HASCHISCIN  AND  ITS  PHARMACEUTICAL  APPLICATIONS.  361 
For  this  process  to  succeed  well,  it  is  necessary  to  operate  at 
the  lowest  possible  temperature,  and  to  use  the  solvents  care- 
fully freed  from  water,  to  which  end  their  strength  should  he 
carefully  verified,  and  the  sulphuric  acid  should  be  monohy- 
drated,  (66°  Baume'.)  Finally,  the  operator  should  use  litmus 
paper,  so  as  to  avoid  an  excess  of  acid,  and  to  be  able  to  control 
the  neutrality,  a  portion  of  the  ethereal  solution  of  atropia  should 
be  reserved  and  used  to  restore  the  neutral  condition  of  the 
liquid. — Repertoire  de  Pharmacie. 
KEMAEKS  ON  HASCHISCIN  AND  ITS  PHARMACEUTICAL 
APPLICATIONS. 
By  M.  J.  Laneatt, 
Chief  Pharmacien  to  St.  John's  Hospital  at  Brussels. 
It  is  known  that  haschisch  and  haschiscin  were  first  employed 
in  the  East  for  epidemic  cholera.  Lately,  haschiscin  having 
been  used  with  some  success  in  the  treatment  of  cholera  patients 
at  the  Hospital  of  St.  John,  by  Dr.  Victor  Uytterhoeven,  I  pro- 
pose to  make  known  some  new  facts  relative  to  its  chemical 
history  and  to  the  manner  of  prescribing  it. 
Haschiscin,  or  cannabin,  is  the  active  principle  of  Indian 
hemp,  Cannabis  indica,  a  plant  of  the  natural  order  Cannabinese. 
It  possesses  narcotic  properties  very  decidedly,  and  similar 
in  all  respects  to  those  that  characterize  the  flowering  summits 
of  the  plants  and  the  different  preparations  known  to  the  Ori- 
entals, under  the  names  of  haschisch,  malach,  madjound,  dor- 
vanesh,  gunjah,  cherrus  and  cherris.  To  obtain  haschiscin  with 
the  proper  qualities,  it  is  necessary  to  use  hemp  that  is  grown 
in  countries  where  the  climate  causes  the  development  of  this 
principle,  which  is  not  the  case  with  the  hemp  of  temperate 
climates. 
M.  Gastinel,  pharmaceutist  at  Cairo,  has  suggested  a  simple 
process  for  the  preparation  of  haschisch.  With  the  dried  plant 
he  makes  an  alcoholic  extract,  which  is  then  treated  with  water 
to  free  the  resinous  principle  from  extractive  and  other  matters, 
when  it  is  dried. 
The  author  believes  it  to  be  more  eligible  to  operate  directly 
