HASHISH AND HASHISH EATERS
HASHISH, or Bhang, is the native term applied to the dried flowering
tops of the Indian hemp, from which the resin has not been removed.
This plant, cultivated largely in India, is now considered to be the
same, botanically, as the _Cannabis sativa_ 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 _churrus_ or _charas_, and the entire
plant, cut during inflorescence, dried in the sun and pressed into
bundles, is called _bhang_.
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.
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.
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.
Silvestin de Lacy contends that the word assassin is derived from
"hashishin," a name given to a wild sect of Mahomedans who committed
murder under its influence.
The Chinese herbal, Rh-ya, which dates from about the fifth century,
B.C., 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.
The hemp occurs in two principal forms, viz.: 1. _bhang_, 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. _Ganja_ consists of the flowering
shoots of the female plant, having a compound or glutinous appearance,
and is brownish-green in colour.
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.
"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 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 _a quarter of
an hour_.
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 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."
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.
"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."
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 sings or dances, all
the time imagining he is acting rationally. The second stage is one of
dreamy enjoyment followed by a dead stupor.
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.
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.