February 3,1872 .] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
627 
as forty years ago) was not only a very dangerous, "but 
-also a very erroneous one. There is now no doubt what¬ 
ever that the fresh seeds, capsules and leaves of the In¬ 
dian Daturas are very deadly; perhaps almost certainly 
so when taken in full doses, and when early methods are 
not taken for evacuating the poison by emetics and pur¬ 
gatives. Out of ninety-two recorded cases, no less than 
twenty-one proved fatal, and it is probable that many 
"other cases that result in death never come to light. The 
clear decision of this question was formerly a matter of 
the greatest moment in India, since the old law drew a 
marked difference between the crime of administering 
poisonous drugs to persons, with a view of robbing them 
when in a state of insensibility, and substances of a 'merely 
intoxicating character (and not of a nature to endanger 
life) for the same purpose. This question is now set 
•completely at rest by the present Penal Code of India, 
which places in the same category “ any poison or any 
stupefying , intoxicating or unwholesome drug.” Among 
the various notices which give rise to the criminal ad¬ 
ministration of Datura in India, perhaps the most re¬ 
markable is, that it is occasionally given by relatives 
to the natives who evince an inclination to embrace 
Christianity; with the view, of course, of rendering 
them unable to comprehend any arguments which might 
•alienate them from the religious tenets of their fore¬ 
fathers. Datura is, moreover, administered by unprin¬ 
cipled natives to aged and weak-minded relatives and 
others, whom on account of their wealth, or for other 
reasons, they are anxious to reduce to a state of utter 
helplessness and imbecility. In some cases where Datura 
is given, insensibility occurs almost immediately, and 
this probably happens when the poison is administered 
in solution or in very fine powder. When the seeds are 
given, the symptoms continue as long as any of them re¬ 
main in the intestinal canal, and probably in many cases 
.much longer. Tt is important to be borne in mind that, 
when persons have been drugged with this poison, more 
•than a week should bo allowed to them to recover their 
memory, for as long as the seeds lurk in the bowls the 
memory is not to be depended on. There appears to be 
no drug known at the present day, which represents in 
lits effects so close an approach to the system of “ sloiv 
poisoning ,” believed by many to have been practised in 
the middle ages (and which is so frequently alluded to 
<by Pliny and his contemporaries), as does the Datura. 
Indian Hemp .—Next as regards Indian hemp, or Can¬ 
nabis indica , which is grown in India, Persia and Africa. 
‘This belongs to a subdivision of the Natural Order TJrti- 
.cacece, otherwise “ the nettle and hemp ” Order. 
Cannabis sativa is the common hemp plant, which 
Las been cultivated from the earliest times for the pur¬ 
poses of manufacture. The Indian variety— Canna- 
Hs indica —possesses powerful narcotic qualities. Its 
leaves are covered with a resinous matter, called “ chur- 
nus.” The larger lQaves and capsules are called “ bhang 
while the dried plant which has flowered, and from which 
Ihe resin has not been removed, is termed “ gungah ” or 
“ haschish.” This “ gungah ” or “ haschish,” consisting 
•of the tops and tender parts only of the plant, is collected 
immediately after inflorescence and simply dried. This 
plant is much used for intoxication in India, but it is 
.curious that the Indian variety, when grown in Britain, 
•does not possess narcotic qualities, and, although the 
plant grows well, and attains a height of ten feet or more, 
it does not prodtice the resinous varnish on the leaves. 
The absence of this resin seems to be the only difference 
which distinguishes the common hemp of this country 
’-—the Cannabis sativa —from the so-called Indian hemp ; 
with this one distinction, the two appear to be botanically 
similar. The mode in which this resin (or churrus) is 
•obtained, differs in different parts of India. For instance, 
in Nepaul, it is extracted by rubbing the leaves of the 
plant gently between the hands, until these become suf¬ 
ficiently charged with the juice, which adheres to the 
palms, in the form of a dark, viscid and tolerably con¬ 
sistent substance; this, being removed with a spatula, is 
made up into lumps, which, when unrefined, are sold 
under the name of “churrus when this “ churrus” is 
clarified, it is called “ momes,” and in this condition it 
burns with a bright flame. 
In Central India, on the other hand, men clad in 
leathern dresses run through the hemp fields, brushing 
through the plants with all possible violence; the soft 
resin adheres to the leather, and is subsequently scraped 
off and rolled into balls. In some instances the leather 
attire is dispensed with, and the resin is gathered on the 
skins of the naked coolies. 
Gungah .—The practice of smoking and eating “ gun¬ 
gah ” is of great antiquity and exceeding prevalence in 
the East, extending over several hundred years. The 
Assassins (Haschischi), the homicidal followers of “ the 
old man of the mountains ,” are held to have derived their 
name from the use of Haschish, or hemp-tops. History 
shows that the vicious use of this substance prevailed 
extensively in Mussulman India so long as a century 
ago. Regarding the practice at that period, we are told 
that “the tops of the hemp, being pounded with 
water and a mixture of some spice, afford a thick liquor 
of a dirty green (bhang), with which low people procure 
themselves a flush in the cheeks and eyes, and a momen¬ 
tary flow of spirits that borders on intoxication ; but it 
is to hill again into a greater lowness of spirits than 
ever. It is fifty times cheaper than gin is in England; 
and, being a narcotic, it answers the purpose of a provo¬ 
cative, a denomination under which anything will go 
down with an Indian.” The same writer, speaking of a 
“bhang” shop, says, “It may be kept with a capital 
of no more than two shillings. It is only some mats 
stretched under some trees, where the vilest of mankind 
assemble to drink ‘ bhang,’ which possesses such intoxi¬ 
cating charms that there is no parting any more with it 
when a man has once used it for a couple of weeks. 
But in two years’ time it alway T s reduces a man to a 
skeleton, and stupefies his mind totally.” 
The gungah is never smoked without tobacco. The 
two are kneaded together with the thumb in the palm 
of the hand, so that this action is at once recognized by 
every gungah-smoker as indicating his habit. When a 
pipe is not available, the native makes a small hole in 
the ground, in which he places his smoking mixture, and 
having inserted sideways into this hole a long hollow 
reed, he enjoys his mother earth in a way, and to an ex¬ 
tent, unknown in this country. Another ingenious sub¬ 
stitute for a pipe consists of a damp leaf rolled up in a 
conical shape, the apex of the cone being inserted into 
the closed hand, which serves as a stem for the pipe. 
It is a curious fact, that as a rule the votaries of gungah 
smoke the drug in company, and never singly. A gungah 
smoker may often be distinguished by his appearance, 
which is always dry and rickety, eyes sunken and cheeks 
flattened. A gungah smoker can never be plump, and if the 
habit of excessive indulgence be long persevered in it 
brings on diarrhoea or dysentery. These evils may be, in 
a great measure, counteracted by a plentiful diet of milk 
and other substances containing a large quantity of oily 
ingredients. It is a peculiarity of gungah smoking,that 
it makes the person with whom the indulgence has be¬ 
come a habit choleric and irascible, rough in manner 
and speech. There is a curious difference between the 
excessive use of opium and gungah. If an opium eater 
be ill, and you entirely withhold his favourite drug, he 
will rapidly sink ; whereas the excessive use of gungah 
by smoking may be suddenly stopped without producing 
any injurious results thereby. The crime of murdering 
people while intoxicated by hemp is one which might be 
expected to be of frequent occurrence among a people, 
the lowest and most depraved of whom are continually 
drugging themselves with this narcotic, and yet the 
abuse of Cannabis indica for this purpose is almost un¬ 
known in India. 
[To be continued.') 
