Botanical Description.—Assuming, with Lindley and other eminent writers, that the Cannabis sativa and Indica are identical, we find that the plant is diœcious, 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.
Chemical Properties.—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[1] 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°; softens at higher 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 for 1s. 6d. to 2s. for 2 lbs. in the Calcutta bazaars, and yields to alcohol twenty per 100 of resinous extract, composed of the resin (churrus), and green coloring 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.
According to Mr. McCann’s notes, the gunjah consumed in Bengal is chiefly brought from Mirzapore and Ghazeepore, being extensively cultivated near Gwalior and in Tirhoot. The natives cut the plant when in flower, allow it to dry for three days, and then lay it in bundles averaging two pounds weight each, which are distributed to the licensed dealers. The best kinds are brought from Gwalior and Bhurtpore, and it is also cultivated, of good quality, in a few gardens round Calcutta. In Jessore, I am informed, the drug is produced of excellent quality and to a very considerable extent of cultivation. In Central India, and the Saugor territory, and in Nipal, churrus is collected during the hot season in the following singular manner:—Men clad in leathern dresses run through the hemp fields, brushing through the plant with all possible violence; the soft resin adheres to the leather, and is subsequently scraped off and kneaded into balls, which sell from 10s. to 12s. for 2 lbs. A still finer kind, the momeea or waxen churrus, is collected by the hand in Nipal and sells for nearly double the price of the ordinary kind. In Nipal, Dr. McKinnon informs me, the leathern attire is dispensed with, and the resin is gathered on the skins of naked coolies. In Persia, it is stated by Mirza Abdul Razes that the churrus is prepared by pressing the resinous plant on coarse cloths, and then scraping it from these and melting it in a pot with a little warm water. He considers the churrus of Herat as the best and most powerful of all the varieties of the drug.
Popular Uses.
The preparations of hemp are used for the purpose of intoxication as follows:—