INDIAN HEMP. 
9 
for castration ; but the moment the knife was applied to the 
scrotum he straightened the leg, already drawn forward and 
secured, with such intense power, that a report was heard 
like the crack of a rifle: he had fractured his femur obliquely. 
He was immediately loosed from the hobbles and shot by 
order. I merely mention these two cases as a warning to 
young practitioners, and to show what difficulties and dangers 
we have to contend w T ith; and though in a practice of twenty- 
four years I have had but these two cases, had they occurred 
in private practice the owner perhaps would have shot me 
instead of the horse ; and yet we all know that, we never cast 
a horse that we are not in imminent danger of the same 
result. I have deviated a little perhaps from the regular 
course of correspondence in mentioning these two cases 
en passant. [To be contmued.) 
[We thank Mr. Hoey for his long and interesting com¬ 
munication, w hich press of matter compels us to divide. 
We have tried the extract of Indian hemp, but it fails in Eng¬ 
land to produce the effect known tofollowitsexhibition in India. 
The late Mr. H ughes, of Calcutta, found it to be as effective 
in that country as Mr. Hoey has done, and we were very 
sanguine in our expectations as to the result when a quantity 
of the extract w^as sent to us for trial. Mr. Hoey is therefore 
right in his conjecture, that it becomes deteriorated in its 
properties by some means or the other. 
Hr. O’Shaughnessy describes three different preparations 
from the hemp: 
1. Churrus, the concreted resinous exudation from the 
leaves, stems, and stalks of the plant. 
2. Gaujak , the dried hemp-plant that has flow r ered, and tied 
up in bundles containing twenty-four plants. 
3. Bang , sudjee or sidhee, formed of the larger leaves and 
capsules without the stalks. 
Dr. Pereira was among the first, Dr. Royle states, to 
submit this drug to experiment, but failed in obtaining any 
results, probably from changes having taken place in it. 
Dr. Laurie also pronounced it uncertain, and not to be 
depended on as a narcotic. But there are others who speak 
highly of' it as an agent for controlling inordinate spasm and 
intense neuralgic pain. Experiments are wanting in this 
country to prove its efficacy as a therapeutic. 
In the present number w ill be found an extracted article 
on this subject. 
We perceive that Dr. Turnbull, of Liverpool, has lately 
advocated the use of sulphate of aniline, an artificial alkaloid. 
