40 
PROCESS FOR PREPARING C ANNABINE. 
process with another, the filtered liquid on comparison will 
not appear any lighter in colour than the first. The greater 
part of the spirit is now, by distillation, recovered from the 
filtered liquid, and the resin washed out with a small 
quantity of rectified spirit. Three or four times its bulk of 
water is then mixed with the liquid, and the dish (a porce- 
lain basin) is set aside till the spirit has completely escaped 
by evaporation. The resin, being heavier than the watery 
liquid now left, remains at the bottom of the dish. The 
fluid is now carefully poured off, and fresh water used till 
it comes away free from any sour or bitter taste. The 
resin is now dried either spontaneously or by the aid of 
heat ; and to expedite the drying, it is spread out occasion- 
ally in a thin layer on the side of the dish. 
The resin is brown in mass, but of a fawn colour, in thin 
layers. Heated on platinum foil it melts into a liquid? 
takes fire, burns with a bright white flame, and disappears 
entirely. Two-thirds of a grain acts upon ourselves as a 
powerful narcotic, and one grain produces complete intoxi- 
cation. In this character it is quite analegous to alcohol, 
but in its hypnotic and soothing effects on the nervous sys- 
tem, its resemblance to morphia is very great. It contracts 
the pupil. It does not seem to have any spasmodic or pa- 
ralysing action upon the bladder. 
One experiment of ours shows that the peculiar action of 
hemp resin on the human system is not easily destroyed, 
and is retained with great tenacity. We heated in the open 
air a dose of the resin, spread out so as to cover nearly two 
square inches of the bottom of an evaporating basin, at a 
temperature of 180° Fahr., for eight hours continuously, 
notwithstanding which treatment it appeared to us on trial 
not to have suffered the least diminution of its energy. The 
resin contains the whole power of the plant, which we have 
proved by taking a quantity of the plant equivalent to a 
dose of the resin. We could observe no difference in 
strength of action. The dried gunjah yields from 6 to 7 
per cent, of the resin. — Ibid. 
