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diff --git a/77838-h/77838-h.htm b/77838-h/77838-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c8347b5 --- /dev/null +++ b/77838-h/77838-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2827 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> + <title> + An essay on hasheesh | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +/* headers */ +h1,h2,h3 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} +h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} +.break {page-break-before: always;} +div.chapter {page-break-before: always; + margin-top: 4em;} + +/* paragraph format */ +p { text-indent: 1.25em; + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; +} +.center {text-align: center; text-indent: 0;} +.right {text-align: right;} +.tall {line-height: 130%;} +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} +.p4 {margin-top: 4em;} + +blockquote { + margin-top: 0; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size: 92%; +} + +/* Font format */ +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} +.allsmcap {font-variant: small-caps; text-transform: lowercase;} +.larger {font-size: 120%;} + +a { border:none; text-decoration:none; font-variant:normal; } +abbr { border:none; text-decoration:none; font-variant:normal; } + +/* Rules */ +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} +hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} +@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } + +/* Lists */ +ul { list-style-type: none; } +li { + margin-top: 0; + text-indent: -2em; + padding-left: 2em; +} + +/* Tables */ +table { + margin-left: 1em; + margin-right: auto; +} +table.autotable { border-collapse: collapse; } +table.autotable td { padding: 0 1em;} + +.tdl {text-align: left; padding-left: 1em;} + + /* Page numbers */ +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: 75%; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + text-indent: 0; +} +/* Images */ + +img { + max-width: 100%; + height: auto; +} +img.w100 {width: 100%;} + + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + +/* Poetry */ +/* uncomment the next line for centered poetry */ +/* .poetry-container {display: flex; justify-content: center;} */ +.poetry-container {text-align: center;} +.poetry {text-align: left; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} +.poetry .stanza {margin: 1em auto;} +.poetry .verse {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em;} + +/* Poetry indents */ +.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3.0em;} +.poetry .indent0a {text-indent: -3.25em;} +.poetry .indent2 {text-indent: -2.0em;} + +/* Transcriber's note */ +.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; + color: black; + font-size:small; + padding:0.5em; + margin-bottom:5em; + font-family:sans-serif, serif; +} + +/* Illustration class */ +.illowp10 {width: 10%;} + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77838 ***</div> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</span></p> +<h1> +AN ESSAY ON +HASHEESH +</h1> + +<p class="center allsmcap">INCLUDING</p> + +<p class="center">OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS</p> + +<p class="p2 center">BY<br> +<span class="larger">VICTOR ROBINSON</span></p> + +<p class="center tall"><i>Contributing Editor, Medical Review of Reviews</i>,<br> +<i>Pharmaceutical Chemist, Columbia University</i>,<br> +<i>Member of the American Chemical Society</i>,<br> +<i>Author of</i> “<i>Pathfinders in Medicine</i>.”</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp10" id="colophon" style="max-width: 5.5em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/colophon.jpg" alt="Colophon"> +</figure> + +<p class="p4 center">MEDICAL REVIEW OF REVIEWS<br> +<span class="allsmcap">TWO HUNDRED AND SIX BROADWAY<br> +NEW YORK</span><br> +1912</p> +</div><!--end title page--> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</span></p> + +<p class="center tall"> +<span class="smcap">Copyright, 1912</span><br> +<span class="smcap">By</span> MEDICAL REVIEW OF REVIEWS +</p> +</div><!--end copyright--> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span></p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="tall">“What is left for us modern men? We cannot +be Greek now. The cypress of knowledge +springs, and withers when it comes in sight of +Troy; the cypress of pleasure likewise, if it has +not died already at the root of cankering Calvinism; +the cypress of religion is tottering. +What is left? Science, for those who are scientific. +Art for artists; and all literary men are +artists in a way. But science falls not to the +lot of all. Art is hardly worth pursuing now. +What is left? Hasheesh, I think: Hasheesh of +one form or another. We can dull the pangs +of the present by living the past again in reveries +or learned studies, by illusions of the fancy +and a life of self-indulgent dreaming. Take +down the perfumed scrolls; open, unroll, peruse, +digest, intoxicate your spirit with the flavor. +Behold, here is the Athens of Plato in your +narcotic visions; Buddha and his anchorites appear; +the raptures of St. Francis and the fire-oblations +of St. Dominic; the phantasms of mythologies; +the birth-throes of religion, the neurotism +of chivalry, the passion of past poems; all pass +before you in your Maya world of hasheesh, +which is criticism.”—<span class="smcap">John Addington Symonds.</span></p> +</blockquote> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4"></a><a id="Page_5"></a>[Pg 5]</span></p> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="An_Essay_on_Hasheesh"> + An Essay on Hasheesh + </h2> +</div> + +<p class="center"> +INCLUDING OBSERVATIONS AND +EXPERIMENTS.<br> +<br> +By <span class="smcap">Victor Robinson</span>. +</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>“And now, borne far thru the steaming air +floats an odor, balsamic, startling; the odor +of those plumes and stalks and blossoms from +which is exuding freely the narcotic resin of +the great nettle. The nostril expands quickly, +the lungs swell out deeply to draw it in: +fragrance once known in childhood, ever in +the memory afterward, and able to bring back +to the wanderer homesick thoughts of midsummer +days in the shadowy, many-toned +woods, over into which is blown the smell of +the hemp-fields.”</p> + +<p class="right"> + <span class="smcap">Allen</span>: <cite>The Reign of Law</cite>. +</p> + +<p class="p2">“At the mere vestibule of the temple I could +have sat and drunk in ecstasy forever, but +lo! I am yet more blessed. On silent hinges +the doors swing open, and I pass in.”</p> + +<p class="right"> + <span class="smcap">Ludlow</span>: <cite>The Hasheesh Eater</cite>. +</p> +</blockquote> + + +<p>Ailing man has ransacked the world +to find balms to ease him of his pains. +And this is only natural, for what +doth it profit a man if he gain the +whole world and lose his digestion? +Let the tiniest nerve be but inflamed, +and it will bend the proudest spirit: +humble is a hero with a toothache! It +is doubtful if Buddha himself could +have maintained his equanimity with +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span>a bit of dust on his conjunctiva. Cæsar +had a fever—and the eye that +awed the world did lose its lustre, and +the tongue that bade the Romans +write his speeches in their books cried +like a sick girl. Our flesh is heir to +many ills, and alas when the heritage +falls due. Even pride and prejudice +are then forgotten, and Irishmen in +need of purgatives are willing to use +rhubarb grown on English soil, while +the Foreign Colombo gathered by the +feral natives in the untamed forests of +Quilimani is consumed by ladies who +never saw anything wilder than a Fabian +Socialist.</p> + +<p>The modern descendant of Hippocrates +draws his Materia Medica +from the uttermost ends of the earth: +linseed from busy Holland and floretted +marigold from the exotic Levant; +cuckoo’s cap from little Helvetia, and +pepper-elder from ample Brazil; biting +cubebs from spicy Borneo and +fringed lichens from raw-winded Iceland; +sweet flag from the ponds of +Burmah, coto bark from the thickets +of Bolivia, sleeping nightshade from +the woods of Algeria, brownish rhatany +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span>from the sands of Peru, purple +crocus from the pastures of Greece, +aromatic vanilla from the groves of +Mexico, golden seal from the retreats +of Canada, knotty aleppo from the +plains of Kirghiz, fever-tree from the +hills of Tasmania, white saunders +from the mountains of Macassar. +Idols are broken boldly nowadays, but +the daughter of Æsculapius does not +fear, for Hygeia knows she will always +have a frenzied world of worshippers +to kneel at her every shrine in +every land.</p> + +<p>All the reservoirs of nature have +been tapped to yield medicines for +man. From the mineral kingdom we +take the alkali metals, the nitrogen +group, the compounds of oxygen, the +healing waters, the halogens, the nitrate +of silver, the sulphate of copper, +the carbonate of sodium, the chloride +of mercury, the hydroxide of potassium, +the acetate of lead, the citrate +of lithium, the oxide of calcium, and +the similar salts of half a hundred elements +from Aluminium to Zincum.</p> + +<p>From the vegetable kingdom we extract +the potent alkaloid; all things +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span>that blossom and bloom, we knead +them as we list: the broad rhizome of +iris, the wrinkled root of lappa, the +inspissated juice of aloes, the flower-heads +of anthemis, the outer rind of +orange, the inner bark of cinnamon, +the thin arillode of macis, the dense +sclerotium of ergot, the ovoid kernel +of nutmeg, the pitted seed of rapa, +the pale spores of club-moss, the +spongy pith of sassafras, the bitter +wood of quassia, the smoothish bark +of juglans, the unripe fruit of hemlock, +the fleshy bulb of scilla, the brittle +leaves of senna, the velvet thallus +of agaric, the balsamic resin of benzoin, +the scaly strobiles of hops, the +styles and stigmas of zea.</p> + +<p>The animal kingdom has likewise +been forced to bring tribute to its highest +brother: we use in medicine the +blood-sucking leech, the natural emulsion +from the mammary glands of the +cow, the internal fat from the abdomen +of the hog, the coppery-green +Spanish fly, the globular excrements +of the leaping antelope, the fixed oil +from the livers of the cod, the fresh +bile of the stolid ox, the vitellus of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span>hen’s egg, the fatty substance from the +huge head of the sperm-whale, the +odorous secretion of the musk-deer, +the swimming-bladder of regal fish, +the inner layer of the oyster-shell, the +branched skeleton of the red polyp, +the dried follicles of the boring +beaver, the bony horns of the crimson +deer, the thyreoid glands of the simple +sheep, the coagulated serum from the +blood of the horse, the wax and the +honey from the hive of the busy bee, +and even the disgusting cockroaches +that infest the kitchen-shelves and +climb all over the washtubs are used +as a diuretic and for dropsy.</p> + +<p>Little it matters by whom the healing +agent was ushered in, for mankind +in its frantic search for health asks not +the creed or color of its medical savior: +Pipsissewa was introduced into +medicine by the redskins, buchu by +the hottentots, quassia by a negro +slave, zinc valerianate by a French +prince, krameria by a Spanish refugee, +ipecac by the Brazilian aborigines, +guaiac by a syphilitic warrior, aspidium +by a Swiss widow.</p> + +<p>“Medicine,” wrote the greatest of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span>literary physicians, “appropriates +everything from every source that can +be of the slightest use to anybody who +is ailing in any way, or like to be ailing +from any cause. It learned from +a monk how to use antimony, from a +Jesuit how to cure agues, from a friar +how to cut for stone, from a soldier +how to treat gout, from a sailor how +to keep off scurvy, from a postmaster +how to sound the Eustachian tube, +from a dairy-maid how to prevent +small-pox, and from an old market-woman +how to catch the itch-insect. +It borrowed acupuncture and the +moxa from the Japanese heathen, and +was taught the use of lobelia by the +American savage.”</p> + +<p>And all these substances are daily +being powdered, sifted, granulated, +desiccated, percolated, macerated, distilled, +sublimed, comminuted, dissolved, +precipitated, filtered, strained, +expressed, clarified, crystallized, ignited, +fused, calcined, torrified and +deflagrated into powders, pills, wafers, +capsules, ampoules, extracts, tinctures, +infusions, decoctions, syrups, cordials, +essences, magmas, suppositories, tablets, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span>troches, ointments, plasters, abstracts, +liniments, collodions, cataplasms +and so on and so on.</p> + +<p>And all these finished preparations +have a most laudable object in view—the +eradication of disease and the alleviation +of pain. Ah, this is indeed a +quest worth the striving for! To accomplish +the quadrature of the circle, +or ferret out the secret of perpetual +motion, may be highly interesting, tho +of problematical value only; but when +a clammy sweat bathes the brow, and +the delicate nerves twitch till the tortured +human frame shakes in anguish, +how important is it to be able to lift +the veil from a condition like this! +He who conquers disease is greater +than the builder of cities or the +creator of empires. His value is +above the poets, statesmen cannot be +compared unto him, educators equal +him not in worth. A careful economist +like John Stuart Mill tells us it is +doubtful if all the labor-saving machinery +ever invented has lessened for +a single day the work of a single human +being,—but when a discovery is +made in medicine it becomes a sun +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span>which sheds its beneficence on all who +suffer. The sick pauper of to-day lying +in a charity hospital receives better +medical treatment than the sick potentate +of yesterday lying in his costly +palace.</p> + +<p>But so far medical science has only +unhorsed, not overthrown, its ancient +antagonist. In spite of all the remedies, +in spite of all the research, mankind +as yet possesses no satisfactory +antidote for suffering; it knows no +drug which can give pain its <i lang="fr">congé</i> for +more than a transient period.</p> + +<p>But altho the time of relief be limited, +the simple fact that there are substances +which do have some power +over pain is sufficient to make the +study of narcotism highly important. +And of all the narcotics—a narcotic +being roughly defined as a substance +which relieves pain and produces excitability +followed by sleep—none is +more alluring to the imagination than +the intoxicating hemp-plant, scientifically +known as <i>Cannabis sativa</i> and +popularly famed as Hasheesh—those +strange flowering-tops that appeal to a +pot-bellied bushman of Australia who +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span>smokes it in a pipe of animal tusks, +and to so hyper-esoteric a <i lang="fr">littérateur</i> +as Charles Baudelaire of the Celestial +City of Art.</p> + +<p>The habitat of the hemp-plant is extensive: +not by the hand of man were +the seeds sown that gave it birth near +the Caspian Sea, where it wildly flourishes +on the banks of the immense +Volga—that mighty mass of liquid +ever stupendously rolling thru a limitless +continent; it climbs the Altai range +and thrives where the Himalaya rears +its stony head ten thousand feet on +high; it extends to Persia, and China +knows it; the Congo river and the hot +Zambesi bathe it in Africa, it is not a +stranger in sunny France, and how +well it thrives in Kentucky the numerous +readers of the <i>Reign of Law</i> will +ever remember.</p> + +<p>In the seventeenth century Rumphius +noticed that there were differences +between the hemp grown in India +and the hemp grown in Europe. +In the nineteenth century Lamarck accepted +these distinctions, and believing +the Indian hemp to be a separate species, +agreed in calling it <i lang="la">Cannabis indica</i> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span>as a distinction from the <i lang="la">Cannabis +sativa</i> of Linnæus and Willdenow. +But it is now conceded that from a botanical +standpoint the variations are +by no means certain or important +enough to warrant the maintenance of +Indian hemp as a species distinct from +common hemp. And as the greater +includes the lesser, in botany as well +as in geometry, its botanical name is +<i lang="la">Cannabis sativa</i>, with <i lang="la">Cannabis indica</i> +as one variety, just as <i lang="la">Cannabis americana</i> +is another variety.</p> + +<p>The hemp grown in Russia is of a +fibrous quality, and is largely used for +the gallows—to hang the opponents of +despotism. In England many a bold +highwayman has been embraced by it +the last moment of his roving life, and +has thus philanthropically given his +mother-tongue a chance to enrich herself. +For instance, a hempie means a +rascal for whom the hemp grows; a +hempen collar means the hangman’s +noose; a hempen widow means one +whose husband has been hanged; to +sow hemp means to live in a manner +likely to lead to the gallows. Rope, +however, is not the only use to which +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span>the fibers can be put; they are extensively +employed in clothing, and in the +manufacture of paper.</p> + +<p>The plant is also cultivated for its +seeds, which contain a large quantity +of oil, and is therefore used in pharmacy +for emulsions, and in the domestic +arts because of its drying properties. +But the seeds are chiefly used as +a favorite food for birds. In fact, +some birds consume them to excess, +which should lead us to suspect that +these seeds, tho they cannot intoxicate +us, have a narcotic effect on the feathered +creatures, making them dream of +a happy birdland where there are no +gilded cages, and where the men are +gunless and the women hatless. The +seeds also contain sugar and considerable +albumin,—making them very +nutritious; rabbits eat them readily. +They are consumed also by +some human beings, but are not as +good as the sunflower seeds which +Marianka ceaselessly and carelessly +crunched, while Olenine looked upon +her moving lips with a lover’s despair.</p> + +<p>The medicinal hemp—the hemp with +the potent narcotic principles—is <i lang="la">Cannabis indica</i>. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span>In this case we have an +example of Compensation that would +have made Emerson’s eyes glisten, for +altho the fibrous texture of hemp disappears +under a southern sun, to make +up for the loss there is secreted a resin—<i>Churrus</i>. +This resin is collected in +a most singular manner. During the +hot season, according to Dr. O’Shaughnessy, +men clothed in leather run violently +thru the hemp-fields and brush +forcibly against the plants. The soft, +sticky resin adheres to the garments, +and is later scraped off and kneaded +into balls. Dr. M’Kinnon informed +Dr. O’Shaughnessy that in the province +of Nipal the leather attire is dispensed +with, and that the natives run +naked thru the hemp fields, gathering +the resin on their bare bodies.</p> + +<p>When the larger leaves turn brown +and fall to the ground, it is an indication +of the approach of maturity. +The flowering tops are then cut off, +and subjected to a process of rolling +and treading by trained human feet. +The hemp is placed on a hard floor +surrounded by a rail; the natives take +hold of a revolving post, march around +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span>and around, singing the while, and +press the plants in a technical manner. +Whether the perspiration which drips +from their unshod organs of locomotion +works any chemical change in the +composition of Cannabis has not yet +been determined by E. M. Holmes or +E. W. Dixon.</p> + +<p>It is not surprising to learn that the +dealing in Hasheesh is a Government +monopoly, and that heavy punishment +is meted out to those offenders who +buy or sell it without permission. +“The importation of it into Egypt is so +strongly interdicted,” explains the <cite>Dispensatory +of the United States</cite>, “that +the mere possession of it is a penal offense; +we found it, however, readily +procurable. It is said to be brought +into the country in pigs’ bladders, in +the Indo-European steamers, and +thrown out at night during the passage +into the Suez canal, to be picked up by +the boats of confederates.” This deplorable +state of affairs is apt to remind +us of our own temperance towns—where +there are always some individuals +who possess the faculty of obtaining +whisky <i lang="la">ad libitum</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span></p> + +<p><i lang="la">Cannabis sativa</i> is a member of the +<i lang="la">Moraceæ</i> or Mulberry Family, which +family was formerly an order of apetalous +dicotyledenous trees or shrubs, +but is now reduced to a tribe of the +<i lang="la">Urticaceæ</i> or Nettle Family which embraces +110 genera and 1500 species.</p> + +<p>Cannabis is an annual herb, and thus +endures but one year, because instead +of storing away nutritious matter in +underground bulbs and tubers like the +industrious biennials or perennials, it +exultingly expends its new-born energy +in the production of beautiful +blossoms and the maturation of fruit +and seed. “This completed,” says Asa +Gray, “the exhausted and not at all replenished +individual perishes.”</p> + +<p>Sexually, hemp is diœcious, which +means that its staminate and pistillate +organs are not on the same plant. +When cultivated for its narcotic properties, +only the flowering tops of the +unfertilized female plants are used, and +the male plants are eradicated with +great care, as it is claimed that a single +one can spoil an entire field—something +like a Boccaccion gentleman in a +nunnery. The process of weeding out +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span>the males is performed by an expert +called a poddar, who brings to his work +a conscious technical skill, and an unconscious +but interesting argument in +illustration of what Lester F. Ward +has described as the Androcentric +World View, for the poddar deliberately +reverses the names of the sexes, +and designates the useful females as +males, and calls the rejected males the +females. If we had such impudent +poddars in the animal world, no doubt +the valuable Miss Jane Addams would +be metamorphosed into James, while +the unnecessary Mr. Anthony Comstock +would be adorned with a feminine +appellation.</p> + +<p>Cannabis is from 4 to 12 feet in +height; its stem is angular, branching, +and covered with matted hairs; its +leaves are palmate and therefore +roughly resemble an open hand; its +leaflets are lance-shaped, possessing +margins dentated with saw-like teeth; +its flowers are yellow and axillary, the +male cluster being a raceme and therefore +pedicelled, and the female a spike +and consequently sessile or stemless; +the five male organs or stamens contain +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span>pendulous double-celled sacs or +anthers; the two female organs or pistils +have glandular stigmas, the stigma +being the spot where fertilization occurs; +the fruit is a gray nut or achene, +each containing a single oily seed; the +whole plant is covered with a scarcely +visible down; the roughness of the +leaves and stem is due to the silica, +which is a characteristic of the plants +of the <i lang="la">Moraceæ</i>.</p> + +<p>Not much need be said of the microscopical +characteristics of hemp, for +altho the powder contains several histological +elements, as pollen grains, +glands, crystals, resin, fibres, vessels, +stone cells, epidermis, parenchyma,—indicating +presence of stem, leaf, +flower, seed,—its characteristic hairs +or trichomes with their cystolith deposits +are of sufficient diagnostic value +to make it readily recognizable.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, when we come to the +chemical constituents of Cannabis, certainty +is at an end. As Dorvault’s +<cite>L’Officine</cite> says, <span lang="fr">“La composition chimique +du cannabis indica est mal connue.”</span> +The conquests of man are peculiar: +he lays a cable under the roaring +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span>ocean, and he flashes his messages thru +limitless miles of space; beneath the +surface of the earth he rides on an iron +horse, and bird-like he sails thru the +trackless air. But put this common +drug before him and he cannot determine +its chemical composition. The +careful experimenters and the expert +assayers are balked.</p> + +<p>“I have extracted an alkaloid from +hasheesh,” says Preobraschensky, “and +it is potent.” “No, we have found the +active constituent,” say T. and H. +Smith; “it is the resin cannabin.” +“No,” says Personne, “I have isolated +the important ingredient; it is the +amber-colored volatile oil, cannabene.” +“Oh, no,” says Frankel, “I have discovered +the active principle—it is a +phenol aldehyde.” “No, indeed,” say +Wood, Spivey and Easterfield, “it is +we who have separated the only active +ingredient—it is a red oil, cannabinol.” +“Oh, not at all,” says Hamilton, “not +one of these is the active constituent; +in fact, the active constituent has not +yet been isolated.” In such an arena, +where the masters dispute, it behooves +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span>the amateur to speak with a stammering +tongue.</p> + +<p>That doubt should prevail on this +subject is all the more remarkable +when we consider that hemp has been +known from a time whereof the mind +of man runneth not to the contrary—to +use a phrase which seems to delight +the lawyers. In the <cite>Odyssey</cite>, a thousand +years before the advent of the +Christian era, Homer sang of the assuager +of grief or Nepenthes, which is +believed to have been the hemp-plant. +Hemp thus comes ushered into history, +held in the beautiful hand of Helen. +Hesychius narrates that the Thracian +women made sheets of hemp. Pliny +says hemp was known to the Romans, +who manufactured cordage from it. +The Father of History relates that the +Scythians threw the seeds of hemp on +red-hot stones, and bathed themselves +in the vapor, crying with exultation. +Moschion records that the ship <i>Syracusia</i>, +built for Hiero—kinsman of +Archimedes—was rigged with hempen +ropes. In the most ancient of all +Hindu medical works, <cite>Susruta</cite>, hemp +is recommended for catarrh. The Pandit +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span>Moodoosudun Gooptu found in the +<cite>Rajniguntu</cite> a clear account of hemp. +A Sanskrit work on Materia Medica, +<cite>Rajbulubha</cite>, alludes to the use of hemp +in gonorrhea. According to Kamalakantha +Vidyalanka, hemp was early +forbidden to pious Brahmins. The old +Arabic and Persian writers made numerous +references to cannabis, and declared +its narcotic properties were discovered +by Haider. Haider was a +rigid monk who built a monastery on +the mountains between Nishabor and +Ramah. For ten years he never left +his hermitage, never indulged in even +a fleeting moment’s pleasure. One +burning summer’s day when the fiery +sun glared angrily upon Mother Earth +as if he wished to wither up her +breasts, Haider stepped out from his +cloister and walked alone to the fields. +All around him lay the vegetation +weary and without life, but one plant +danced in the heat with joy. Haider +plucked it, partook of it, and returned +to the convent a happier man. The +monks who saw him immediately noticed +the change in their chief. He encouraged +conversation, and acted boisterously. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span>He then led his companions +to the fields, and the holy men partook +of the hasheesh, and were transformed +from austere ascetics into jolly good +fellows. At the death of Haider, in +conformity with his desire, his disciples +planted the hemp in an arbor +around his tomb.—— In that portion +of the Chinese herbal, <cite>Rh-ya</cite>, which +was written 500 B.C., the seed and +flower-bearing kinds of hemp are +noticed. In the first century, Dioscorides—the +most renowned of the ancient +writers on Materia Medica—recommended +the seeds in the form of a +cataplasm to soothe inflammation. In +the second century, Galen wrote +that it was customary to give +hemp to guests at banquets to promote +hilarity and happiness. At the beginning +of the third century, the physician +Hoa-Thoa used hemp as an anesthetic +in surgical operations. In the thirteenth +century, garments of hemp became +common thruout Southern Europe, +and it may well be that Beatrice +herself wore it when Dante first saw +the maiden in her father’s house.</p> + +<p>There is a remarkable episode in the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span>history of Hasheesh, indicating how +the character of a people may be affected +by the surrounding vegetation. +Mohammedanism, like all other theologies, +has been rent by schisms, and +the question as to who was the legitimate +successor of the Prophet split +this Oriental faith into two great sects—the +Sunnis and the Shiahs. The +latter were the heretics, as they considered +Mohammed’s son-in-law the +true imam. The Shiahs themselves +were further subdivided into several +parties, the Ismaelites being the most +important. The Ismaelites were especially +powerful in Persia, and later—thru +the instrumentality of an escaped +prisoner who seized the throne—gained +a firm foothold in Egypt. A grand +lodge was formed in the city of Cairo—on +the banks of the river whose ancient +waters heard the hammering at +the quarries for the rearing of the +Great Pyramid. Many rules were now +made by the Ismaelites, and the petty +race of perishable men was much flustered, +while the immortal Nile flowed +indifferently from its equatorial cradle, +refreshing the crimson water-lilies, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span>bathing the reeds that lined its shore, +and wetting the sands where the +thoughtful Sphinx opens not its lips.</p> + +<p>In the course of time this lodge was +visited by the clever Ismaelite, Hassan +Ben Sabbah—a boyhood friend of +Omar Khayyám—who was received +with acclamation. Hassan soon received +enough honors to excite jealousy, +and while plotting for more power +was defeated and forced to disappear +from Egypt, but, after traveling awhile, +he settled near Kuhistan. He gathered +around him a considerable number of +followers, and by strategy, in 1090, +captured the powerful Persian fortress +of Alamut. Hassan now introduced +a new feature into his society—the employment +of secret murder against all +enemies. It was the Sheikh of this +organization who loomed large in +medieval folk-lore as the Old Man of +the Mountains. Many young men became disciples, +and willingly performed +the bloody work. These youths were +known as the <i>Fedais</i> or Devoted Ones. +When a Devoted One was selected to +commit murder, he was first stupefied +with hasheesh, and while in this state +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span>was brought into the magnificent gardens +of the sheikh. All the sensual +and stimulating pleasures of the erotic +orient surrounded the excited youth, +and exalted by the delicious hypnotic he +had taken, the hot-blooded fanatic felt +that the gates of heaven were already +ajar, and heard them swing open on +their golden hinges. When the effect +of the drug disappeared and the Devoted +One was reduced to his normal +condition, he was informed that thru +the generosity of his superior he had +been permitted to foretaste the delights +of Paradise. The Devoted One believed +this readily enough—disciples +are always credulous—and therefore +was eager to die or to kill at a word +from his master. From these hasheesh-eaters, +the Arabian name of which is +<i>hashshashin</i>, was derived the term +“assassin.” It is not known at what +date the epithet was first applied to +other secret slayers. The Assassins +soon became a terrible scourge, and the +very sands of the desert almost learnt +to tremble before them. Many an unprepared +breast felt their daggers, and +many a surprised stomach tried in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span>vain to vomit up their poisons. Prince +and calif they struck down, and more +than one haughty chief paid tribute +to the Old Man of the Mountains. +During the invasion of Palestine by +the Crusaders, the Syrian branch of +the Assassins reached its bloody zenith, +and who shall say how many high-born +damsels wept for knightly shields that +lay low in the dust of Lebanon? The +power of the Assassins was destroyed +in Persia about the middle of the thirteenth +century, and some years later +the Mameluke sultan of Egypt exterminated +them in Syria. But just as +there are still some Innsbruck Jesuits +who pray for the revival of the Spanish +Inquisition, so some remnants of the +Assassins yet linger between the Tigris +river and the mount of Taurus—but +what of that? The Old Man of +the Mountains now sleeps in Death’s +Valley, and not all the hasheesh from +Bengal could exalt him.</p> + +<p>Towards the end of the eighteenth +century, when Napoleon invaded Egypt—and +grew philosophic as he met the +gaze of the prehistoric pyramids—hasheesh +was brought prominently to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span>the notice of Europeans by the accounts +of DeSacy and Rouger. By this time +its narcotic properties must have been +known to the Occidentals, for as far +back as 1690 Berlu in his <i>Treasury of +Drugs</i> described it as “of an infatuating +quality and pernicious use.” +Nevertheless, its introduction into the +Pharmacopeias of Europe and the +United States is due mainly to the elaborate +experimentation carried on during +1839 and several succeeding years +by the talented Dr. William B. +O’Shaughnessy, Professor of Chemistry +in the Medical College of Calcutta.</p> + +<p>This brings us to the physiological +action of Cannabis. It primarily +stimulates the brain, has a mydriatic +effect upon the pupil, slightly accelerates +the pulse, sometimes quickens +and sometimes retards breathing, produces +a ravenous appetite, increases +the amount of urine, and augments the +contractions of the uterus. In other +words, it has an effect on the nervous, +respiratory, circulatory, digestive, excretory +and genito-urinary systems.</p> + +<p>As a therapeutic agent hasheesh has +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span>its eulogizers, tho like many other +drugs it has been replaced by later +remedies in various disorders for which +it was formerly used. Old drugs, +like old folks, must give way to the +new, and even the therapeutic master-builders +must beware when the young +generation of healing-agents knocks on +the door of health.</p> + +<p>In medicinal doses Cannabis is used +as an aphrodisiac, for neuralgia, to +quiet maniacs, for the cure of chronic +alcoholism and morphine and chloral +habits, for mental depression, hysteria, +softening of the brain, nervous vomiting, +for distressing cough, for St. +Vitus’ dance, and for the falling sickness +so successfully simulated by Kipling’s +Sleary—epileptic fits of a most +appalling kind. It is used in spasm of +the bladder, in migraine, and when the +dreaded <i>Bacillus tetanus</i> makes the +muscles rigid. It is a uterine tonic, +and a remedy in the headaches and +hemorrhages occurring at the final +cessation of the menses. It has been +pressed into the service of the diseases +that mankind has named in honor of +Venus. According to Osler, cannabis +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span>is sometimes useful in locomotor +ataxia. Christison reports a case in +which Cannabis entirely cured the intense +itching of eczema, while the patient +was enjoying the delightful slumber +which the hemp induced. It is +much employed as an hypnotic in those +cases where opium because of long-continued +use has lost its efficiency. As a +specific in hydrophobia it is sometimes +marvelous, for Dr. J. W. Palmer +writes that he himself has seen a sepoy, +an hour before furiously hydrophobic, +under the influence of cannabis drinking +water freely and pleasantly washing +his face and hands! Its function +in this unspeakable affliction should be +investigated carefully, for it will be a +gala day for mankind when it can cease +to fear Montaigne’s terrible line: “The +saliva of a wretched dog touching the +hand of Socrates, might disturb and +destroy his intellect.”</p> + +<p>The official definition of <i>Cannabis +indica</i> as given by the Eighth Decennial +Revision of our <cite>Pharmacopeia</cite> is +as follows: “The dried flowering tops +of the pistillate plants of <i lang="la">Cannabis +sativa</i> Linné (<abbr title="Family">Fam.</abbr> <i lang="la">Moraceæ</i>), grown +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span>in the East Indies and gathered while +the fruits are yet undeveloped, and +carrying the whole of their natural +resin.” Three preparations of the +drug are official: an Extract, a Fluid-extract, +and a Tincture.</p> + +<p>In the last (third) edition of the +<cite>National Formulary</cite>, hemp enters into +four galenicals: in chloral and bromine +compound which is used as a +sedative and hypnotic, in chloroform +Anodyne which is used in diarrhoea +and cholera, in Brown Sequard’s anti-neuralgic +pills, and in corn collodion. +Hemp is a constituent in the majority +of corn remedies. Not many drugs +are used for both the brain and the +feet, but with cannabis we have this +anomaly: a man may see visions by +swallowing his corn-cure.</p> + +<p>Out of the enormous number of +prescriptions in which hasheesh enters +as an ingredient, only half a dozen can +be here represented. In Hager’s +<i>Pharmaceutische Praxis</i> occurs this +prescription for gonorrhea:</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span></p> + +<ul> + <li><b>℞</b></li> + <li>Kali nitrici</li> + <li>Natri nitrici ana 5,0</li> + <li>Extracti Hyoscyami 0,5</li> + <li>Aquæ Amygdalarum amararum 10,0</li> + <li>Emulsionis Cannabis fructus 200,0</li> +</ul> + +<p>For dysmenorrhea the <cite>Journal de +Médecine de Paris</cite> recommends the +following suppositories, with the directions +that one be introduced every evening, +commencing with the fifth day before +the menses:</p> + + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><b>℞</b></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Ex. cannab. indicæ</td> +<td class="tdl">gr. ¼</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Ex. belladonnæ</td> +<td class="tdl">gr. ¼</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Ol. theobrom.</td> +<td class="tdl">q. s.—M.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>For phthisis, when accompanied by +insomnia and nervous dyspepsia, Dr. +S. G. Bonney prescribes:</p> + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><b>℞</b></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Strychnin, sulph.</td> +<td class="tdl">gr. ⅔</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Extracti opii</td> +<td class="tdl">gr. j</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Extracti cannabis indicæ</td> +<td class="tdl">gr. j ss</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Salolis</td> +<td class="tdl">gr. c.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Aloini</td> +<td class="tdl">gr. ss.—M.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Pone in capsulas No. xx</td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>Dr. Rankin fights dyspepsia with +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span>the following formula, one capsule being +given after meals:</p> + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><b>℞</b></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Zinci valeratis</td> +<td class="tdl">ʒj</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Acidi carbolici</td> +<td class="tdl">gr. xl</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Acidi arsenosi</td> +<td class="tdl">gr. ss</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Extracti cannabis indicæ.</td> +<td class="tdl">gr. v.—M.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Pone in capsulas No. xx.</td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>When a patient of Van Harlingen +is attacked with <i>ichthyosis hystrix</i>, the +disagreeable skin-disease finds itself +daily painted with this preparation:</p> + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><b>℞</b></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +Acid. salicylici</td> +<td class="tdl">ʒss</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Ex. cannabis ind</td> +<td class="tdl">gr. x</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Collodii</td> +<td class="tdl">f℥j—M.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>Dr. Da Costa endeavors to relieve +impotence by giving his patients, morning +and evening, this pill:</p> + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><b>℞</b></td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Ex. cannabis indicæ</td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Ex. nucis vomicæ</td> +<td class="tdl">aa gr. xv</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Ex. ergotae aquosi</td> +<td class="tdl">ʒj.—M.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Et. ft. pil. No. xxx</td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>The results of the prolonged use of +large doses of Cannabis are thus +epitomized by Alfred Stillé: “The +habitual use of this drug entails +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span>consequences no less mischievous than +are produced by alcohol and opium; +the face becomes bloated, the eyes injected, +the limbs weak and tremulous, +the mind sinks into a state of imbecility, +and death by marasmus is the ultimate +penalty paid for the overstrained +pleasure it imparts.”</p> + +<p>Poisoning by hasheesh is treated by +the administration of emetics (what +poison isn’t), lemon-juice, tannin, coffee, +ammonia, strychnine, atropine, +spirit of nitrous ether. Electricity and +artificial respiration are often useful.</p> + +<p>A strange thing about hasheesh is +that an overdose has never produced +death in man or the lower animals. +Not one authentic case is on record in +which Cannabis or any of its preparations +destroyed life. We thus have a +poison which lacks a maximum and a +fatal dose. Indeed, if we desire to be +finical, we can claim that according to +what is now considered the best definition +of a poison, Cannabis is no poison +at all, for the aforesaid best definition +defines a poison as “any substance +which is capable of causing death, +otherwise than mechanically, when introduced +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span>into the body or applied to it”—and +Cannabis does not seem capable +of causing death by chemical or physiological +action.</p> + +<p>“Hemp,” says Professor Horatio C. +Wood, “is not a dangerous drug; even +the largest doses of its active preparations, +altho causing most alarming +symptoms, do not compromise life.”</p> + +<p>“We have never been able,” testify +Drs. Houghton and Hamilton, “to give +an animal a sufficient quantity of the +drug to produce death. When study +of the drug was first commenced, careful +search on the literature of the subject +was made to determine its toxicity. +Not a single case of fatal poisoning +have we been able to find reported, +altho often alarming symptoms may +occur. A dog weighing about 25 +pounds received an injection of 2 +ounces of the U. S. P. fluidextract in +the jugular vein, with the expectation +that it would certainly be sufficient to +kill the animal. To our surprise the +animal after being unconscious for +about a day and a half, recovered completely. +Another dog received about +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span>7 grams of the solid extract with the +same result.”</p> + +<p>That herbivorous animals are even +less affected by it I know from my own +simple experiments. I gave a rabbit a +drachm and a half of the fluidextract +of cannabis. No sooner did I release +the animal than it began to nibble a +commonplace vegetable, indifferent to +the circumstance that it had been baptised +with the most precious opiate of +the orient. For four hours I watched +this member of the genus <i>Lepus</i>, but +no physical effects could be observed, +while the mild expression of its gentle +eyes induced me to conclude that all +mental manifestations were lacking to +such a degree that the bunny still worshiped +the rather material trinity of +crackers, carrots and cabbages. This +rabbit was sold to an experienced +dealer, and sometime later while passing +the store, I learnt it had become +the sire of a goodly progeny, but what +I really would like to learn is this: will +those little innocent rabbits—with their +asinine ears and angelic eyes—ever +know of their father’s enforced +hasheesh debauch?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span></p> + +<p>Few creatures have so slight a hold +on life as the pretty guinea-pig—which +does not come from Guinea and is not +a pig. A blow of the hand, a bit of +moisture, a breath of cold, and their +squealing is done. But they do not +mind cannabis. I chose a fine fellow, +anesthetized his glossy back with ethyl +chloride, and then by means of a hypodermic +syringe injected 100 minims +of the powerful fluidextract into his +circulation. There were no results. +After the elapse of some hours the generous +cavy so far forgot the incident +as to pull some sweet-pea pods from +my hand.</p> + +<p>Dr. O’Shaughnessy says that all his +experiments “tended to demonstrate +that, while carnivorous animals and +fish, dogs, cats, swine, vultures, crows, +and adjutants invariably and speedily +exhibited the intoxicating influence of +the drug, the graminivorous, such as +the horse, deer, monkey, goat, sheep, +and cow, experienced but trivial effects +from any dose we administered.” +Lieutaud and Mabillat say the same.</p> + +<p>Up to this period we have considered +hasheesh from the historic, botanic, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span>microscopic, chemic, physiologic, +therapeutic and pharmacologic viewpoints: +what then remains? Why, +friends, the best is yet to be, the last +for which the first was made—as +Browning would say.</p> + +<p>Why has everyone heard of opium? +Because of its somnifacient and myotic +properties? No, but because sixty +million pounds are consumed by people +for the purpose of pleasure. It is the +same with hasheesh. All heathens use +it to increase their joys: Moors, Mohammedans, +Malays, Burmese, Siamese, +Hindoos, Hottentots, Australian +Bushmen and Brazilian Indians—three +hundred millions of them. The grateful +Orientals have endowed their +hasheesh with such epithets as exciter +of desire, increaser of pleasure, cementer +of friendship, leaf of delusion, the +laughter-mover, causer of the reeling +gait. “It is real happiness,” says Monsieur +Moreau, and Herbert Spencer +quotes the sentence in his <i>Principles of +Psychology</i>,—“It is real happiness +which hasheesh causes.”</p> + +<p>It is unreasonable to suppose that a +powerful narcotic like cannabis will +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span>produce uniform results in all instances, +when it is notorious that even +coffee affects different people in different +ways; one lady drinks tea to keep +her awake at night, and her neighbor +drinks it to put her asleep; an Havana +cigar irritates Brown and tranquillizes +Jones; a glass of grog causes one man +to beat his children, and induces +another to give away his coat to strangers. +The constitutional peculiarity +of the subject must always be taken +into consideration: some folks are so +absurd as to become afflicted with nettle-rash +after partaking of delicious +strawberries; others are poisoned by an +egg; some become ill in the presence of +the violet, and others faint when they +smell the lily; Tissot mentions a person +who vomited if he took a grain of +sugar; Louis XIV had grand manners, +but he preferred the odor of cat’s urine +to that of the red rose. “Jack Sprat +could eat no fat, his wife could eat no +lean.” Idiosyncrasy may not be the +star performer, but it certainly plays +an important rôle in the therapeutic +drama.</p> + +<p>No drug in the entire Materia +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span>Medica is capable of producing such +a diversity of effects as cannabis +indica. “Of the action of hasheesh,” +writes Professor Stillé, “many and +various descriptions have been given +which differ so widely among themselves +that they would scarcely be +supposed to apply to the same agent, +had we not every day a no less remarkable +instance of the same kind +before us in the case of alcohol. +As the latter enlivens or saddens, excites +or depresses, fills with tenderness, +or urges to brutality, imparts vigor and +activity, or nauseates and weakens, so +does the former give rise to even a still +greater variety of phenomena, according +to the natural disposition of the +person, and his existing state of mind, +the quantity of the drug, and the combinations +in which it is taken.”</p> + +<p>And not only is there a contrariety +and dissimilarity of action, but sometimes +there is no action at all. Cannabis +is certainly the coquette of drugdom. +Take agaric, and it will stop +your perspiration—take jaborandi, and +it will sweat you half to death; take +creosote, and it will prevent emesis—take +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span>ipecac, and it will vomit you till +your very guts cry out for mercy; take +eserine, and your pupils will contract—take +atropine, and they will dilate; +veratrine will make you sneeze, the dust +of sanguinaria will give you a bloody +nose, aloes will act on your lower +bowel, podophyllum will work on the +upper, squill will make you pass water +by the quart, an injection of strychnine +will stimulate you, a dose of morphine +will put you in the arms of Morpheus,—but +take cannabis, and who can predict +the result? It may do wondrous +things to you, and it may let you strictly +alone.</p> + +<p>To a worker on the Associated Press +named I. M. Norr, I gave 30 minims +of the fluidextract. There were no +results. To a law student named +Aaron Wolman, I gave 40 minims. +There was no more effect than if he +had taken 40 drops of water. It must +be added, however, that these experimenters, +instead of putting themselves +in a receptive state, had determined beforehand +to fight the influence of the +drug. On the evening of May 18th, +1910, I gave 25 minims to Dr. Anna +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span>Mercy, and altho she threw herself at +the shrine of science in a way that +must have astonished the sober old +altar of experiment, there were no results +worth mentioning, except that +while in the evening she looked respectable, +in the morning she looked +disreputable.</p> + +<p>Had all my experiments turned out +thus, this essay would never have been +written. But I have had results fully +as interesting as those achieved by +O’Shaughnessy, Moreau, Mabillat, +Reidel, Schroff, Wood, Bell, Christison, +Aubert, and many others, including +our gifted traveler-poet Bayard +Taylor.</p> + +<p>My brother Frederic Robinson +took 25 minims in the presence of some +ladies whom he had invited to witness +the fun. An hour passed without results. +A second hour followed, but—to +use the slang of the street—there +was nothing doing. The third hour +promised to be equally fruitless, and +as it was already late in the evening, +the ladies said good-by. No sooner +did they leave the room, than I heard +the hasheesh-laugh. The hemp was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span>doing its work. In a shrill voice my +brother was exclaiming, “What foo-oolish +people, what foo-oo-ool-ish +people to leave just when the show is +beginning.” The ladies came back. +And it was a show. Frederic made +Socialistic speeches, and argued warmly +for the cause of Woman Suffrage. +He grew most affectionate and insisted +on holding a lady’s hand. His face +was flushed, his eyes were half closed, +his abdomen seemed uneasy, but his +spirit was happy. He sang, he +rhymed, he declaimed, he whistled, he +mimicked, he acted. He pleaded so +passionately for the rights of Humanity +that it seemed he was using up the +resources of his system. But he was +tireless. With both hands he gesticulated, +and would brook no interruption.</p> + +<p>Peculiar ideas suggested themselves. +For instance, he said something was +“sheer nonsense,” and then reasoned as +follows: “Since shears are the same as +scissors, instead of sheer nonsense I +can say scissors nonsense.” He also +said, “I will give you a kick in the +tickle”—and was much amused by the +expression.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span></p> +<p>At all times he recognized those +about him, and remained conscious of +his surroundings. When the approach +of dawn forced the ladies to depart, +Frederic made a somewhat unsavory +joke, and immediately exclaimed triumphantly, +“I wouldn’t have said that +if the ladies were here for a million +dollars.” Someone yawned deeply, and +being displeased by the unexpected appearance +of a gaping orifice, Frederic +melodramatically gave utterance to +this Gorky-like phrase: “From the +depths of dirtiness and despair there +rose a sickly odorous yawn”—and instantly +he remarked that the first portion +of this sentence was alliterative! +Is it not strange that such consciousness +and such intoxication can exist in the +same brain simultaneously?</p> + +<p>The next day he remembered all that +occurred, was in excellent spirits, +laughed much and easily, and felt himself +above the petty things of this +world.</p> + +<p>On May 19th, 1910, this world was +excited over the visit of Halley’s comet. +It is pleasant to remember that the +celestial guest attracted as much attention +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span>as a political campaign or a +game of baseball. On the evening of +this day, at 10 o’clock, I gave 45 +minims to a court stenographer named +Henry D. Demuth. At 11.30 the effects +of the drug became apparent, and +Mr. Demuth lost consciousness of his +surroundings to such an extent that he +imagined himself an inhabitant of Sir +Edmund Halley’s nebulous planet. +He despised the earth and the dwellers +thereon; he called it a miserable little +flea-bite, and claimed its place in the +cosmos was no more important than +a flea-jump. With a scornful finger +he pointed below, and said in a voice +of contempt, “That little joke down +there, called the earth.”</p> + +<p>“Victor,” he said, “you’re a fine +fellow, you’re the smartest man in +Harlem, you’ve got the god in you, +but the best thoughts you write are low +compared to the things we think up +here.” A little later he condescended +to take me up with him, and said, “Victor, +we’re up in the realm now, and +we’ll make money when we get down +on that damned measly earth again; +they respect Demuth on earth.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span></p> +<p>He imitated how Magistrate Butts +calls a prisoner to the bar. “Butts,” +he explained, “is the best of them. +Butts—Buts—cigarette-butts.” If this +irrelevant line should ever fall beneath +the dignified eyes of His Honor, instead +of fining his devoted stenographer +for contempt of court, may he +bear in his learned mind the fact that +under the influence of narcotics men +are mentally irresponsible.</p> + +<p>By this time Mr. Demuth’s vanity +was enormous. “God, Mark Twain +and I are chums,” he remarked casually. +“God is wise, and I am wise. +And to think that people <i>dictate</i> to +me!”</p> + +<p>He imagined he had material for a +great book. “I’m giving you the +thoughts; slap them down, we’ll make +a fortune and go whacks. We’ll make +a million. I’ll get half and Vic will +get half. With half a million we’ll +take it easy for a while on this damned +measly earth. We’ll live till a hundred +and two, and then we’ll skedaddle didoo. +At one hundred and two it will +be said of Henry Disque Demuth that +he shuffled off this mortal coil. We’ll +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span>skip into the great idea—hooray! +hooray! Take down everything that +is signifi<i>cant</i>—with an accent on the +<i>cant</i>—Immanuel Kant was a wise man, +and I’m a wise man; I am wise, because +I’m wise.”</p> + +<p>It is to be regretted that in spite of +all the gabble concerning the volume +that was to make both of us rich, not +even one line was dictated by the inspired +author. In fact he got no further +than the title, and it must be admitted +that of all titles in the world, +this is the least catchy. It is as follows: +“Wise is God; God is Wise.”</p> + +<p>Later came a variation in the form +of a hissing sound which was meant +to be an imitation of the whizzing of +Halley’s comet; there was a wild +swinging of the sheets as a welcome to +the President; a definition of religion +as the greatest joke ever perpetrated; +some hasheesh-laughter; and the utterance +of this original epigram: Shakespeare, +seltzer-beer, be cheerful.</p> + +<p>A little later all variations ceased, +for the subject became a monomaniac, +or at any rate, a fanatic. He became +thoroly imbued with the great idea +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span>that the right attitude to preserve +towards life is to take all things on +earth as a joke. Hundreds and hundreds +and hundreds of times he repeated: +“The idea of the great idea, +the idea of the great idea, the idea of +the great idea.” No question could +steer him out of this track. “Who’s +up on the comet? Any pretty girls +there?” asked Frederic. “The great +idea is up there,” was the answer.</p> + +<p>“Where would you fall if you fell +off the comet?”</p> + +<p>“I’d fall into the great idea.”</p> + +<p>“What do you do when you want to +eat and have no money?”</p> + +<p>“You have to get the idea.”</p> + +<p>“When will you get married?”</p> + +<p>“When I get the idea.”</p> + +<p>Midnight came, and he was still +talking about his great idea. At one +o’clock I felt bored. “If you don’t +talk about anything else except the +idea, we’ll have to quit,” I said.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” he replied, “we’ll all quit, +we’ll all be wrapped up in the great +idea.” He took out his handkerchief +to blow his nose, remarking, “The idea +of my nose.” I approached him. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span>“Don’t interfere,” he cried, “I’m off +with the great idea.”</p> + +<p>I began to descend the stairs. When +half way down I stopped to listen. +He was still a monomaniac. Had he +substituted the word thought or theory +or conception or notion or belief or +opinion or supposition or hypothesis +or syllogism or tentative conjecture, I +would have returned. But as I still +heard only the idea of the great idea, +I went to bed.</p> + +<p>In the morning his countenance was +ashen, which formed a marked contrast +to its extreme redness the evening +before. He should have slept +longer, but I thought of the duties to +be performed for Judge Butts, and determined +to arouse him, altho I knew +my touch would cast him down from +the glorious Halley’s comet to the +measly little flea-bite of an earth, besides +jarring the idea of the great idea.</p> + +<p>So I shook him, but instead of manifesting +anger, he smiled and extended +his hand cordially, as if he had not +seen me for a long time. The effects +of the drug had not entirely disappeared, +and his friends at work thought +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span>him drunk, and asked with whom he +had been out all night. Mr. Demuth +was in first-class spirits, he bubbled +over with idealism, and felt a contempt +for all commercial transactions. +He was the American Bernard Shaw, +and looked upon the universe as a joke +of the gods. While adding some +figures of considerable importance—as +salaries depended upon the results—a +superintendent passed. Mr. +Demuth pointed to the column that +needed balancing, and asked, “This is +all a joke, isn’t it?” Not appreciating +the etiology of the query, the superintendent +nodded and passed on.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>One midnight, while preparing to retire, +it occurred to Courtenay Lemon +that this was a good time for him to try +hasheesh. As I did not discourage +him in the slightest degree, 30 minims +were forthwith swallowed, with the +result that the Socialist dramatic critic +spent an unusual night. It must be remarked +that over the bed on which he +lay hangs a portrait of Ralph Waldo +Emerson. For an hour and a quarter +we discussed various topics of mutual +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span>interest, such as decadent poetry, and +Marx’s influence on the revolutionary +youth of Russia. The conversation +was cut short by the hasheesh-laugh.</p> + +<p>It had begun: the flood of laughter +was loose, the deluge of mirth poured +forth, the cascade of cachinnation +rushed on till it swelled into a torrent +of humor while the waves of snickering +and tittering mingled with the +freshets of hilarity and jollity till the +whole flowed into a marvelous Niagara +of merriment. What a pity the audience +was so small! What a shame the +old humorists could not be present! +How the belly of Aristophanes would +have thundered a loud <i>papapappax</i>, +how Scarron would have grinned, how +Sydney Smith would have enjoyed it, +how Tom Moore would have held his +aching sides, how Rabelais would have +raised the rafters with his loud ho-ho-hos! +But as these gentlemen were unavoidably +detained elsewhere, I must +testify that it was the funniest show on +earth,—so here’s to you, Courtenay +Lemon, you Leyden jar of laughter, +charged to the limit.</p> + +<p>Never having been a disciple of good +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span>old Isaac Pitman, I could not record +all that was said, but here are my +notes: “I feel a satisfaction,” he says, +“in seeing Emerson’s picture, as I always +felt like laughing at him.” Rolls +on the bed and laughs uncontrollably. +“It makes my face tired,” he explains. +In reply to my question, he answers +that he enjoys laughing. Begins to +expound something, but is stopped by a +laughing fit. Says he would like to +have his photo taken now, and then +laughs immoderately. Says it doesn’t +seem so much like laughing as like letting +wind out of a bag. Says it is +worth while staying up to see such a +show. Giggles terrifically. Says +“Open the window, as I am using up +all the air.” Laughs loud and long. +Strangely enough his laughter begins to +sound exactly like a negro’s, as represented +on the stage. He recognizes +this and says “I’se laughin’ now jes’ +like a niggah.” He is extraordinarily +comical. From top to bottom his +body is shaking with laughter. He +twirls his arms, kicks his feet, and for +the first time I understand what Milton +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span>meant when he wrote “the light fantastic +toe.”</p> + +<p>“I feel as if any way I put my leg +I have to keep it. If I stuck it in the +air and kept it there—wouldn’t that be +funny?” Loud laughing. Imitates +the music of a military band. His +eyes glisten with pleasure, his whole +countenance is beaming, and he seems +infinitely delighted with himself. “Forward +march!” he exclaims. He plays +a fife and beats a drum: Boom! Boom! +Boom! Says sternly, “I don’t want +this band to play any patriotic air, not +even in my sleep.”</p> + +<p>“Ladies and gentlemen, I tell you a +story. You think I’m a damn fool, +don’t you?” Laughter. “This reminds +me of a story.” Laughter. +“O what a damn fool am I!” Laughter. +“I’m going to tell that story,” he +says determinedly. Makes several attempts, +but it is a difficult feat, on account +of the frequent outbursts of +laughter, and because it is next to impossible +for him to concentrate his +thoughts. At last he gets this out: “A +man said he hadn’t laughed so much +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span>since his mother-in-law died. Oh, +how funny!”</p> + +<p>“Mr. Courtenay Lemon: Imitation +of laughter. Pretty good, eh?” +Makes a speech, imitates the gestures, +and bows as politely as it is possible +for one who is stretched out in bed.</p> + +<p>“This would be a good dope to try +on a fellow who is accused of having +no sense of humor. Oh, I’m getting +funnier every minute.”</p> + +<p>“Emerson, O you, you were a kid +once too, weren’t you? I don’t believe +you ever were. If I had a rotten +egg I’d throw it at you.”</p> + +<p>“There’s a blue phosphorescent light +in your face,—.”</p> + +<p>“I’d rather laugh than vomit any +day.” Strikes the bowl which was +placed near him in case the cannabis +produced emesis. “But I’m not a dog +and I’ll not return to my vomit. That +dog was a damn fool. There are a lot +of things in the Bible that are damn +fool things.”</p> + +<p>“I’ve been doing all sorts of laughter. +Couldn’t you have a system of +prosody, and divide it off into feet like +poetry, and have a Laughing Poet +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span>whose contributions would be accepted +by the comic papers?” Whistles and +sings and drums rhythmically with his +finger-tips on the bowl.</p> + +<p>When I confirm a statement of his +by answering “Yes,” he says, “Don’t +be butting in, Victor, this is my show.” +Points his finger at me and laughs. +Sensations must be very acute, for +while clearing my throat to say something, +but before uttering anything, he +hears me and exclaims. “There you +go, butting in again. But don’t be +afraid, I’m not getting pugnacious; it +all ends in laughter.” But for a moment +does become quarrelsome.</p> + +<p>“I had a good thought, but I don’t +know what’s best: to stick to the +thought or stick to the laughter?”</p> + +<p>“If Chauncey Depew should be +wrecked in the New York Central, +wouldn’t that be funny? Would it be +poetic justice? No, it would be the +justice of laughter. Oh, it would be +the laughter of the gods!” He raises +himself and swings his arm dramatically. +Laughter leaps from his insides +as if it were a geyser spouting up, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span>rushes from his lips as if it were a +cataract bounding down a boulder.</p> + +<p>He theorizes about egoism and Max +Stirner, but I can not jot down the +reflection in its entirety.</p> + +<p>He says I have no sense of humor +to sit there taking notes, instead of +joining him in laughing.</p> + +<p>“Of course you understand why I +am laughing. But your old cook—if +she hears me, she’ll send for the police.”</p> + +<p>“It’s too bad that when I’m having +such a good time, I should be troubled +by a dry taste in the mouth. It’s +another evidence that the world was +created by a damn fool or a lunatic. +There is always some little thing that +interferes.”</p> + +<p>Talks sensibly awhile, and then says +impatiently: “I want to stop all this +talking, and get to laughing again. +I’m not complaining about the effects +from hasheesh, because I consider it +worth everything.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, tell me, pretty maiden, why +can’t a little canary bird whistle a +symphony, for instance, Tchaykovsky’s +<i>Le Pathetique</i>?” Whistles, +waves his hand fantastically. “As +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span>damn little as I know about music, not +having been gifted by nature in that +direction”—twists his arms in a grotesque +manner—“I’m able to get a +bunch out of Tchaykovsky. I don’t +mean Comrade Tchaykovsky, the revolutionist +in Russia, I mean Peter +Ilitch Tchaykovsky. The itch of that +Ilitch—it seems like a personal ailment, +it sounds insulting.”</p> + +<p>Throws a piece of paper at me, but +says, “Don’t be afraid, I’ll break no +bones.”</p> + +<p>I ask him to tell the time. He gazes +intently at the clock, and says, “I want +to get it exactly on the fraction of +a second. But it changes so quickly, I +can’t.” Gives it up in disgust.</p> + +<p>Claims a heavy feeling is creeping +over him, and wonders if it is due to +increased blood-pressure. “But what +am I beginning to talk serious for? I +could keep on laughing for a couple +of weeks, except that I don’t want to +keep you up.”</p> + +<p>“If Spencer had been more of a sport +and had taken some of this stuff, he +would have had material for his essay, +<i>The Physiology of Laughter</i>.” To +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span>see a man drugged with hasheesh quoting +the profoundest of synthetic philosophers +is too much for my gravity, +and for a moment my scream of laughter +eclipses even his.</p> + +<p>“Ah, I’m beginning to get light +again. It’s much nicer to be light and +delicate. To be a filmy butterfly, and +float in fancy,”—his face assumes an +expression of poetic beauty, and he +speculates whether man should live a +life of beauty or of duty.</p> + +<p>“Oh, I’m willing to laugh....” +Throws off the blankets and cries, +“Throw off the bonds of all existence!”</p> + +<p>I ask him what day it is. “I hope,” +says he, with a melodramatic wave +of the hand, “I will express the modest +hope, that in accordance to my +wishes, and in conformity to my desires, +it is Sunday night! Sunday +night! Sunday night!”</p> + +<p>Sits up, looks at me roughishly and +laughs.</p> + +<p>“I feel a metalliferous touch within +me.” “I’d rather have a cramp in +my leg than in my brain. Some +people would call this a brain-cramp, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span>wouldn’t they?” Laughs, kicks up +his legs.</p> + +<p>“If you got erotic while laughing, +wouldn’t it be blasphemy? Worse than +laughing in church.”</p> + +<p>“Have no illusions of death yet. I +am still in a position to laugh death +in the face, to laugh death in the face, +to laugh ...”—and he proves it. +He claps his hands together merrily.</p> + +<p>Has a lucid moment, looks at the +clock, and says simply and correctly, +“10 to 3.”</p> + +<p>Imitates a Frenchman most admirably, +accent, gestures, etc.</p> + +<p>The door opens, and my father—who +has found it impossible to sleep +with a roaring volcano in the house—enters. +I ask Mr. Lemon to tell +my father about Chauncey Depew and +the Grand Central. Mr. Lemon is +highly pleased, and repeats the story +with intense zest. He enlarges it, and +claims Depew has got Elbert Hubbard +beat as a hypocrite. He says all who +believe Depew deserves to be killed +should signify it by saying Aye, and +then he himself, as if he were a whole +assembly, shouts out, Aye! Aye! Aye! +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span>“The Ayes have it,” he announces with +the air of a man who has just won +an important victory. My father and +I laugh heartily. There is no limit +to Mr. Lemon’s happiness. “That’s +right,” he says, “it’s good, take it +down, old man.”</p> + +<p>He cannot bear a moment’s abstinence +from laughter. “Cast aside all +irrelevant hypotheses, and get to the +laughing. I proclaim the supremacy +of the laugh, laughter inextinguishable, +laughter eternal, the divine laughter +of the gods.”</p> + +<p>My father leaves the room. “Everything +has a comic element if you look +at it right. It seemed to me that your +father went down into the cellar because +he couldn’t sleep on account of +my damn foolishness.” He wallows +in amusement, but at the same time +expresses sincere regret that he is preventing +my father and me from sleeping, +and says next time he will take +hasheesh in the daytime.</p> + +<p>My father re-enters, and desires to +feel his pulse. At first Mr. Lemon +objects vehemently to being touched, +but then smiles the sweetest of smiles, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span>and with the demeanor of a martyred +Bruno marching to the stake, stretches +forth his hand, saying, “In the interests +of science I am willing.” But +after a few seconds Mr. Lemon pulls +his hand impatiently away, and exclaims +angrily, “You’ve been holding +it half an hour.” His pulse is about +100.</p> + +<p>“Come on in, the hasheesh is fine! +You laugh and laugh and laugh and +laugh like an imbecile. Who can +laugh in more ways than me? Not +any fellow that I can see.”</p> + +<p>Begins to philosophize about savages, +but loses the thread of his +thoughts. I remind him what he was +talking about; he thinks a moment, +taps his forehead significantly, and +says, “There was a laugh there before, +and now I’ve lost it.”</p> + +<p>“Every tick of the clock is another +instant that you’re wasting time over +this damn foolishness.”</p> + +<p>“Laughter is indisputable and for +its own sake. I proclaim the laugh +for the laugh’s sake.” The English +tongue is insufficient for him; he coins +words of his own: “Laughfinity!” he +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span>shouts. “Laughinosity!” he screams. +“The whole world is a blooming joke.”</p> + +<p>“Which is best,” he asks innocently, +“the Laughing Goddess, or the Goddess +of Laughter?” “The Laughing +Goddess,” answers my father. Exultation +shines thru the dilated pupils +of the questioner, as he responds, “I +knew I would catch you. The Laughing +Goddess reminds you by the association +of ideas of the laughing +hyena, and then instead of being the +goddess presiding over the divine +function of laughter, she becomes a +laughing stock.”</p> + +<p>I ask him something about figures. +“Figures,” he answers, “are intellectually +beneath me. In short, I would +never be a great mathematician. Yet +I appreciate the metaphysics of mathematics. +I adore, I prostrate myself +before mathematics as long as there +are no figures in it.” Hearing our +laughter, he explains, “Yet this isn’t +so foolish as it seems. Up to a certain +point in geometry there are no +figures.”</p> + +<p>“I would have talked more sensibly +if Emerson had not been there.” +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span>Bangs his legs against the edge of the +bed; my father asks him if he hurt +himself. “Not on a material plane; +it was a psychic jar of which you cannot +conceive.”</p> + +<p>Speaks in a declamatory tone: “I +am all the time on the borderline between +Science and Folly. Which god +shall ye follow, young man?”</p> + +<p>My father tells him he can stop +laughing if he wishes. “No, sir,” +comes the emphatic response, “not if +you lived in my world. It is a categorical +imperative in the world of +hasheesh: Thou shalt laugh.”</p> + +<p>It is already four o’clock in the +morning. I am loath to leave this +frolicsome dynamo of blithesomeness, +this continuous current of good-cheer, +this generator of joyousness, but there +is a hard day’s work before me and +I need a little sleep, so with a last look +at his Mirthful Majesty, I leave him +alone in his glory and his giggles.</p> + +<p>Four hours later I peep in. The intellectual +merry-andrew who criticizes +the Concord Transcendentalist and +juggles philosophic conceptions even +under the effects of dope, is motionless. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span>Lassitude has usurped the throne of +laughter.</p> + +<p>I cannot tell what effect the reading +of this case will produce on others, +but in me it awakens such risibility +that I hope never to think of it on an +occasion when silence or solemnity is +enjoined; for if I do, there is danger +of my being ejected as unceremoniously +as was Washington Irving on the day +he laughed at <i>The Art of Book Making</i>, +in the grave sanctuary of the +British Museum.</p> + +<p class="break">There yet remains my own case. +On March 4th, 1910, I came home, +feeling very tired. I found that some +cannabis indica which I had expected +had arrived. After supper, while finishing +up an article, I began to debate +with myself whether I should join the +hasheesh-eaters that night. The argument +ended in my taking 20 minims +at 9 o’clock. I was alone in the room, +and no one was aware that I had +yielded to temptation. An hour later +I wrote in my memoranda book: Absolutely +no effect. At 10.30, I completed +my article, and entered this +note: No effect at all from the hemp. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span>By this time I was exhausted, and being +convinced that the hasheesh would +not act, I went to bed in disappointment. +I fell asleep immediately.</p> + +<p>I hear music. There is something +strange about this music. I have not +heard such music before. The anthem +is far away, but in its very faintness +there is a lure. In the soft surge and +swell of the minor notes there breathes +a harmony that ravishes the sense of +sound. A resonant organ, with a stop +of sapphire and a diapason of opal, +diffuses endless octaves from star to +star. All the moon-beams form +strings to vibrate the perfect pitch, +and this entrancing unison is poured +into my enchanted ears. Under such +a spell, who can remain in a bed? The +magic of that melody bewitches my +soul. I begin to rise horizontally from +my couch. No walls impede my progress, +and I float into the outside air. +Sweeter and sweeter grows the music, +it bears me higher and higher, and I +float in tune with the infinite—under +the turquoise heavens where globules +of mercury are glittering.</p> + +<p>I become an unhindered wanderer +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span>thru unending space. No air-ship can +go here, I say. I am astonished at the +vastness of infinity. I always knew +it was large, I argue, but I never +dreamt it was as huge as this. I desire +to know how fast I am floating +thru the air, and I calculate that it +must be about a billion miles a second.</p> + +<p>I am transported to wonderland. I +walk in streets where gold is dirt, and +I have no desire to gather it. I wonder +whether it is worth while to explore +the canals of Mars, or rock myself +on the rings of Saturn, but before +I can decide, a thousand other fancies +enter my excited brain.</p> + +<p>I wish to see if I can concentrate my +mind sufficiently to recite something, +and I succeed in correctly quoting this +stanza from a favorite poem which I +am perpetually re-reading:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0a">“Come into the garden, Maud,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">For the black bat, night, has flown,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Come into the garden, Maud,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I am here at the gate alone;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the woodbine spices are wafted abroad,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And the musk of the rose is blown.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>It occurs to me that it is high honor +for Tennyson to have his poetry +quoted in heaven.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span></p> + +<p>I turn, I twist, I twirl. I melt, I +fade, I dissolve. No diaphanous cloud +is so light and airy as I. I admire the +ease with which I float. My gracefulness +fills me with delight. My +body is not subject to the law of gravitation. +I sail dreamily along, lost in +exquisite intoxication.</p> + +<p>New scenes of wonder continually +unravel themselves before my astonished +eyes. I say to myself that if +I could only record one one-thousandth +of the ideas which come to me every +second, I would be considered a +greater poet than Milton.</p> + +<p>I am on the top of a high mountain-peak. +I am alone—only the romantic +night envelops me. From a distant +valley I hear the gentle tinkling of +cow-bells. I float downwards, and +find immense fields in which peacock’s +tails are growing. They wave slowly, +to better exhibit their dazzling ocelli, +and I revel in the gorgeous colors. I +pass over mountains and I sail over +seas. I am the monarch of the air.</p> + +<p>I hear the songs of women. Thousands +of maidens pass near me, they +bend their bodies in the most charming +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span>curves, and scatter beautiful flowers +in my fragrant path. Some faces +are strange, some I knew on earth, +but all are lovely. They smile, and +sing and dance. Their bare feet glorify +the firmament. It is more than +flesh can stand. I grow sensual unto +satyriasis. The aphrodisiac effect is +astonishing in its intensity. I enjoy +all the women of the world. I pursue +countless maidens thru the confines +of heaven. A delicious warmth suffuses +my whole body. Hot and blissful +I float thru the universe, consumed +with a resistless passion. And in the +midst of this unexampled and unexpected +orgy, I think of the case reported +by the German Dr. Reidel, +about a drug-clerk who took a huge +dose of hasheesh to enjoy voluptuous +visions, but who heard not even the +rustle of Aphrodite’s garment, and I +laugh at him in scorn and derision.</p> + +<p>I sigh deeply, open my eyes, and find +myself sitting with one foot in bed, +and the other on my desk. I am +bathed in warm sweat which is pleasant. +But my head aches, and there is +a feeling in my stomach which I recognize +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span>and detest. It is nausea. I pull +the basket near me, and await the inevitable +result. At the same time I +feel like begging for mercy, for I have +traveled so far and so long, and I am +tired beyond limit, and I need a rest. +The fatal moment approaches, and I +lower my head for the easier deposition +of the rising burden. And my +head seems monstrously huge, and +weighted with lead. At last the deed +is done, and I lean back on the pillow.</p> + +<p>I hear my sister come home from +the opera. I wish to call her. My +sister’s name is Ellen. I try to say it, +but I cannot. The effort is too much. +I sigh in despair. It occurs to me +that I may achieve better results if +I compromise on Nell, as this contains +one syllable instead of two. Again +I am defeated. I am too weary to +exert myself to any extent, but I am +determined. I make up my mind to +collect all my strength, and call out: +Nell. The result is a fizzle. No +sound issues from my lips. My lips +do not move. I give it up. My head +falls on my breast, utterly exhausted +and devoid of all energy.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span></p> + +<p>Again my brain teems. Again I +hear that high and heavenly harmony, +again I float to the outposts of the +universe and beyond, again I see the +dancing maidens with their soft yielding +bodies, white and warm. I am +excited unto ecstasy. I feel myself a +brother to the Oriental, for the same +drug which gives him joy is now acting +on me. I am conscious all the +time, and I say to myself in a knowing +way with a suspicion of a smile: +All these visions because of 20 +minims of cannabis indica. My only +regret is that the trances are ceaseless. +I wish respite, but for answer I +find myself floating over an immense +ocean. Then the vision grows so +wondrous, that body and soul I give +myself up to it, and I taste the fabled +joys of paradise. Ah, what this night +is worth!</p> + +<p>The music fades, the beauteous girls +are gone, and I float no more. But +the black rubber covering of my typewriter +glows like a chunk of yellow +phosphorus. By one door stands a +skeleton with a luminous abdomen +and brandishes a wooden sword. By +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span>the other door a little red devil keeps +guard. I open my eyes wide, I close +them tight, but these spectres will not +vanish. I know they are not real, I +know I see them because I took +hasheesh, but they annoy me nevertheless. +I become uncomfortable, even +frightened. I make a superhuman effort, +and succeed in getting up and +lighting the gas. It is two o’clock. +Everything is the way it should be, except +that in the basket I notice the remains +of an orange—somewhat the +worse for wear.</p> + +<p>I feel relieved, and fall asleep. +Something is handling me, and I start +in fright. I open my eyes and see my +father. He has returned from a meeting +at the Academy of Medicine, and +surprised at seeing a light in my room +at such a time, has entered. He surmises +what I have done, and is anxious +to know what quantity I have +taken. I should have answered, with +a wink, <i>quantum sufficit</i>, but I have +no inclination for conversation; on +hearing the question repeated, I answer, +“Twenty minims.” He tells me +I look as pale as a ghost, and brings me +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span>a glass of water. I drink it, become +quite normal, and thus ends the most +wonderful night of my existence.</p> + +<p>In the morning my capacity for happiness +is considerably increased. I +have an excellent appetite, the coffee +I sip is nectar, and the white bread +ambrosia. I take my camera, and +walk to Central Park. It is a glorious +day. Everyone I meet is idealized. +The lake never looked so placid +before. I enter the hot-houses, and +a gaudy-colored insect buzzing among +the lovely flowers fills me with joy. +I am too languid to take any pictures; +to set the focus, to use the proper +stop, to locate the image, to press the +bulb—all these seem herculean feats +which I dare not even attempt. But +I walk and walk, without apparent effort, +and my mind eagerly dwells on +the brilliant pageantry of the night before. +I do not wish to forget my +frenzied nocturnal revelry upon the +vast dome of the broad blue heavens. +I wish to remember forever, the floating, +the mercury-globules, the peacock-feathers, +the colors, the music, the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span>women. In memory I enjoy the carnival +all over again.</p> + +<p>“For the brave Meiamoun,” writes +Theophile Gautier, “Cleopatra danced; +she was apparelled in a robe of green, +open at either side; castanets were attached +to her alabaster hands.... +Poised on the pink tips of her little +feet, she approached swiftly to graze +his forehead with a kiss; then she recommenced +her wondrous art, and +flitted around him, now backward-leaning, +with head reversed, eyes half-closed, +arms lifelessly relaxed, locks +uncurled and loose-hanging like a +bacchante of Mount Maenalus; now +again active, animated, laughing, fluttering, +more tireless and capricious in +her movements than the pilfering bee. +Heart-consuming love, sensual pleasure, +burning passion, youth inexhaustible +and ever-fresh, the promise +of bliss to come—she expressed +all.... The modest stars had +ceased to contemplate the scene; their +golden eyes could not endure such a +spectacle; the heaven itself was blotted +out, and a dome of flaming vapor covered +the hall.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</span></p> + +<p>But for me a thousand Cleopatras +caroused—and did not present me a +vase of poison to drain at a draught. +Again I repeated to myself: “And all +these charming miracles because of 20 +minims of <i>Fluidextractum Cannabis +Indicæ</i>, U. S. P.”</p> + +<p>By the afternoon I had so far recovered +as to be able to concentrate +my mind on technical studies. I will +not attempt to interpret my visions +psychologically, but I wish to refer to +one aspect. Spencer, in <i>Principles of +Psychology</i>, mentions hasheesh as possessing +the power of reviving ideas. +I found this to be the case. I spoke +about air-ships because there had been +a discussion about them at supper; I +quoted from Tennyson’s <i>Maud</i> because +I had been re-reading it; I saw +mercury-globules in the heavens because +that same day I had worked with +mercury in preparing mercurial plaster; +and I saw the peacock-tails because +a couple of days previous I had +been at the Museum of Natural History +and had closely observed a magnificent +specimen. I cannot account for +the women.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</span></p> + +<p>All poets—with the possible exception +of Margaret Sangster—have celebrated +Alcohol, while Rudyard Kipling +has gone so far as to solemnize +delirium tremens; B. V. has glorified +Nicotine; DeQuincy has immortalized +Opium; Murger is full of praise for +Caffeine; Dumas in <i>Monte Cristo</i> has +apotheosized Hasheesh, Gautier has +vivified it in <i>Club des Hachichins</i>, +Baudelaire has panegyrized it in <i>Artificial +Paradises</i>, but as few American +pens have done so, I have taken it upon +myself to write a sonnet to the most +interesting plant that blooms:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Near Punjab and Pab, in Sutlej and Sind,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where the cobras-di-capello abound,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where the poppy, palm and the tamarind,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With cummin and ginger festoon the ground—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the capsicum fields are all abloom,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From the hills above to the vales below,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Entrancing the air with a rich perfume,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There too does the greenish Cannabis grow:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inflaming the blood with the living fire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Till the burning joys like the eagles rise,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the pulses throb with a strange desire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While passion awakes with a wild surprise:—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O to eat that drug, and to dream all day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the maids that live by the Bengal Bay!</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</span></p> +<h2> +APPENDIX +</h2> +</div> + +<p>Mr. Courtenay Lemon has written +the following memorandum of the +subjective features of his experience:</p> + +<p>The first symptom which told me +that the drug was beginning to take +effect was a feeling of extreme lightness. +I seemed to be hollowing out +inside, in some magical manner, until +I became a mere shell, ready to float +away into space. This was soon succeeded, +in one of the breathless intervals +of my prodigious laughter, by a +diametrically opposite sensation of extreme +solidity and leaden weight. It +seemed to me that I had changed into +metal of some sort. There was a +metallic taste in my mouth; in some +inexplicable way the surfaces of my +body seemed to communicate to my +consciousness a metalliferous feeling; +and I imagined that if struck I would +give forth a metallic ring. This +heavy and metallic feeling travelled +rapidly upwards from the feet to the +chest, where it stopped, leaving my +head free for the issuance of the +storms of laughter. Most of the time +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span>my arms and legs seemed to be so +leaden that it required Herculean effort +to move them, but under any special +stimulus, such as the entrance of +a third person, the vagrant conception +of a new idea, or an unusually hearty +fit of laughing, this feeling of unliftable +heaviness in the limbs and torso +would be forgotten and I would move +freely, waving my arms with great +vigor and enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>Thruout the experiment I experienced +a peculiar double consciousness. +I was perfectly aware that my laughter, +etc., was the result of having taken +the drug, yet I was powerless to stop +it, nor did I care to do so, for I enjoyed +it as thoroly as if it had arisen +from natural causes. In the same way +the extension of the sense of time induced +by the drug was in itself indubitable +and as cogent as any normal +evidence of the senses, yet I remained +able to convince myself at any moment +by reflection that my sense of time +was fallacious. I divided these impressions +into hasheesh-time and real time. +But in their alternations, so rapid as +to seem simultaneous, both these standards +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span>of time seemed equally valid. +For instance, once or twice when my +friend spoke of something I had said +a second before, I was impatient and +replied: “What do you want to go +back to that for? That was a long +time ago. What’s the use of going +back into the past?” At the next moment, +however, I would recognize, +purely as a matter of logic, that he +was replying to the sentence before the +last that I had uttered, and would thus +realize that the remark to which he referred +was separated from the present +only by a moment’s interval. I did +not, however, at any time on this occasion, +attain the state sometimes +reached in the second stage of hasheesh +intoxication in which mere time +disappears in an eternity wherein +ages rush by like ephemera; nor did +I experience any magnification of the +sense of space, my experiences in regard +to such extensions being confined +to an intermittent multiplication of the +sense of time.</p> + +<p>When my laughter began it seemed +for an instant to be mechanical, as if +produced by some external power +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</span>which forced air in and out of my +lungs; it seemed for an instant to proceed +from the body rather than from +the mind; to be, in its inception, merely +physical laughter without a corresponding +psychic state of amusement. +But this was only momentary. After +the first few moments I enjoyed laughing +immensely. I felt an inclination +to joke as well as to laugh, and I remember +saying: “I am going to have +some reason for this laughing, so I +will tell a story; if I have to laugh anyway, +I’m going to supply good reasons +for doing so, as it would be idiotic to +laugh about nothing.” I thereupon +proceeded to relate an anecdote. Altho +I knew that my condition was the +result of the drug, I was nevertheless +filled with a genuine sense of profound +hilarity, an eager desire to impart +similar merriment to others, and a feeling +of immense geniality and mirth, +accompanied by sentiments of the most +expansive good-will.</p> + +<p>Against the effects of the drug, +much as I enjoyed and yielded to it, +there was opposed a preconceived intention. +I had determined to tell my +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</span>friend Victor Robinson, who was +taking notes of my condition, just how +I felt; had determined to supply as +much data as possible in regard to my +sensations. The result was that I repeatedly +summoned all the rational +energy that remained to me, and +fought desperately to express the +thoughts that came to me, whether +ridiculous or analytical. Sometimes +when I felt myself slipping away again +into laughter or dreaminess I summoned +all my strength to say what I +had in mind, and would lose the thread +of my thought and could not remember +what I wanted to say, but would +return to it again and again with the +utmost determination and tenacity until +I succeeded in saying what I wished +to—sometimes an observation about +my sensations, often only a jest about +my condition. I believe that this +acted as a great resistant to the effect +of the drug. The energy of the drug +was dissipated, I think, in overcoming +my will to observe and analyze my sensations, +and it was probably for this +reason that I did not pass very far on +this occasion into the second stage in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</span>which laughter gives place to grandiose +visions and charming hallucinations.</p> + +<p>After my friend Victor and his +father turned out the light and left the +room, my laughter gradually subsided +into a few final gurgles of ineffable +mirth and benevolence, and after a +period of the amorous visions sometimes +induced by this philtre from the +land of harems, I fell into a sound +sleep after my three hours of continuous +and exhausting laughter.</p> + +<p>I awoke next morning after seven +hours sleep, with a ravenous appetite, +which I think was probably as much +due to the great expenditure of energy +in laughing as to any direct effect of +the drug itself. I was also very thirsty +and my skin was parched and burning. +Altho I immediately dressed and went +down to breakfast, I felt very drowsy +and disinclined to physical exertion or +mental concentration. And while no +longer given to causeless laughter, I +felt a lingering merriment and was +easily moved to chuckling. I slept +several hours in the afternoon and +after dinner I slept all evening, awaking +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</span>at 11 <span class="allsmcap">P. M.</span>, when I arose feeling +very much refreshed and entirely normal, +and went out to get another meal, +being still hungry. I should say that +the immediate after-effect, the reaction +from the stimulation of hasheesh, is +not much greater, except for the +drowsiness, than that following the +common or beer garden variety of intoxication. +My memory of what I +said and did while under the hasheesh +was complete and accurate.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter transnote"> + <h3 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_Note"> + Transcriber’s Note: + </h3> +<p> Obsolete and alternative spellings were retained. Nine misspelled +words were corrected; a missing accent was added to “Médecine;” one +instance of “DeMuth” was changed to Demuth.</p> +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77838 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/77838-h/images/colophon.jpg b/77838-h/images/colophon.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e92a779 --- /dev/null +++ b/77838-h/images/colophon.jpg diff --git a/77838-h/images/cover.jpg b/77838-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fa8487f --- /dev/null +++ b/77838-h/images/cover.jpg |
