VOL. IX - NO. 105		NEW YORK, 1930		FIVE CENTS
HASHISH

The medical and intoxicating properties of Indian Hemp or Cannabis Indica were undoubtedly known among the Oriental peoples at an early date. We find a reference to hemp as early as the 5th century B.C. in an ancient Chinese herbal, part of which was written at that time. There are further evidences that its peculiarly exhilarating properties were apparent in the 8th century A.D., when its use was encouraged by the Ismailians that their followers might more fully realize the tenets of the sect, indicated by the following:

"We've quaffed the emerald
    cup, the mystery we
    know,
 Who'd dream so weak a
    plant such mighty power
    could show!"

There is, however, even an earlier reference to hemp than this, for Herodotus (IV: C. 75) discloses a tale of the Scythians who took hemp-seed and put it upon hot stones, and themselves crept under cloths, steaming themselves from the fumes given off by the heated seeds. The vapor bath produced such an exhilarating effect that it caused them to shout aloud. Herodotus further mentions another tribe who were accustomed to inhale the fumes of certain fruits thrown upon a fire, around which they sat until they were excited to the point of singing and dancing. Quite recent researches have shown that Indian Hemp is more exhilarating when inhaled than when swallowed, which perhaps accounts for the fact that these ancient peoples used it in this manner.

That hemp was used medicinally at an early period seems to find its proof in the Raja Nirghanta which gives its synonyms when translated as "promoter of success", "the cause of the reeling gait", "the laughter moving", etc. Dioscorides, Galen, and Pliny of the early classical authorities on medicine mention its medicinal value, but confine their findings to those of the green seed, with the exception of Pliny, who advocated a decoction of the root as good for shrunken sinews, and for gout, and recommended that a liniment be made of it for use in burns and scalds.

Hashish Depression

In order to more fully appreciate the history of Indian Hemp, and the part it has played in human affairs, we must look into the annals of India, Persia and Arabia where we read that millions of people employed it for one purpose or another. It is described in the Athavaveda, the fourth of the Vedas, as a protector, and was supplicated to protect all animals and properties of the Buddhists. It has been given a thousand eyes; and the ability to drive away disease, and killing of monsters has been conferred upon it. It was praised as the best of remedies, and even worn as a talisman, preventing wandering fever and the evil eye.

The Fumes of Hashish	By Emile Bernard

The name of Cannabis together with its product Hashish or Bhang, threads the literature of both Arabia and India. Continual mention is made of it throughout the Arabian Nights, for example: "Going up to Gharib, he blew the powdered bhang into his nostrils, till he lost his senses," etc.

Indian Hemp in the form of Hashish acquired so evil a reputation that its name has become the foundation of the designation of all treacherous murderers. Readers of Edward FitzGerald's introduction to his translation of "Omar Khayyam" are familiar with the account he gives of Omar's connection with his two friends, one of whom was Hasan ben Sabah, destined to become almost as famous as the poet himself. Hasan in the 11th century became the head of a sect of Ismailites in Persia, mentioned above, whose policy was to spread their tenets by the secret assassination of their obnoxious opponents. In order to endow his followers with the necessary inspiration for carrying out their sanguinary enterprises, Hasan taught them the use of Hashish as an intoxicant. We might mention here that the followers of Hasan became known as the Hashshashin or "Assassins", showing the origin of our word assassin, a full account of which is given in the Encyclopedia Britannica.

O'Shaughnessy in his "Bengal Dispensary" says: "Haidar (or Hasan) lived in rigid privation on a mountain between Nishapur and Rama, where he established a monastery. After having lived ten years in this retreat, he one day returned from a stroll in the neighborhood possessed with an air of joy and gaiety. On being questioned he stated that struck by the appearance of a certain plant, he had gathered and eaten of its leaves. His companions curious about his new discovery accompanied him to the spot, and partook of its leaves, being similarly excited over the effects. A tincture of hemp leaves in wine or spirit seems to have been the favorite formula in which Sheikh Haidar indulged himself. Haidar survived the discovery ten years, and subsisted chiefly on this herb, and upon his death, an arbor of hemp was placed around his tomb, by his request. From this saintly sepulchre the knowledge of its effects spread into Khorason. In Chaldea it was unknown until 728 A.D., the kings of Ormus and Bahrein then introducing it into Chaldea, Syria, Egypt and Turkey.

As mentioned earlier, in the records of Herodotus, the Greeks were acquainted with hemp more than 2000 years ago. Imported into Europe preceding 1690, Cannabis passed into disuse until Napoleon's expedition to Egypt (1809-10) when it was again revived by De Sacy and Bouger.

Its introduction into European medicine (1839-39) followed the experiments of O'Shaughnessy in Calcutta, and since that time Cannabis and its resin have received a place in most Pharmacopeias.

The seductive influences of hemp have led to the most extravagant praise of the drug in the popular languages of India, but in truth it is one of the curses of the country. Its use if persisted in leads to indigestion, wasting of the body, cough, melancholia, impotence and dropsy. After a time its votary becomes an outcast from society, and his career terminates in crime, insanity, and idiocy.

"Who ganja smoke do     knowledge lack, the     heart burns constantly,  The breath with coughing     goes, the face as mon-     key's pale you see."

- Fallon.

Melancholia from Hashish, Showing Anguish	Melancholia