242 REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. [CH. XII.

logical Medicine; article "Mania") says: "The patient also indulges in intoxicants
with very undue or unwonted freedom, and thereby precipitates the course and
aggravates the symptoms of his disease." One or two cases have been rejected
by the Commission on the ground that the evidence merely showed that the habit
of use of hemp began at the same time as the mental aberration, or even later.
There may have been other cases in which this would have been shown had the
information been complete. It is possible therefore that more complete informa-
tion might have shown in some cases, not only that other causes contributed to
the insanity, but also that hemp drugs had nothing whatever to do with
inducing it.

These and similar considerations already indicated demand caution in the
expression of any judgment as to the causation of insanity in this country. If
in England opinion, based on inquiries such as are there possible, has to be
stated with caution, this is much more necessary here. In many of the cases in
which the hemp drug habit has been established, it is impossible to feel certain
in view of the defective character of the information that the drugs have been
the sole cause, or perhaps indeed a cause at all, of the insanity. The Com-
mission have, however, felt themselves justified in accepting these 98 cases of the
year 1892 as reasonably attributable, in whole or in part, to the use of hemp
drugs. These are the best cases they have been able within the time at their
disposal to obtain. Of these 98 cases, 97 were males and one female, 82 being
Hindus and 16 Muhammadans.

Classification and types of accept-
ed cases.

527. In the asylum returns these cases were classified according to the fol-
lowing "types":—Toxic insanity, 39; mania, 42;
melancholia, 3; dementia, 4; while in ten cases the
patients had recovered prior to admission, and did not exhibit symptoms of mental
aberration while in the asylum. The Commission think it well to point out that
although in these instances symptoms of insanity were never observed by the
Asylum Superintendents, yet the cases were returned in the annual reports as
cases of toxic insanity, and thus helped to augment the annual returns (Statement
VI)—a fact which very strikingly exemplifies the purely mechanical manner in
which these returns have hitherto been compiled.

Occupation.

528. The occupations, etc., of these 98 cases may be tabulated as follows.
They have been abstracted from the "descriptive
rolls" or from information supplied on subsequent
inquiries at the instance of the Commission. The Commission cannot, however,
vouch for the accuracy of these returns. In one instance an insane of the lower
classes, described as a "zamindar," proved to be a school-boy, the son of a
muharir in a munsiff's court.