134 REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. [APP.
His main delusion
throughout has been that he is a successful Railway Engineer
and
has performed wonderful engineering feats (building railways and
digging tunnels, &c.).
Makes his own silver from "gitti" by heating it. Says that his pay
was Rs. 1,006 per
mensem and that he now has over Rs. 18,000 saved up. Calculates 32
days to the month
and 15 months in the year. His physical health is fairly, good; he
usually is contented and
cheerful. Patellar reflexy completely absent. Pupils somewhat
contracted, and respond
sluggishly to the stimulus of light and for purposes of
accommodation; no marked tremor
of tongue on protrusion; no distinct paralysis, but he is inclined
to totter when he stands
with his eyes shut and walks backwards very slowly.
His left hand shows a
central thickening and discoloration of the palmar surface,
somewhat towards the inner side, but no corn or
callosity.
Here we have an instance
of a condition of mental unsoundness owning, in my opinion,
a very complex causality. Assuming that the facts of the family
history and personal history
obtained are trustworthy, we note first a history of alcoholic
indulgence in both parents and
in one uncle and a further history of ganja indulgence on the part
of the father: and
taking into consideration these facts, we are not surprised that
his relative Dajiba states
that Atmaram was given up to vicious habits from an early
age.
It has been frequently
observed that the offsprings of alcoholic parents show sooner
or later some signs of mental instability, with not uncommonly some
indications of a liking
for narcotics and stimulants and the excitement they produce. We
have evidence that
early in his life Atmaram was a ganja-smoker, a wine-bibber, and a
thief. There is no
history of sexual excess and he himself denies it; but as ganja is
a supposed aphrodisiac,
his denial may be taken for what it is worth. With this history I
think it not improbable
that the habit of ganja-smoking was not only not the sole or chief
cause of his mental
aberration, but more probably one of its remoter consequences. In
the same way his
drinking propensities may probably be attributable to the same
cause. Setting aside
heredity for the moment and seeking for another cause, I can find
nothing either in his
mental condition and behaviour during his past life in the Asylum
or in his present symp-
toms to justify the expression as to causation in the
certificate—"perhaps the use of
ganja." Why not "perhaps the use of alchohol"?
His condition in some
respects, mental and physical, resembles an early condition
of
general paralysis of the insane. As a rule there is general
condition of bien être. He has
exaggerated ideas of grandeur, wealth, powers, and capabilities;
his patellar reflexes are
absent; pupil reflex is sluggish. In some cases excessive
indulgence in stimulants and
narcotics have been not uncommonly noticed as amongst the
prodromata of general
paralysis.
In this particular case
the man freely admits to having used both ganja and bhang;
but I am not on this account prepared, for the reasons stated
above, to conclude that his
insanity is solely
attributable either to ganja or to the bhang which he has
taken.
I am, however, quite
ready to admit that a mentally weak-fibred individual with an
unstable brain will always be further mentally enfeebled, whatever
the narcotic or stimu-
lants he indulges in.
2. Tajodin.—This
man admitted to me that he used to take ganja two or three
times
daily and described how he prepared it. He said he rubbed it to
powder in the palm of
his hand, and washed it 7 times in water and then smoked it. The
intoxicating effect
used to come on at once. Says that he also drank "daru" and other
kinds of alcohol
daily. (His conversation was very incoherent, and it was very
difficult and scarcely possi-
ble to keep him to the point.)
He says that he was discharged from the 8th Madras Native Infantry at Saugor.
The medical history
states that "I am informed that he is a confirmed
ganja-smoker."
Nothing is given in support of this information, or whether the
informant was a trust-
worthy person and one whose testimony was worthy of
credence.