Hashish

Hashish, from which the word assassin is derived, is an Arabian preparation of Indian hemp, known in India as bhang or siddhi. It consists chiefly of the leaves and stalks of Cannabis indica. The medicinal value of the preparations of Indian hemp is treated in another article; see HEMP (INDIAN). It is the physiological action which will now be specially noticed. The drug is used in the East in various ways. Sometimes it is smoked alone or with tobacco. At other times beverages are prepared from it, or it is taken in the form of lozenges or electuaries. The majoon of Calcutta, the mapouchari of Cairo, and the dawames or dawamesc of the Arabs are preparations of this kind. The effects differ according to the dose and the idiosyncrasy of the individual. Some become pugnacious, while others fall into a state of reverie. After small doses there is a great tendency to causeless merriment. In most cases there is an extraordinary susceptibility to hallucinations of various kinds, their nature depending largely on the cast of mind of the person, and to some extent on his surroundings. Time, distance, and sound are no longer correctly judged of. A minute may have compressed into it the action of a month, a handbreadth may stretch out to a mile, and the ripple of a brook may swell into the roar of Niagara. Although the dreams produced in Orientals by the drug are often of a voluptuous nature, this is by no means a universal effect, and among Europeans they have not this character. The stage of hallucination is generally succeeded by a stage of deep slumber with diminished sensibility. The unpleasant after-effects of opium seem to be absent; but the use of hashish has the inevitable demoralising effects of all such indulgences. See Moreau, Du Hachisch et de l'Aliénation Mentale (1845).