Am  Jour.  Phakm.  > 
Jan.  1,  1874.  j 
Varieties. 
35 
that  of  opium.  They  have  a  similar  effect,  yet  the  former  is  decidedly  prefer- 
red. They  use  either  the  dry  leaves  for  smoking,  or  they  drink  the  pressed  juice, 
or  use  it  in  the  form  of  cakes  soaked  with  that  essence.  Much  uncertainty 
prevails  among  botanists  regarding  the  plant  or  plants  which  produce  these 
narcotics — whether  they  are  different  species  or  mere  varieties  of  the  common 
hemp.  Probably  G.  sativa  and  Indica  are  identical,  yielding  the  Gunja  and 
Bhang  of  the  East.  Both  the  above  drugs  are  sold  separate  in  the  Indian  ba- 
zaars, and  in  external  appearance  are  considerably  different.  Gunja  has  a 
strong  aromatic  and  heavy  odor,  abounds  in  resin,  and  is  sold  in  the  form  of 
flowering  stalks  for  smoking  with  tobacco.  It  is  made  up  in  bundles  about  two 
feet  long  and  three  inches  in  diameter,  containing  about  twenty-four  plants. 
Bhang  is  in  the  form  of  dried  leaves,  without  stock,  of  a  dull  green  color,  not 
much  odor  and  only  slightly  resinous,  and  its  intoxicating  properties  are  con- 
siderably less.  Bhang  is  not  smoked,  but  pounded  up  with  water  into  a  pulp 
so  as  to  make  a  driuk  highly  conducive  to  health,  and  people  accustomed  to  it 
seldom  get  sick.  Bhang  grows  in  abundance  in  Tirhoot  and  Bhagulpoor  in  the 
wild  state.  In  Scinde  a  stimulating  infusion  made  from  the  plant  is  much  drunk 
among  the  upper  classes,  who  imagine  that  it  is  an  improver  of  the  appetite. 
Gunja  is  frequently  mixed  with  tobacco  to  make  it  more  intoxicating.  This  is 
especially  done  by  the  Hottentots,  who  chop  the  hemp  leaves  very  fine,  and 
smoke  them  together  in  this  manner.  Sometimes  the  leaves  powdered  are 
mixed  with  aromatics,  and  thus  taken  as  a  beverage,  producing  much  the  same 
effects  as  opium,  only  more  agreeable. —  Garvadian  Pharm.  Joum.,  Nov.  1873. 
Homoeopathic  Pilules  Proved  a  Sham. — The  London  Practitioner  for  April, 
1873,  gives  account  of  recent  examinations,  by  chemical  analysis,  of  some  of  the 
more  commonly  used  homoeopathic  pilules.  The  average  weight  of  each  was 
0.6  grains  ;  and,  in  the  strength  known  as  the  second  dilution,  should  contain 
0.00006  of  a  grain  of  the  drug.  This  quantity,  in  the  case  of  the  drug  chosen, 
is  fairly  within  the  reach  of  analysis.  The  third  dilution  places  the  drug  beyond 
the  reach  of  analysis. 
In  sulphate  of  copper  pilules,  no  copper  could  be  detected  in  a  sample  of  100 
pilules,  nor  in  another  sample  of  200  pilules.  As  little  as  0.0001  grain  would 
have  been  detected,  if  present,  and  in  these  samples  there  should  have  been 
0.006  gr.  in  the  first,  and  0.012  grain  in  the  second. 
In  200  corrosive  sublimate  pilules,  less  than  0.0005  gr.  was  found,  whereas 
0.012  grain  should  have  been  present. 
No  strychnia  or  atropia  could  be  detected  in  300  nux  vomica  and  belladonna 
pilules  respectively,  though  the  tests  are  of  extreme  delicacy. 
The  pilules  were  from  two  leading  homoeopathic  pharmacists. 
Of  course  there  cannot  be  any  effect  from  the  taking  of  such  pilules,  except 
what  is  due  to  imagination. — Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Journal,  Oct.  16, 1873. 
