INDIAN HEMP. 
iv 
0 
will doubtless recollect to have occurred at Meerutt, in his 
troop :—A chesnut Caubul horse was seized, and brought to 
the infirmary, with all the symptoms of approaching tetanus. 
He had been, if memory fails me not, shod a dav or two 
before, though no wound could be discovered to constitute it 
a decided case of traumatic tetanus. Immediately after ad¬ 
mission, however, symptoms of this disease of the most 
aggravated and violent form set in, and ended in confirmed 
tetanus, under which the animal laboured for several days. 
At every exacerbation, and increased by approaching the 
animal, his situation became fearful to contemplate, during 
which period the jaw was firmly locked and immoveable, so 
much so that a straw could not be got between his teeth for 
five consecutive days. On admission, the usual depletory 
measures had been adopted, and now came the trial of the 
bhung;” but how to administer it was the difficulty, as the 
jaw was immoveable. A quantity of fresh green hemp was 
procured, which, when pounded, was made into a decqction 
as follows;—To four chittacks* of the pounded leaf add four 
quarts of w 7 ater, boil down to two quarts, and strain. This 
quantity to be divided into three doses, and given as a drench, 
morning, noon, and night. The drench was administered 
through the nostrils, by means of the common pewter enema 
syringe, and sustenance given per anum. At the end of five 
days the jaw^ gradually relaxed, and a perfect cure tardily suc¬ 
ceeded. The horse w 7 as much debilitated, and consequently 
very weak for some time after, but eventually, under a 
tonic regimen, he returned to duty thoroughly cured, and 
performed his duty in the guns as efficiently as ever he had 
done before. 
A case previous to this, of traumatic tetanus, had been 
admitted, from a prick in the foot, and the animal died in 
three or four days from the date of admission. Another—an 
officer’s charger under treatment for a corn, running into 
canker—after all mild measures had failed, the foot was 
dressed with nitric acid; tetanus immediately supervened, 
and the horse died in less than forty-eight hours. 
If I recollect right it v r as such cases as these that deter¬ 
mined me to try the “bhung” in the case of the chesnut 
Caubul horse, and the result is before you. 
The grand desideratum in bhung is, that while it is an all- 
potent narcotic it does not in the least produce constipation, 
or apparently alter the secretions in any way. 
I am now going to “ blow 7 hot and blow cold/* and you will 
think it strange that this bhung should prove so highly effi- 
* A chittack is two ounces English. 
