mat. Med. ii. 211 ; Royle, 550 ; Lindley, 

 Fl. Med. 299. 



Common Name. — Hemp. 



Hemp is a native of Persia and the Northern 

 parts of India, whence it has been introduced into 

 many other countries. It is cultivated in Europe, 

 and this country, on account of the strong fibres of 

 its bark, so extensively employed in the manufac- 

 ture of ropes. The leaves were, at one time, used 

 in cataplasms to indolent tumours, and the oil of the 

 seeds has been advised as an injection in colica 

 pictonum,and when made into an emulsion, has been thought to be emmena- 

 gogue. It has been generally stated that the leaves have not the powerful 

 properties of the Asiatic variety, but it does not appear that any fair trial has 

 been instituted with them ; if a strong resemblance in appearance, odour, and 

 taste is to be assumed as indicating a similarity of properties, there should 

 be no doubt of their identity of effects, except that in the variety grown in 

 temperate and cold climates, the same intensity of action is not to be looked 

 for, as in that inhabiting tropical regions. 



The C. sativa var. Indica, appears to have been used as an intoxicating 

 drug in Asia and Egypt from the earliest times, and is at present employed 

 with this view, in India, under the names of Churrus, Ganjah, Bang, or 

 Subjee, according to the preparation ; by the Arabs it is called Hashish ; by 

 the Turks, Malach, and by the Hottentots, who also are fond of it, it is termed 

 Dachma; and according to Martius, its narcotic and inebriating qualifies are 

 known to the negroes in Brazil. 



Dr. Royle is of opinion that it may probably be the Nepenthes of Homer, 

 as the intoxicating or rather the soporific and grief-assuaging qualities it 

 possesses, agree very well with those of the drug noticed by the ancient 

 bard. It is employed in India in a variety of forms, the most powerful being 

 Churrus, or the resinous exudation from the leaves, stems and flowers ; Bang 

 is the larger leaves and capsules, and Ganjah is the whole plant in a dried 

 state. The general effects of these, whether smoked, or taken internally in 

 pill, decoction, &c, are alleviation of pain, great increase of the appetite, and 

 of mental cheerfulness, aphrodisia, &c. 



Within a few years, it has been brought into notice as a medicinal agent 

 by Dr. O'Shaughnessy, who attributes to it great powers in the treatment of 

 rheumatism, hydrophobia, cholera, tetanus, &c. In consequence of his ob- 

 servations it has been extensively experimented with in Europe; but the re- 

 sults obtained, although in general favourable to the remedial properties of 

 the drug, are by no means in unison, or entirely satisfactory as to its exact 

 influence on the system. (See Dunglison, New Remedies, 147 et seq.) It 

 has been principally given in extract and tincture; the dose of the first is half 

 a grain at first, gradually increasing the quantity of the tincture from 5 to 

 10 drops. 



