CH. XII.] REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. 241
Dhatura.
525. There are three "mixed" cases in which dhatura has been-ascertained
to be a possible cause of
insanity. In view of the
facts that dhatura is a more potent intoxicant than
the hemp drugs and produces furious delirium, and that Dr.
Cunningham's
experiments appear to indicate clearly that grave cerebral lesions
are very early
produced by dhatura and are not produced by ganja, it would
probably be safer
to accept these cases as due to dhatura and not to hemp drugs. The
Commis-
sion have, however, accepted them as "mixed" cases. It is
unnecessary to
make any special remarks on the "mixed" cases in which causes other
than
heredity, alcohol, and dhatura appear to contribute to the
insanity.
Cases due to hemp drugs.
526. Even in regard to
the remaining 61 cases, it must be borne in mind
that it is impossible to say
that the use of hemp
drugs was in all the sole cause of insanity, or
indeed any part of the
cause. The following considerations combine to demand
caution and reserve in
pronouncing an opinion on this point.
Firstly, there are twelve
cases in which it has been found impossible to
obtain any further information by local inquiry. In these cases we
are thrown back
on the original papers and the asylum history. Besides these, there
are ten
more cases in which the patients are beggars and foreign labourers
about whose
past history no satisfactory information is obtainable. Thus there
remain only
39 of these 61 cases about which anything like a satisfactory
inquiry has been
possible. Further, a great majority of these cases come from the
lower orders
of cultivators and labourers, from whom information of any value is
very difficult
to obtain as to other than the most apparent causes. The fact of
the existence
of the hemp habit is easy enough to ascertain, but that it is the
cause, or one of
the causes of the insanity, or that it even preceded the insanity,
is much more
difficult to establish.
Secondly, the method of
inquiry has not been satisfactory in regard to all
the cases referred for local inquiry. In regard to the great
majority, the instruc-
tions issued by the Commission as to the agency by which this
further inquiry
should be conducted have been carried out. But in some, it will be
observed,
even this further inquiry has been left to the police. Then again
there are cases,
such as those of the Hyderabad (Sind) Asylum, in which the
Superintendent has
necessarily been the principal agent in the inquiry, and has,
perhaps, not unnatur-
ally, but certainly unfortunately, evinced a strong tendency to
defend the old
asylum entries regarding cause. The series of questions framed by
the Civil
Surgeon of Delhi for use in the further inquiry also illustrates a
tendency to
assume that the cases were hemp drug cases, and thus to limit the
scope of the
inquiry.
Thirdly, it may be noted
that excess in the use of hemp drugs is very fre-
quently only one of several vices in which a dissipated man
indulges. Further
inquiry has proved this in several cases. There is strong
probability that had
information been complete, it would have been established in many
more cases. It
is impossible in such cases to say definitely to what form of
excess insanity may be
mainly due. Further, it is an accepted and established fact that
intemperance of
any kind may sometimes be not the cause of insanity, but an early
manifestation
of mental instability. Dr. Conolly Norman (Hack Tuke's Dictionary
of Psycho-
61