<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2>
<p class="center"><small>HASHISH AND HASHISH EATERS</small></p>
<p><span class="smcap">Hashish</span>, or Bhang, is the native
term applied to the dried
flowering tops of the Indian
hemp, from which the resin has
not been removed.</p>
<p>This plant, cultivated largely
in India, is now considered to
be the same, botanically, as the
<em>Cannabis sativa</em> of European
cultivation; but there is great
difference in their medicinal activity,
that growing in India being
much more powerful. Ganja is
the native name for part of the
plant, and Sidhi for another part,
which is much poorer in resin.
The resinous principle is called
<em>churrus</em> or <em>charas</em>, and the entire
plant, cut during inflorescence,
dried in the sun and pressed into
bundles, is called <em>bhang</em>.</p>
<p>The method of using it in
India is chiefly for smoking in
combination with tobacco. For
this purpose, a plug of tobacco is
first placed at the bottom of the
bowl of the pipe, on the top a
small piece of hashish, and over
this a piece of glowing charcoal.
Another way is to knead the
drug with the tobacco by the
thumb of one hand working in
the palm of the other, till they
are thoroughly incorporated.
Simple infusions of the leaves
and flowering tops are also much
used for drinking purposes by
old and young in India, the
alcoholic form being a most
active and dangerous intoxicant.</p>
<p>The antiquity of the drug is
great, and it is said to have been
used in China as early as the
year 220, to produce insensibility
when performing operations.
The Persians employed it
in the Middle Ages for the purpose
of exciting the pugnacity
and fanaticism of the soldiers
during the wars of the Crusades.</p>
<p>In 1803 Visey, a French
scientist, published a memoir on
hashish, and attempted to prove
that it was the Nepenthe of
Homer; there is little doubt,
however, that the use of the drug
was known to Galen.</p>
<p>Silvestin de Lacy contends
that the word assassin is derived<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_91" id="Page_91">91</SPAN></span>
from "hashishin," a name given
to a wild sect of Mahomedans
who committed murder under
its influence.</p>
<p>The Chinese herbal, Rh-ya,
which dates from about the fifth
century, <small>B.C.</small>, notices the fact
that the hemp plant is of two
kinds, the one producing seeds
and the other flowers only.
Herodotus states that hemp
grows in Scythia both wild and
cultivated, and that the Thracians
made garments from it
which can hardly be distinguished
from linen. He also describes
"how the Scythians exposed
themselves as in a bath" to
the vapour of the seeds thrown
on hot coals.</p>
<p>The hemp occurs in two
principal forms, viz.: 1. <em>bhang</em>,
consisting of the dried leaves
and small stalks of a dark green
colour, mixed with a few fruits.
It has a peculiar odour but little
taste. Mixed with flour or incorporated
with sweetmeat it is
called hashish. It is also smoked,
or taken infused in cold water.
2. <em>Ganja</em> consists of the flowering
shoots of the female plant, having
a compound or glutinous appearance,
and is brownish-green in
colour.</p>
<p>Of the many curious experiences
that have been written
describing the effects of hashish,
perhaps the most accurate is
that given by Gautier, in which
he relates his own experience of
the drug.</p>
<p>"The Orientalists," he states,
"have in consequence of the
interdiction of wine sought that
species of excitement which the
Western nations derive from
alcoholic drinks." He then proceeds
to state how a few minutes
after swallowing some of the preparation,
a sudden overwhelming
sensation took possession of him.
It appeared to him that his body
was dissolved, and that he had
become transparent. He clearly
saw in his stomach the hashish
he had swallowed, under the
form of an emerald, from which
a thousand little sparks issued.
His eyelashes were lengthened
out indefinitely, and rolled like
threads of gold around ivory
balls, which turned with inconceivable
rapidity. Around him
were sparklings of precious
stones of all colours, changes
eternally produced, like the play
of a kaleidoscope. He every now
and then saw his friends who
were round him, disfigured as
half men, half plants, some
having the wings of the ostrich,
which they were constantly shaking.
So strange were these that he
burst into fits of laughter, and,
to join in the apparent ridiculousness
of the affair, he began
by throwing the cushions in the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_92" id="Page_92">92</SPAN></span>
air, catching and turning them
with the rapidity of an Indian
juggler. One gentleman spoke
to him in Italian, which the
hashish transposed into Spanish.
After a few minutes he recovered
his habitual calmness, without
any bad effect, and only with
feelings of astonishment at what
had passed. Half an hour had
scarcely elapsed before he again
fell under the influence of the
drug. On this occasion the vision
was more complicated and extraordinary.
In the air there were
millions of butterflies, confusedly
luminous, shaking their wings
like fans. Gigantic flowers, with
chalices of crystal; large peonies
upon beds of gold and silver, rose
and surrounded him with the
crackling sound that accompanies
the explosion in the air
of fireworks. His hearing acquired
new power; it was enormously
developed. He heard the noise of
colours. Green, red, blue, yellow
sounds reached him in
waves—a glass thrown down,
the creaking of a sofa, a word
pronounced low, vibrated and
rolled within him like peals of
thunder. His own voice sounded
so loud that he feared to speak,
lest he should knock down the
walls or explode like a rocket.
More than five hundred clocks
struck the hour with fleeting
silvery voice, and every object
touched gave a note like the
harmonica or the Æolian harp.
He swam in an ocean of sound,
where floated like aisles of light
some of the airs of "Lucia di
Lammermoor" and the "Barber
of Seville." Never did similar
bliss overwhelm him with its
waves; he was lost in a wilderness
of sweets; he was not himself;
he was relieved from consciousness,
that feeling which
always pervades the mind; and
for the first time he comprehended
what might be the state
of elementary beings, of angels,
of souls separated from the
body. All his system seemed infected
with the fantastic colouring
in which he was plunged.
Sounds, perfume, light, reached
him only by minute rays, in the
midst of which he heard mystic
currents whistling along. According
to his calculation, this
state lasted about three hundred
years, for the sensations were so
numerous and so hurried one
upon the other, that a real
appreciation of time was impossible.
The paroxysm over,
he was aware that it had only
lasted <em>a quarter of an hour</em>.</p>
<p>Another interesting account
of the strange hallucinations
produced by the drug is related
by Dr. Moreau, who with two
friends experimented with hashish.
"At first," he states, "I<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_93" id="Page_93">93</SPAN></span>
thought my companions were
less influenced by the drug
than myself. Then, as the effect
increased, I fancied that the
person who had brought me the
dose had given me some of
more active quality. This, I
thought to myself, was an imprudence,
and the involuntary
idea presented itself that I might
be poisoned. The idea became
fixed; I called out loudly to
Dr. Roche, 'You are an assassin;
you have poisoned me!' This
was received with shouts of
laughter, and my lamentations
excited mirth. I struggled for
some time against the thought,
but the greater the effort the
more completely did it overcome
me, till at last it took full
possession of my mind. The
extravagant conviction now
came uppermost that I was dead,
and upon the point of being
buried; my soul had left my
body. In a few minutes I had
gone through all the stages of
delirium."</p>
<p>These fixed ideas and erroneous
convictions are apt to be
produced, but they only last a
few seconds, unless there is any
actual physical disorder. "The
Orientalist, when he indulges in
hashish retires into the depth
of his harem; no one is then
admitted who cannot contribute
to his enjoyment. He surrounds
himself with his dancing girls,
who perform their graceful evolutions
before him to the sound of
music; gradually a new condition
of the brain allows a series
of illusions, arising from the
external senses, to present themselves.
The mind becomes overpowered
by the brilliancy of
gorgeous visions; discrimination,
comparison, reason, yield
up their throne to dreams and
phantoms which exhilarate and
delight.</p>
<p>"The mind tries to understand
what is the cause of the
new delight, but it is in vain.
It seems to know there is no
reality."</p>
<p>Hardly two people experience
the same effects from
hashish. Upon some it has little
action, while upon others, especially
women, it exerts extraordinary
power. While one
person says he imagined his
body endowed with such elasticity,
that he fancied he could
enter into a bottle and remain
there at his ease, another fancied
he had become the piston of a
steam engine; under the influence
of the drug the ear lends
itself more to the illusion than
any other sense. Its first effect
is one of intense exhilaration,
almost amounting to delirium;
power of thought is soon lost,
and the victim laughs, cries and<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_94" id="Page_94">94</SPAN></span>
sings or dances, all the time
imagining he is acting rationally.
The second stage is one of
dreamy enjoyment followed by a
dead stupor.</p>
<p>Of the ordinary physical effects
of hashish, the first is a feeling
of slight compression of the
temporal bones and upper parts
of the head. The respiration is
gentle, the pulse is increased,
and a gentle heat is felt all over
the surface of the body. There
is a sense of weight about the fore
part of the arms, and an occasional
slight involuntary motion,
as if to seek relief from it. There
is a feeling of discomfort about
the extremities, creating a feeling
of uneasiness, and if the dose has
been too large the usual symptoms
of poisoning by Indian
hemp show themselves. Flushes
of heat seem to ascend, to the
head, even to the brain, which
create considerable alarm. Singing
in the ears is complained of;
then comes on a state of anxiety,
almost of anguish, with a sense
of constriction about the chest.
The individual fancies he hears
the beating of his heart with
unaccustomed loudness; but
throughout the whole period it is
the nervous system that is
affected, and in this way the
drug differs materially from
opium whose action on the
muscular and digestive systems
is most marked.</p>
<p>It is somewhat remarkable
that Indian hemp fails to produce
the same intoxicating effects
in this country that it does in
warmer climates, and whether
this is due to the loss of some
volatile principle or difference in
temperature it is not yet determined.
But would-be experimentalists
in the effects of
hashish would do well to remember
that it may not be indulged
in with impunity, and
most authorities agree that the
brain becomes eventually disordered
with frequent indulgence
in the drug even in India. It
further becomes weakened and
incapable of separating the true
from the false; frequent intoxication
leads to a condition
of delirium, and usually of a dangerous
nature; the moral nature
becomes numbed, and the victim
at last becomes unfit to pursue
his ordinary avocation. It is
stated by those who have had
considerable experience in its
use, that even during the dream
of joy there is a consciousness
that all is illusion; there is at no
period a belief that anything
that dances before the senses or
plays upon the imagination is
real, and that when the mind
recovers its equilibrium it knows
that all is but a phantasm.</p>
<hr class="chap" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_95" id="Page_95">95</SPAN></span></p>
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