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ON THE PRODUCTS OF THE HEMP PLANT {CANNABIS SATIVA) 



BY JOHN R. JACKSON. 



The hemp plant is known chiefly in this country on account ol the valu- 

 able fibre it affords, which is in such constant use in the manufacture of cord, 

 ropes, &c. Although its fibre is of the greatest value to us, still its other 

 products are equally valuable to the natives of tropical climates. For 

 example, in the East it is cultivated entirely on account of its narcotic resin, 

 which is spontaneously secreted in all warm climates. In cooler tempera- 

 tures it is grown exclusively for the sake of its fibre, as in Russia, Prussia, 

 Spain, Italy, &c. It grows wild in temperate Asia and in Northern India. 



Hemp appears to have been known from a very remote period, the first 

 mention of it being made in the first book of Herodotus (C. 202), where he 

 says : — " The Scythians never washed any part of their bodies excepting 

 their heads, and accordingly purified themselves with an intoxicating kind of 

 smoke, which seems to be somewhat analogous to the smoke of tobacco. 

 Having first washed and thoroughly cleansed their heads, they made a 

 tent by stretching thick woollen cloths over three sticks fixed in the 

 ground and inclining towards each other. They next placed a vessel full 

 of red hot stones in the centre of the tent, and crept round it, whilst the 

 tent covering was kept very close and almost air-tight. They then threw 

 hemp seed on the hot stones, and a smoke and steam soon arose, which was 

 denser than the hottest vapour bath, and the intoxicated Scythians would 

 cry and shout at the top of their voices, from the excitement and exhilara- 

 tion produced by this overpowering process." It is mentioned again in 

 another book of the same author, where he speaks of the Scythians 

 having " a sort of hemp very like flax," growing " both spontaneously and 

 from cultivation," and of garments being made from it by the Heracians 

 " very like linen." It is also spoken of by Pliny, who says the plant was 

 . well known to the Romans. Mention is also made by the writer of some 

 medicinal properties reputed to belong to it. Thus, we see that the plant 

 was well known to the Greeks and Romans ; but the Hebrews and 

 Egyptians seem to have been unacquainted with it. At the present time, 

 it is grown to a great extent in Russia, wholly on account of its fibre, from 

 which country alone we received, in 1860, 597,610 cwts. We also find it 

 cultivated in some parts of India, Africa, and China, and also to a small 

 extent in the United States and Canada. It grows well in England, and is 

 cultivated largely in some counties, as Suffolk, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, &c. 

 The finest kind is obtained from Italy, though in small quantities ; it is 

 known as " Italian Garden Hemp," being raised by spade culture. This is 

 sometimes eight or nine feet long, and is used for sail-cloth as well as for 

 the finer kinds of cordage. The mode of preparing hemp much resembles 

 that employed in the preparation of flax. Its value and uses are so well 

 known that it is needless to mention them here. For its narcotic and 

 resinous properties, it is exclusively cultivated in some parts of Africa and 



