JOURNAL OF MEDICINE,

ART. IX. - On the Preparations of the Indian Hemp, or Gunjah, (Cannabis Indica:) their Effects on the Animal System in Health, and their Utility in the Treatment of Tetanus and other Convulsive diseases. - By W. B. O'SHAUGHNESSY, M. D., Bengal Army, late Professor of Chemistry and Materia Medica in the Medical College of Calcutta. London, 1843. - SVO. pp. 38.

As this subject has recently attracted much attention in the various journals of the day, both professional and non-professional, we propose giving a view somewhat in detail.

"The narcotic effects of Hemp," says Dr. S., "are popularly known in the South of Africa, South America, Turkey, Egypt, Asia Minor, India, and the adjacent territories of the Malays, Burmese, and Siamese. In all these countries Hemp is used in various forms, by the dissipated and depraved, as the ready agent of a pleasing intoxication. In the popular medicine of these nations, we find it extensively employed for a multitude of affections. But in Western Europe, its use either as a stimulant or as a remedy, is equally unknown. With the exception of the trial, as a frolic, of the Egyptian "hasheesh," by a few youths in Marseilles, and of the clinical use of the wine of hemp by Hahnemann, as shewn in a subsequent extract, I have been unable to trace any notice of the employment of this drug in Europe.

"Much difference of opinion exists on the question, whether the hemp so abundant in Europe, even in the high northern latitudes, is identical in specific characters with the hemp of Asia Minor and India. The extraordinary symptoms produced by the latter depend on a resinous secretion with which it abounds, and which seems totally absent in the European kind. The closest physical resemblance or even identity exists between both plants; difference of climate seems to me more than sufficient to account for the absence of the resinous secretion, and consequent want of narcotic power in that indigenous in colder countries."

Its botanical characters are thus described:

Assuming with Lindley and other eminent writers that the Cannabis sativa and Indica are identical, we find that the plant is dioecious, annual, about three feet high, covered over with a fine pubescence; the stem is erect, branched, bright green, angular; leaves, alternate or opposite, on long weak petioles; digitate, scabrous, with linear, lanceolate, sharply serrated leaflets, tapering into a long smooth entire point; stipules subulate; clusters of flowers axillary with subulate bractes; males lax and drooping, branched and leafless at base; females erect, simple and leafy at the base. Calyx downy, five parted, imbricated. Stamens five; anthers large and pendulous. Calyx covered with brown glands. Ovary roundish, with pendulous ovule, and two long filiform glandular stigmas; achenium ovate, one seeded. - Vide Lindley's Flora Medica, p. 299.

The fibres of the stems are long and extremely tenacious, so as to afford the best tissue for cordage, thus constituting the material for one of the most important branches of European manufactures.

The seed is simply albuminous and oily, and is devoid of all narcotic properties.

Its chemical properties are defined as follows:

In certain seasons and in warm countries a resinous juice exudes and concretes on the leaves, slender stems, and flowers; the mode of removing this juice will be subsequently detailed. Separated and in masses it constitutes the Churrus of Nipal and Hindostan, and to this, the type or basis of all the hemp preparations, are the powers of these drugs attributable.

The resin of the hemp is soluble in alcohol and æther; partially soluble in alkaline, insoluble in acid solutions; when pure, of a blackish grey color; hard at 90 degrees; softens at high temperatures, and fuses readily; soluble in the fixed and in several volatile oils. Its odor is fragrant and narcotic; taste slightly warm, bitterish, and acrid.

The dried hemp plant which has flowered, and from which the resin has not been removed, is called GUNJAH. It sells from 1s. 6d. to 2s. for 2 lbs. in the Calcutta bazars, and yields to alcohol twenty per 100 of resinous extract, composed of the resin (churrus), and green colouring matter (chlorophylle). Distilled with a large quantity of water or spirit, traces of essential oil pass over, and the distilled liquor has the powerful narcotic odor of the plant. The gunjah is sold for smoking chiefly. The bundles of gunjah are about two feet long and four inches in diameter, and contain twenty-four plants. The color is dusky green; the odor agreeably narcotic; the whole plant resinous and adhesive to the touch.

The larger leaves and capsules, without the stalks, are called "bang, subjee, or sidhee." They are used for making an intoxicating drink, for smoking, and in the conserve or confection termed majoon. Bang is cheaper than gunjah, and, though less powerful, is sold at such a low price that for less than a half-penny enough can be purchased to intoxicate an "experienced" person.

When used for the purpose of intoxication, the preparations of hemp are as follows:

Sidhee, subjee, and bang (synonymous) are used with water as a drink, which is thus prepared: About three tola weight, 540 troy grains, are well washed with cold water, then dried and rubbed to powder, mixed with black pepper, cucumber and melon seeds, sugar, half a pint of milk, and an equal quantity of water. This is considered sufficient to intoxicate an habituated person. Half the quantity is enough for a novice. This composition is chiefly used by the Mahomedans of the better class.

Another recipe is as follows: -

The same quantity of sidhee is washed, dried, and ground, mixed with black pepper, and a quart of cold water added. This is drank at one sitting. This is the favorite beverage of the Hindus who practice this vice, especially the Birjobassies and many of the Rajpootana soldiery.

From either of these beverages intoxication will ensue in half an hour. Almost invariably the inebriation is of the most cheerful kind, causing the person to sing and dance, to eat food with great relish, and to seek aphrodisiac enjoyments. In persons of a quarrelsome disposition it occasions, as might be expected, an exasperation of their natural tendency. The intoxication lasts about three hours, when sleep supervenes. No nausea or sickness of the stomach succeeds, nor are the bowels at all effected; next day there is slight giddiness and much vascularity of the eyes, but no other symptoms worth recording.

Gunjah is used for smoking only; one rupee weight, 180 grains, and a little dried tobacco are rubbed together in the palm of the hand with a few drops of water. This suffices for three persons. A little tobacco is placed in the pipe first, then a layer of the prepared gunjah, then more tobacco, and the fire above all.

Four or five persons usually join in this debauch. The hookah is passed round, and each person takes a single draught. Intoxication ensues almost instantly; and from one draught to the unaccustomed, within half an hour; and after four or five inspirations to those more practised in the vice. The effects differ from those occasioned by the sidhee. Heaviness, laziness, and agreeable reveries ensue, but the person can be readily roused, and is able to discharge routine occupations, such as pulling the punkah, waiting at table, &c.

Ameer states that there are seven or eight majoon makers in Calcutta: that sometimes, by special order of customers, he introduces stramonium seeds, but never nux vomica; that all classes of persons, including the lower Portugese, or "Kala Feringhees," and especially their females, consume the drug; that it is most fascinating in its effects, producing extatic happiness, a persuasion of high rank, a sensation of flying, voracious appetite, and intense aphrodisiac desire. He denies that its continued use leads to madness, impotence, or to the numerous evil consequences described by the Arabic and Persian physicians. Although I disbelieve Ameer's statements on this point, his description of the immediate effect of majoon is strictly and accurately correct.

Most carnivorous animals eat it greedily, and very soon experience its narcotic effects, becoming ludicrously drunk, but seldom suffering any worse consequences.

In his historical details our author refers to notices of hemp and its uses by the Sanscrit, Arabic, and Persian writers. Much of this, however, seems to partake of the character of fabulous history. Let the reader judge of the following:

In Khorasan, however, it seems that the date of the use of hemp is considered to be far prior to Haider's era. Biraslan, an Indian pilgrim, the contemporary of Cosröes, is believed to have introduced and diffused the custom through Khorasan and Yemen. In proof of the great antiquity of the practice, certain passages in the works of Hippocrates may be cited, in which some of its properties are clearly described, but the difficulty of deciding whether the passages be spurious or genuine, renders the fact of little value. Dioscorides (lib. ij. cap. 169) describes hemp, but merely notices the emollient properties of its seeds; its intoxicating effects must consequently be regarded as unknown to the Greeks prior to his era, which is generally agreed to be about the second century of the Christian epoch, and somewhat subsequent to the life-time of Pliny.

In the narrative of Makrizi we also learn that oxymel and acids are the most powerful antidotes to the effect of this narcotic; next to these, emetics, cold bathing, and sleep; and we are further told that it possesses diuretic, astringent, and especially aphrodisiac properties. Ibn Beitar was the first to record its tendency to produce mental derangement, and he even states that it occasionally proves fatal.

In 780 M.E. very severe ordinances were passed in Egypt against the practice; the Djoneina garden was rooted up, and all those convicted of the use of the drug were subjected to the extraction of their teeth; but in 799 the custom re-established itself with more than original vigor. Makrizi draws an expressive picture of the evils this vice then inflicted on its votaries - "As its consequence, general corruption of sentiments and manners ensued, modesty disappeared, every base and evil passion was openly indulged in, and nobility of external form alone remained to these infatuated beings.'

As regards the medicinal properties assigned to hemp by the ancient Arabian and Persian writers, our author is also rich in extracts. He refers to the 35th chapter of the 5th volume of "Rumphius' Herbarium Amboinense," p. 208, ed. Amsterd., A. D. 1695, as containing a long and excellent account of hemp, illustrated by two good plates. Of this article, he presents the subjoined epitome:

Rumphius first describes botanically the male and female hemp plants, of which he gives two admirable drawings. He assigns the upper provinces of India as its habitat, and states it to be cultivated in Java and Amboyna. He then notices very briefly the exciting effects ascribed to the leaf, and to mixtures thereof with spices, camphor and opium. He alludes doubtingly to its alleged aphrodisiac powers, and states that the kind of mental excitement it produces depends on the temperament of the consumer. He quotes a passage from Galen lib. i. (de aliment. facult.) in which it is asserted that in that great writer's time it was customary to give Hemp seed to the guests at banquets as a promoter of hilarity and enjoyment. Rumphius adds, that the Mahomedans in his neighborhood frequently sought for the male plant from his garden, to be given to persons afflicted with virulent gonorrhoea and with asthma, or the affection which is popularly called "stitches in the side." He tells us, moreover, that the powdered leaves check diarrhoea, are stomachic, cure the malady named pitao, and moderate excessive secretion of bile. He mentions the use of hemp smoke as an enema in strangulated hernia, and of the leaves as an antidote to poisoning by orpiment. Lastly, he notices in the two subsequent chapters varieties of hemp which he terms the gunjah sativa and gunjah agrestis.

This was the amount of preliminary information possessed by our author, when he entered upon his experiments to determine its application to man as a remedial agent.

There was sufficient to to show that hemp possesses, in small doses, an extraordinary power of stimulating the digestive organs, exciting the cerebral system, of acting also on the generative apparatus. Larger doses, again, were shown by the historical statements to induce insensibility, or to act as a powerful sedative. The influence of the drug in allaying pain was equally manifest in all the memoirs referred to. As to the evil sequelæ so unanimously dwelt on by all writers; these did not appear to me so numerous, so immediate, or so formidable, as many which may be clearly traced to over-indulgence in other powerful stimulants or narcotics - viz. alcohol, opium, or tobacco.

The dose in which the hemp preparations might be administered, constituted, of course, one of the first objects of inquiry. Ibn Beitar had mentioned a direm, or forty-eight grains of churrus; but this dose seemed to me so enormous, that I deemed it expedient to proceed with much smaller quantities. How fortunate was this caution, the sequel will sufficiently denote.

An extensive series of experiments on animals was in the first place undertaken, among which the following may be cited: -

Expt. 1. - Ten grains of Nipalese churrus, dissolved in spirit were given to a middling sized dog. In half an hour he became stupid and sleepy, dozing at intervals, starting up, wagging his tail as if extremely contented; he ate some food greedily; on being called to he staggered to and fro, and his face assumed a look of utter helpless drunkenness. These symptoms lasted about two hours, and then gradually passed away; in six hours he was perfectly well and lively.

Expt. 2. - One drachm of majoon was given to a small sized dog; he ate it with great delight, and in twenty minutes was ridiculously drunk; in four hours his symptoms passed away, also without harm.

Expt. 3, 4, and 5 - Three kids had ten grains each of the alcoholic extract of gunjah. In one no effect was produced; in the second there was much heaviness, and some inability to move; in the third a marked alteration of countenance was conspicuous, but no further effect.

Expt. 6. - Twenty grains were given, dissolved in a little spirit, to a dog of very small size. In a quarter of an hour he was intoxicated; in half an hour he had great difficulty of movement; in an hour he had lost all power over the hinder extremities, which were rather stiff but flexible; sensibility did not seem to be impaired, and the circulation was natural. He readily acknowledged calls by an attempt to rise ue. In four hours he was quite well.

In none of these and several other experiments was there the least indication of pain, or any degree of convulsive movement observed.

It seems needless to dwell on the details of each experiment; suffice it to say that they led to one remarkable result - that while carnivorous animals and fish, dogs, cats, swine, vultures, crows, and adjutants, invariably exhibited the intoxicating influence of the drug, the graminivorous, such as the horse, deer, monkey, goat, sheep, and cow, experienced but trivial effects from any dose we administered.

Encouraged by these results, no hesitation could be felt as to the perfect safety of giving the resin of hemp an extensive trial in the cases in which its apparent powers promised the greatest degree of utility.

The first cases selected were two of acute rheumatism and one of the chronic form; and in one of these, the most unequivocal symptoms of catalepsy were developed by the influence of this narcotic.

We raised him to a sitting posture, and placed his arms and limbs in every imaginable attitude. A waxen figure could not be more pliant or more stationary in each position, no matter how contrary to the natural influence of gravity on the part.

To all impressions he was meanwhile almost insensible; he made no sign of understanding questions; could not be aroused. A sinapism to the epigastrium caused no sign of pain. The pharynx and its coadjutor muscles acted freely in the deglutition of stimulant remedies which I thought it advisable to administer, although the manifest cataleptic state had freed me altogether of the anxiety under which I before laboured.

The second patient had meanwhile been roused by the noise in the ward, and seemed vastly amused at the strange aspect of the statue-like attitudes in which the first patient had been placed, when on a sudden he uttered a loud peal of laughter, and exclaimed that "four spirits were springing with his bed into the air." In vain we attempted to pacify him; his laughter became momentarily more and more incontrollable. We now observed that the limbs were rather rigid, and in a few minutes more his arms or legs could be bent, and would remain in any desired position. A strong stimulant drink was immediately given, and a sinapism applied. Of the latter he made no complaint, but his intoxication led him to such noisy exclamations, that we had to remove him to a separate room; here he soon became tranquil, his limbs in less than an hour gained their natural condition, and in two hours he experienced himself to be perfectly well and excessively hungry.

The first patient continued cataleptic till one A. M., when consciousness and voluntary motion quickly returned, and by two A. M., he was exactly in the same state as the second patient.

The third man experienced no effect whatever, and on further inquiry it was found that he was habituated to the use of gunjah in the pipe.

On the following day it gave me much pleasure to find that both the individuals above mentioned were not only uninjured by the narcotic, but much relieved of their rheumatism; they were discharged quite cured in three days after.

The next case was one of hydrophobia. Two grains of hemp resin, in a soft pillular mass, were ordered every hour; and at the sixth dose, he fell asleep, and had some hours' rest. But on the following morning, tortured by thirst, he again attempted to drink, and again ensued "the indescribable horrors of the paroxysm."

Four days thus passed away, the doses of hemp being continued. When he fell asleep, on waking the paroxysms returned, but were again almost immediately assuaged as at first. Meanwhile, purgative enemata were employed, and he partook freely of solid food, and once drank water without the least suffering. But about three P. M. of the fifth day he sunk into a profound stupor, the breathing slightly stertorous; in this state he continued, and without further struggle death terminated his sufferings at four A. M. on the 27th of November.

Reviewing the preceding summary of this interesting case, it seems evident that at least one advantage was gained from the use of the remedy - the awful malady was stripped of its horrors; if not less fatal than before, it was reduced to less than the scale of suffering which precedes death from most ordinary diseases.

While this case was under treatment, the interest excited among the pupils of the school, induced them to try experiments on one another.

In one pupil, Dinonath Dhur, a retiring lad of excellent habits, ten drops of the tincture, equal to a quarter of a grain of the resin, induced in twenty minutes the most amusing effects I ever witnessed. A shout of laughter ushered in the symptoms, and a transitory state of cataleptic rigidity occurred for two or three minutes. Summoned to witness the effects, we found him enacting the part of a Rajah giving orders to his couriers; he could recognise none of his fellow students or acquaintances; all to his mind seemed as altered his own condition; he spoke of many years having passed since his student's days; described his teachers and friends with a piquancy which a dramatist would envy; detailed the adventures of an imaginary series of years, his travels, his attainment of wealth and power; he entered on discussions on religious, scientific, and political topics, with astonishing eloquence, and disclosed an extent of knowledge, reading, and a ready apposite wit, which those who knew him best were altogether unprepared for. For three hours and upwards he maintained the character he at first assumed, and with a degree of ease and dignity perfectly becoming his high situation. A scene more interesting it would be difficult to imagine. It terminated nearly as suddenly as it commenced, and no headache, sickness, or other unpleasant symptom followed the innocent excess.

It was tried likewise in several cases of epidemic cholera, which was then prevailing.

The durwan of the college, an athletic Rajpoot, was attacked, and came under my treatment after he had been ill seven hours; he was pulseless, cold, and in a state of imminent danger, the characteristic evacuations streaming from him without effort. Half a grain of the hemp resin was given, and in twenty minutes the pulse returned, the skin became warm, the purging ceased, and he fell asleep. In an hour he was cataleptic, and continued so for several hours. In the morning he was perfectly well and at his duty as usual.

This passage was written in 1838, when our author was not entirely satisfied of the value of hemp in cholera; but subsequent experience confirmed his favorable opinion, and in 1843, he writes thus:

I know no remedy equal to it as a general and steady stimulant when given to Europeans in half drachm doses during the tractable stage of this disease. I have known the pulse and heat return and the purging checked by a single dose. It allays vomiting much more certainly than the opium preparations, and is not more likely than these to lead to cerebral congestion on the cessation of cholera symptoms. The cheering effect on the patient's spirits is not the least benefit this remedy confers.

We now come to its use in Tetanus, - an affection in which Dr. O'S. regards the powers of the remedy to be satisfactorily and incontrovertibly established. As these cases are of more than ordinary importance, we will present several in detail:

The first case of this disease treated by hemp was that of Ramjam Khan, aged thirty, admitted to the College Hospital on the 13th of December, 1838, for a sloughing ulcer on the back of the left hand. Five days previously a native empiric had applied a red hot gool (the mixture of charcoal and tobacco used in the hookah) to the back of the left wrist, as a remedy for chronic dysentery and spleen. The patient's brother was similarly cauterized on the same day. In both sloughing took place down to the tendons. Symptoms of tetanus occurred on the 24th of December. The brother, who had refused to avail himself of European aid, had been seized with tetanus at his ownh ome four days previously, and died after three days' illness. On the 26th December spasms set in, and recurred at intervals of a few minutes; the muscles of the abdomen, neck, and jaws became firmly and permanently contracted. Large doses of opium with calomel having been administered for some hours without the least alleviation of symptoms, and his case having, on consultation, been pronounced completely hopeless, I obtained Mr. Egerton's permission to subject the poor man to the trial of the hemp resin. Two grains were first given at half past two P. M., dissolved in a little spirit. In half an hour the patient felt giddy; at five P. M., his eyes were closed, he felt sleepy, and expressed himself much intoxicated.

He slept at intervals during the night, but on waking had convulsive attacks.

On the 27th, two grains were given every third hour (a purgative enema was also administered, which operated three times); the stiffness of the muscles became much less towards evening, but the spasms returned at intervals as before; pulse and skin natural.

28. Improved; is lethargic but intelligent; spasms occasionally recur, but at much longer intervals, and in less severity.

29. Dose of hemp increased to three grains every second hour. Symptoms moderating.

30. Much intoxicated; continues to improve.

January 1, 1839. A hemp cataplasm applied to the ulcer, and internal use of remedy continued. Towards evening was much improved; spasms trivial; no permanent rigidity; had passed two dysenteric stools.

2. Morning report: Had passed a good night, and seems much better. Evening report: Doing remarkably well.

3, 4, and 5. Continues to improve. Hemp resin in two grain doses every fifth hour.

6. Five P. M. Feverish; skin hot; pulse quick; all tetanic symptoms gone; passing mucous and bloody stools. Leeches to abdomen; starch and opium enema with three grains of acetate of lead every second hour; tepid sponging to the body; hemp omitted.

7. Six A. M. Still feverish; stools frequent, mucous; abdomen tender on pressure; no appetite; the ulcer sloughy, ragged, and offensive. Opium and acetate of lead continued; abdomen leeched; sore dressed with water. At noon there was a slight rigidity of abdominal muscles. Hemp resumed. At three P. M., became intoxicated and hungry; ulcer extremely dry, foul, and abominably foetid; towards evening rigidity ceased. Hemp discontinued.

From this day the tetanus may be considered to have ceased altogether, but the dysenteric symptoms continued, despite of the use of opium and acetate of lead; the ulcer, too, proved utterly intractable. Some improvement in the dysenteric symptoms occurred from the 10th to the 15th, when natural stools were passed. He seemed gaining strength, but the wound was in no wise improved; the slough, on the contrary, threatened to spread, and two metacarpal bones lay loose in the centre of the sore. On consultation it was agreed to amputate the arm, but to this the patient peremptorily objected. The mortification now spread rapidly, and, to our infinite regret, he died of exhausion on the night of the 23rd of January.

An unprejudiced review of the preceding details exhibits the sedative powers of the remedy in the most favorable light; and, although the patient died, it must be remembered that it was of a different disease, over which it is not presumed that the hemp possesses the least power.

The second case was that of Chunoo Syce (treated by Mr. O'Brien, at the Native Hospital), in whom tetanus supervened on the 11th December, after an injury from the kick of a horse. After an ineffectual trial of turpentine and castor-oil in large doses, two grain doses of hemp resin were given on the 16th of December. He consumed in all 134 grains of the resin, and left the Hospital cured on the 28th of December.

Third case. - Huroo, a female, aged twenty-five, admitted to the Native Hospital on the 16th of December; had tetanus for the three previous days, the sequel of a cut on the left elbow received a fortnight before. Symptoms violent on admission. Turpentine and castor-oil given repeatedly without effect; on the 16th and 17th, three grains of hemp resin were given at bed-time. On the morning of the 18th she was found in a state of complete catalepsy, and remained so until evening, when she became sensible, and a tetanic paroxysm recurred. Hemp resumed, and continued in two grain doses every fourth hour. She subsequently took a grain twice daily till the 8th of February, when she left the hospital apparently quite well.

Mr. O'Brien has since used the hemp resin in five cases, of which four were admitted in a perfectly hopeless state. He employed the remedy in ten grain doses dissolved in spirit. The effect he describes as almost immediate relaxation of the muscles and interruption of the convulsive tendency. Of Mr. O'Brien's seven cases four have recovered.

In the Police Hospital of Calcutta, the late Dr. Bain has used the remedy in three cases of traumatic tetanus, of these one has died and two recovered.

The preceding facts are offered to the professional reader with unfeigned diffidence as to the inferences I feel disposed to derive from their consideration. To me they seem unequivocally to show that when given boldly and in large doses, the resin of hemp is capable of arresting effectually the progress of this formidable disease, and in a large proportion of cases, of effecting a perfect cure.

In these affections, Dr. O'S. considers no trial of the drug at all conclusive, unless pushed to the extent of inducing stupor and insensibility.

As regards its use in Delirium Tremens, our author is equally sanguine as to its remediate virtues.

I have given the tincture of hemp an extensive trial in this disease, and have had much reason to be gratified with its effects. In action it resembles opium and wine, but is much more certain than these remedies. I have no hesitation in saying, that in the cases in which the opium treatment is applicable, hemp will be found far more effectual. The changed state of mind it produces is truly wonderful. From the appalling terror which generally predominates, the patient soon passes into a state of cheerfulness, often of boisterous mirth, and soon sinks into a happy sleep. Of course there are many cases in which this, or any other narcotic should not be employed.

The following is our author's formula for making this preparation:

The resinous extract is prepared by boiling the rich, adhesive tops of the dried gunjah in spirit (sp. gr. 835), until all the resin is dissolved. The tincture thus obtained is evaporated to dryness by distillation, or in a vessel placed over a pot of boiling water. The extract softens at a gentle heat, and can be made into pills without any addition.

The tincture is prepared by dissolving 3 grains of the extract in spirit of 835 degree density.

Doses, &c. - In tetanus a drachm of the tincture every half hour until the paroxysms cease, or catalepsy or narcotism is induced. In hydrophobia I recommend the resin in soft pills, to the extent of ten to twenty grains to be chewed by the patient, and repeated according to the effect. In cholera, thirty drops of the tincture every half hour will be often found to check the vomiting and purging, and bring back warmth to the surface. My experience would lead me to prefer small doses of the remedy in order to excite rather than narcotise the patient.

The question now arises - Has th eprofession in this therapeutic agent gained an anti-convulsive remedy, of truly great value? Our author, with whom we have recently had the pleasure of meeting in this city, certainly entertains a conviction of the affirmative. But, as new medicines have often cheated the most circumspect investigators a proper exercise of caution surely demands the frequent repetition of these experiments. In medicine we find that fashion is not without its influence, and that a remedy extolled by one generation is wholy neglected by the next. Be it, however, real or fictitious, as regards its ultimate and permanent value, there can surely be no difference of opinion in relation to the degree of credit that justly belongs to Dr. O'Shaughnessy for his indefatigable researches.

From a statement made by Mr. Ley, at a recent meeting of the Royal Medico-Botanical Society, it appears that the Indian hemp (Cannabis Indica,) and the European variety, (Cannabis Sativa,) are identical in all respects with the exception that the latter is almost deficient in the resin upon which its narcotic and anti-convulsive powers depend. Mr. Ley also reports several cases in the Provincial Medical Journal, in which the anti-convulsive powers of this remedy were decidedly manifested; but Dr. Pereira, who gives an account of it in the last edition of his Materia Medica, seems to think that its powers have been overrated. In his hands, those striing effects described by Dr. O'Shaughnessy did not follow, - a failure that he attributes, in some measure, to a deterioration of the drug, resulting from its mode of preparation, perhaps in its passage from India. Let it, however, be further and fairly tested by experiment.

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