Cannabis indica

Volume I — Special Symptomatology

(Indian Hemp.)

Botanical Description.— This plant is a native of Persia and the northern part of India. It is an annual, covered with a rough but very fine hair, almost invisible to the naked eye. Stem erect, branched, green, angular. Leaves opposite or alternate. Each leaf consists of five long, narrow, sharp-pointed leaflets, spreading from the extremity of a long lax leaf stalk. Flowers in axillary clusters ; in the males drooping, and leafless at the base; in the females erect, and leafy at the base.

There are two species of the Cannabis, or Hemp, recognized in our Materia Medica— the Indica and the Sativa. Their difference, however, is rather in their physiological action than in the botanical characteristics, and these are undoubtedly owing to locality and cultivation.

Officinal Preparations.— Tincture and dilutions.

Analogues. — Aconite, Arnica, Belladonna, Berberis, Bryonia, Camphor, Cannabis sat., Cantharides, Clematis, Copaiva, Digitalis, Dulcamara, Hyos cyamus, Lachesis, Lycopodium, Nux. vomica, Opium, Petroleum, Pulsatilla, Sepia, Spigelia, Stannum, Stramonium, Terebinthina, Thuja, Uva ursi, Veratrum.

Mind.

Moaning and crying.

Great anguish and despair.

Great apprehension of approaching death.

Horror of darkness.

Incoherent talking.

Stammering and stuttering.

Exaltation of spirits, with great gaiety and disposition to laugh at the merest trifle.

Full of fun and mischief, and laughs immoderately.

Exaltation of spirits, with excessive loquacity.

Uncontrollable laughter, till the face becomes purple, and the back and loins ache.

Laughs indiscriminately at every word said to him.

He begins a sentence, but cannot finish it, because he forgets what he intended to write or speak.

Imagines he is gradually swelling, and that his body is becoming larger and larger.

Very absent minded.

Imagines some one calls him.

Inability to recall any thought or event, on account of the number of different thoughts crowding on his brain.

He fancies he hears numberless bells ringing most sweetly.

Imagines he hears music, shuts his eyes, and is lost for some time in the most delicious thoughts and, dreams..

"While listening to the piano he loses consciousness, and is seemingly raised gently through the air to a great height, when the strains of music become perfectly celestial; on regaining consciousness his head is bent forward, his neck is stiff, and there is a loud ringing in his ears.

His mind is filled with ridiculous speculative ideas.

Constantly theorizing.

His head feels very heavy, he loses consciousness, and falls. On regaining consciousness, violent shocks pass through his brain.

In the daytime, dreams, returning periodically, or dreamy attacks.

He could not read, partly on account of dreamy spells, and

partly because he had not full power of vision. Fixed ideas.

. He forgot his last words and ideas, and spoke in a low tone, with a thick voice, as if tired.

Every few moments he would lose himself, and then wake up, as it were, to those around him.

He was in constant fear that he would become insane.

Unpleasant shuddering through all the limbs, with a painful feeling of weight in the occiput, and a tetanic intermittent contraction of the muscles of the nape of the neck.

° Hallucinations and illusions following excesses in wine, and venery, and also arising from or during religious excesses, seem to me to demand this drug with the dietetic use of Phosphate of Lime. (Gray.)

0 It has proved of great service against illusions of a spectral character, not accompanied by terror; such as arise in some forms of nervous fever and in puerperal mania. In this class of hallucinations my dose has not been less than l-100th of a grain of the extract (Gunje) rubbed in sugar. (Gray.)

Head.

Vertigo on rising, with, a stunning pain in the back part of

his head, and he falls. Fullness in the forehead, as if it would burst. Burning pain in both temples.

Heavy insurmountable pressure on the brain, forcing him to stoop.

Severe stitch in the right temple, gradually changing to a

pressing pain. Aching in both temples, most severe in the right. Throbbing, aching pain in the forehead. Dull, drawing pain in the forehead, especially over the eyes. Dull, heavy, throbbing pain through the head, with a sensa

tion like a heavy blow on the back of the head and neck. Dull, sticking pain in the right temple. Frequent involuntary shaking of his head. Jerking in the right side of the forehead toward the interior

and back part of the head. Pain in the whole right side of the head.

° In my practice it has proved a wonderful remedy in subacute inflammation of the brain, in delirium tremens, and in a few cases of epilepsy. It has been eminently serviceable in hypochondriac affections of females, especially those somewhat advanced in life. It exercises a peculiar control over this class of maladies, and has sometimes effected speedy cures of cases which were bordering upon actual insanity. Some years since I made a few experiments upon Guinea pigs and rabbits with a tincture of Cannabis indica, and in most instances it caused an injection of the blood vessels of the entire brain; but its chief influence appeared to be exerted upon the tubercular quadrigemina and the parts in immediate vicinity. Indeed, the appearances it produced were very similar to those which have been observed from Opium, Belladonna, Alcohol, and from the ethers. — (Marcy.)

° A lady, aged about forty years, had been confined to her bed: for seven months, with a morbid sensitiveness and great prostration of the entire nervous system. Her allopathic

physician had treated her with Iron, Cinchona, Opium, and the other usual remedies of his school, without any benefit, until she had been in her bed almost constantly for the period above indicated. At this time she was placed under my care in the following condition: no apparent organic derangement in any part of her body. The organs all performed their functions with considerable regularity, but sluggishly. On attempting to make the slightest effort, in rising up in bed, or in making any exertion, she experienced a great sense of prostration, and a death-like sinking and weakness at the pit of her stomach, and to some extent in her chest. Pulse seventy-six and regular, but weak. Respiration and temperature of the skin natural. We put her on Cannabis indica, and after six days she was able to sit up for fifteen minutes without any serious inconvenience. The remedy was persisted in, and her improvement continued until at the expiration of six weeks she was able to sit up the entire day; to walk for half an hour at a time, and to ride out for an hour or two, with benefit. All her un pleasant symptoms in the chest and stomach have disappeared, and she is now quite well with the exception of a slight debility. {Marcy.)

Eyes.

Injection of the vessels of the conjunctiva in both eyes.

The vessels of the conjunctiva of both eyes are injected in a

triangular patch extending from the internal canthus to

the cornea; worse in the right. Twinkling, trembling, and glimmering before the eyes. Jerking in the external corners of the eye and eyelids. Fixed gaze.

While reading the letters run together.

Ears.

Noise in the ears like boiling water.

Periodical singing in his ears, that always ceased as soon as he came to himself, and renewed itself whenever a dreamy spell came on.

Aching in both ears.

Throbbing and fullness in both ears, and ringing and buzzing in the ears. Sensitiveness to noise.

Face.

He looks drowsy and stupid. Wearied, exhausted appearance. Coldness of the face, nose, and hands, after dinner. Profuse sticky sweat standing out in drops on his forehead.

Mouth.

Dryness of the mouth and lips; the lips are glued together. White, thick, frothy and sticky saliva.

Throat.

The throat is parched, accompanied by intense thirst for cold water.

Appetite and Taste.

Increased appetite; every article of food is extremely palatable.

Ravenous hunger, which is not decreased by eating enormously; he ceases eating only from fear of injuring himself.

° Pastry and fat food, which previously he never ate without suffering from rancid risings and headache, are now digested readily.

Gastric Symptoms. While eating, his stomach felt swelled and his chest oppressed as if he would suffocate, so that he was forced to loosen his clothes.

Stomach.

Pain in or near the cardiac orifice.

Stool and Anus.

0 Costiveness.

Sensation in the anus as if he was sitting on a ball; as if the anus and a part of the urethra were filled up by a hard round body.

Urinary Organs. Aching in both kidneys, keeping him awake at night. Sharp stitches in both kidneys. Burning in the kidneys.

Pain in the kidneys when laughing.

Pi' of use colorless urine.

Urinating frequently, but in small quantities.

Urine dribbles out after the stream ceases.

He has to force out the last few drops with his hand.

He has to wait some time before the urine flows.

Urging to urinate, but he cannot pass a drop.

Frequent urination, with burning pain in the evening.

Burning and scalding before, during, and after urination.

Urging to urinate, with much straining.

The urging: continues after urination.

Pain and burning during urination.

Stinging pain before, during, and after urination.

Uneasiness, with burning sensation in the penis and urethra, accompanied by frequent calls to urinate.

Intense burning at the orifice of the urethra during urination, and continuing afterwards.

Sharp pricklings like needles in the urethra, so severe as to send a thrill to the cheeks and head.

Feelings in the urethra as if there were a gonorrhoeal discharge.

On squeezing the glans penis a white glairy mucus oozes out.

0 It has also been useful in debility of the bladder with a paraplegic state of the lower limbs, used in alternation with Nux vomica of the same strength and continued many weeks. (Gray.)

Genital Organs.

Male — Itching of the glans penis. Itching and burning of the scrotum. Satyriasis; violent erections; priapism; ehordee. Excessive venereal appetite, with frequent erections during the day.

Erections while riding, walking, and also while sitting still;

not caused by amorous thoughts. Female. — ° Menorrhagia, dysmenorrhea, and inefficient or

absent labor pains. 0 Profuse menstruation and metrorrhagia. (Uirschel.) 0 Metrorrhagia of parturient women. (Hirschel.)

Larynx and Trachea.

Rough cough scratching the breast immediately under the sternum.

Chest.

Oppression of the chest, with deep, labored breathing. He feels as if suffocated, and has to be fanned. Anguish, accompanied by great oppression; ameliorated in th# open air.

Pressing pain in the heart, with dyspnoea the whole night. Anguish at the heart.

Painful sticking, as with the prongs of a fork, in the heart. Pain in the heart, with palpitation when lying on the left side. Stitches in the heart; accompanied by great oppression ; the

latter relieved by deep breathing. It requires great effort to take a deep inspiration. Palpitation of the heart, awakening him from sleep.

Back.

Pain across the shoulders and spine, forcing him to stoop, and preventing him from walking erect.

Upper Extremities. Agreeable thrilling through the arms and hands. The hands feel monstrously large.

Coldness of the right hand, with stiffness and numbness of the right thumb.

Lower Extremities.

Weariness in both limbs, almost amounting to paralysis; worse in the left.

Agreeable thrilling in both limbs, from the knees down, with sensation as if a bird's claws were clasping the knees.

The right limb feels paralyzed when walking.

The right limb suddenly gives way and falls.

He is unable to walk up stairs, on account of an almost entire paralysis of the limbs, with stiffness and tired aching in both knees.

Entire paralysis of the lower extremities.

Numb feeling of the sole of the left foot, then of the foot, increasing to a numbness of the whole limb. On attempting to walk he experienced intensely violent pains, as if

he trod on a number of spikes, which penetrated the soles of his feet and ran upward through his limbs to his hips, worse in the right limb, and accompanied by drawing pains in both calves; these pains forced him to limp and cry out in agony.

Shooting pains in the joints of the toes of the left foot, worse in the great toe.

Aching and stitching pain in the ball of the left big toe.

Pricking and aching in the joints of the big toe of the left foot.

° One case of complete paraplegia was permanently cured by the Cannabis indica and Nux vomica, some three years since, in my practice. {Gray.)

Fever.

Pulse below the natural standard, as low as 46. General chilliness; loss of animal heat.

0 Dr. L. "Warner has successfully prescribed the Cannabis in many cases of ship fever (Typhus peteehialis). Sleep.

Excessive sleepiness/ day sleepiness.

Starting of the limbs while sleeping, which awoke him, when

he feared he would have a fit. Grating and grinding of the teeth while sleeping. Talking during sleep.

He wakes before midnight, in a state of semi-consciousness; with inability to move; palpitation of the heart, slow, deep, labored and intermittent breathing, and a feeling as if he were dying.

He wakes before midnight overcome with dreadful sensations; imagines he is going to be choked; cries and moans for some time, when all the objects in the room appear double their respective sizes, and he falls asleep again.

Nightmare every night as soon as he falls asleep.

Sound sleep with melancholy dreams.

Dreams of danger and of perils encountered.

Dreams of dead bodies; vexatious dreams; prophetic dreams.

Voluptuous dreams, with erections and profuse seminal emissions.

Generalities.

Agreeable thrilling through the body and extremities. Great desire to lie down in the daytime. Thoroughly exhausted from a short walk. He feels so weak he could scarcely speak, and soon fell in a deep sleep.

Paralysis of the lower extremities and right arm.

Volume II — Special Therapeutics

The marked and peculiar influence of the Hashish upon the brain and mind, has always given it a high rank as a supposed remedy in mania, insanity, and other disorders of the mind, but the experience of both schools has not realized the hopes of physicians.

It stands almost alone as a medicine that seems to possess the power of acting on the soul. It seems to give us some idea of the vast capabilities of emotion, comprehension and capacity for happiness and sorrow, which the soul of man possesses, but which lie latent while the body incloses it.

As a homoeopathic remedy, it is indicated in all degrees and varieties of insanity, from profound depression to the highest exhilaration.

I can find recorded, however, but few cases of insanity where it has been of much service.

Hr. Gray reports its successful use in “ spectral illusions, not accompanied by terror, caused by nervous fevers, puerperal mania, or religious excesses.”

It ought to be useful in puerperal mania, with nymphomania (in a high dilution), but in two cases in which I used it, no curative results were obtained.

It is my opinion, that in order that it shall prove curative in mental diseases, they must be purely psychical in their origin, and not depend on any bodily ailment. In this respect it differs from Belladonna and Stramonium. In some affections of the brain and nerves of the head, the Cannabis takes a high rank. It is one of my favorite remedies in nervous vertigo, so called, which comes on after mental excitement, or remains after acute congestion of the brain. (Dose 2X to 6th.)

Hemicrania, in its severest form, is often cured by the hemp, when all the usual medicines have been used in vain. The symptoms of the provings do not give us any characteristic indications, but the published experience shows that it is indicated when the attacks occur periodically, every week or two, and are very agonizing, rendering the patients delirious or unconscious, leaving them prostrated and nervous. The face is generally pale, the head cool, noise and light aggravate, but no vomiting occurs. In such cases it is analogous in some respects to Sepia, Spigelia, Arsenic, and Zinc, val. The dose most successful has been the mother tincture, 5 drops three times a day, as a preventive, and every hour during the paroxysm. This variety of neuralgia generally occurs in thin, delicate women, and has lasted for years. I am cognizant of some cases permanently cured by this plan of treatment.

Dr. Marcy claims for it great value in subacute inflammation of the brain , delirium tremens, and hypochondria in females advanced in life.

A prominent symptom in its provings is “involuntary shaking of the head,” such as we see in some cases of palsy. (See Calabar.)

Since the third edition of “ New Remedies” was published, the India hemp has been used successfully in many cases of cerebrospinal meningitis. Both schools of medicine claim its use. It is undoubtedly homoeopathic to that disease, as the pathological effects of poisonous and fatal doses on the spinal cord and brain, as well as the recorded symptoms, are very similar to those observed in that disease. My observation and experience lead me to restrict its value to the first stages of the malady, or the stages of irritation and congestion. After effusion or structural lesion has taken place, its action is not strictly curative, although it may prove a valuable palliative, and thereby aid indirectly in bringing about recovery.

The following indications were published in a paper on that disease contributed by me to the “ U. S. Medical and Surgical Journal,” 1873 :

Delirium, generally gay; laughter, hallucinations, ecstasy, with or without loss of consciousness.

On regaining consciousness, violent shocks are felt passing through the brain.

Vertigo on rising, with stunning pain in the back part of the head, and he falls.

Fulness and throbbing in the forehead, as if it would burst, with sensation like a heavy blow on back part of head and neck.

Involuntary shaking of the head.

Fixed gaze; dilated pupils; redness of the eyes; throbbing, ringing and buzzing in the ears ; sensitive to sounds.

Cold face, with drowsy and stupid look.

Stinging, burning, and scalding, before, during, and after urination.

Amorous paroxysms.

Anguish in the chest, with great oppression.

Pain across the shoulders and spine, forcing him to stoop, and preventing him from walking erect.

Entire paralysis of both lower extremities and the right arm.

Convulsions; emprosthotonos, with loss of consciousness ; catalepsy.

Collapse; stupor; insensible pupils; pale, clammy and insensible skin ; extreme debility ; feeble, irregular pulse.

In that dreadful disease, hydrophobia, it is highly recommended as the surest palliative when death is imminent. The dose should be large and frequently repeated (gtts. xx to xl every hour, until quiet is obtained). In cases due to imagination, pseudo-hydrophobia, it will doubtless act as a curative agent in smaller doses.

Hysterical spasms and a host of hysterical manifestations ought to be controlled by Cannabis, for its symptoms are more closely allied to the hysterical malady than any drug in our Materia Medica. A healthy lady once took 10 drops — probably more — to see if it would cure mental excitement. It caused decided hysterical paroxysms, although she had never before had anything of the kind.

It causes hypercesthesia of the auditory nerves, also the optic. Hearing and vision are curiously perverted. I have cured several cases of tinnitus aurium with the 8X dilution.

It causes canine hunger, but differs from China and other medicines causing that condition in this, that digestion is equal to the emergency. One person records that “ pastry and fat food, which previously he never ate without suffering from rancid risings and headache, are now digested regularly.”

The urinary symptoms are very similar to those of Cannabis sativa. It is well known to botanists that the two are merely varieties, the Cannabis indica being the original and stronger species. If there is any difference m the symptoms, it is in the greater

cannabis indica.

effect the Cannabis indica has on the nerves of the urinary organs, as witness the symptoms of paralysis of the bladder and spasmodic action. On the other hand, the blennorrhagic symptoms are not so well marked, nor are the inflammatory.

Its primary action on the organs of generation of both sexes is that of an aphrodisiac , for which purpose it is largely used in the East. It causes satyriasis, erotomania, nymphomania, priapism, chordee, involuntary erections and emissions, — always with amorous dreams. Its secondary effects are just the opposite, and the Hashish-eaters of the East all become prematurely impotent. The homoeopathic indications are evident. I often substitute it with good effect for Cannabis sativa.

Dr. Hirschel recommends it very highly in profu.se menstruation, menorrhagia, and haemorrhage from the uterus of pregnant women.

In the treatment of dysmenorrhoea it rivals Viburnum, Caulophyllum and Xanthoxyllum. It appears to control the neuralgic and spasmodic varieties, but is more particularly indicated when the patient is hysterical, emotional, and the menses are preceded, attended, or followed by unusual sexual desires. In allopathic practice it has effected some wonderful cures of dysmenorrhoea in women subject to neuralgia, and in my own practice it has relieved and cured patients who had been treated, ineffectually, for years, by uterine specialists, and with electricity. I use the lx tincture trituration, or the mother tincture, giving a few grains of the former, or a few drops of the latter, three times a day during the month, and every hour or oftener in severe cases, during the pain. My experience is, that it is useless to expect a radical cure by giving the remedy only during the paroxysms of pain. The system must be brought under the influence of the medicine, and kept under it, before the period of suffering arrives.

It has been claimed that as a parturient or uterine-motor remedy it is analogous to Secale and Caulophyllum. In a few cases where I have given it to accelerate lingering labor, it has seemed to have the desired effect. It is decidedly beneficial in the 1* in after-pains.

Spasmodic asthma has often been promptly relieved by India hemp. One of its most prominent symptoms, which I have often witnessed from one dose, is :

“ A feeling of suffocation, wants to be fanned ; oppression of the chest, with deep, labored breathing; anguish, accompanied by great oppression, ameliorated in the open air.”

When these symptoms are present, a few drops of the lx, every half hour, will give prompt relief.

Cardiac asthma will also be relieved by it, as the following symptoms show :

“ Pressing pain in the heart, with dyspnoea the whole night ; anguish at the heart ; stitches in the heart, accompanied by great oppression, the latter relieved by deep breathings.”

It has two other prominent heart-symptoms which may be remembered with benefit:

“ Pain (stitches) in the heart, with palpitation, when lying on the left side.”

“ Palpitation of the heart, awakening him from sleep.”

Dr. Gray reports as cured a case of “ paralysis of the lower extremities ,” but he alternated it with Nux vom., which spoils the value of the report. Cannabis has, however, many symptoms of paraplegia, and may prove curative in some cases, not caused by any grave lesion of the cord, but functional in its character.

It ought to be an excellent remedy in sleeplessness from mental excitement, for nightmare, and for the night-terrors of children; also for a sleep disturbed by vivid dreams, which weary the patient.

I regret to say that you will find many “ Hashish-eaters ” in your practice. Its seductive influence is little less fascinating than Opium, and men and women are both driven by care and trouble to its use.