Therapeutics.—Hemp is soporific or hypnotic, anodyne, antispasmodic, nerv ine stimulant, and, as already remarked, in some measure diuretic, aphrodisiac, and oxytocic; consequently its scope of usefulness is a most extended one, par ticularly in nerve-maladies.
Its most important effects are to be found in the mental sphere, as, for in stance, in senile insomnia with wander ing. An elderly person (perhaps with brain-softening) is fidgety at night, goes to bed, gets up. thinks he has some appointment to keep. that he must dress and go out: daylight finds him quite rational again. Here nothing can com pare in utility to a moderate dose of cannabis. In alcoholic subjects. how ever, it is uncertain and rarely useful. In melancholia it is sometimes service able in converting depression into ex altation. In the occasional night-rest ]essness of paretics, and the "temper dis ease" of Marshall Hall, it has proved eminently useful. In neuralgia, neuritis, and migraine it is, by far, the most useful of drugs, even when the disease has persisted for years; many victims of diabolical "sick headache" have for years kept their sufferings in abeyance by taking hemp at the threatened onset of the attack. It relieves the lightning pain of ataxia, and also the multiform miseries of the gouty. Again, in chronic spasm, whether epileptic or choreic, it is of great service; also in the eclampsia of both children and adults. In brain tumors or other maladies in the course of which epileptic seizures occur followed by coma, the coma being followed by delirium,—first quiet, then violent, the delirium then passing into convulsions, and the whole gamut being repeated,— Indian hemp will at once cut short such abnormal activities, even when all other treatment has failed; but in genuine epilepsy it is of little avail. J. Russell
Reynolds (Lancet, London, Mar. 2, '90; N. Y. Med. Jour., June 7, '90).
Cannabis Indica employed with good effect as a local anesthetic to relieve dental pain. The tincture is diluted three to five parts with alcohol, and is introduced into the cavity of the tooth by means of a tampon of cotton. These tampons are also placed about the gum below the tooth. If the alcohol is too strong the tincture may be diluted by means of hot water. Aarousin (Jour. de Med. de Paris, Oct. 30, '98).
Cannabis Indica may be employed in the solid extract, from 8 to 20 grains being given. With a few exceptions, its efficacy is limited to those diseases directly traceable to nervous derange ment. Pain not due to distinct patho logical lesions forms the chief indication for its administration, and relief is usu ally obtained promptly. H. E. Lewis (Merck's Archives, July, 1900).
In tetanus cannabis Indica has been found very efficacious at times, and in those cases wherein it is not curative it seldom fails to afford some measure of relief.
HAY FEVER.—The usefulness of hemp in allaying morbid irritability of the nervous system is such that it has been suggested for employment in the form of vasomotor coryza popularly denominated "hay fever" or "hay asthma"; but there seems to have been no critical trial thereof. The idea, however, is both commendable and rational, and worthy of experiment. Cannabis is often efficacious in other asthmas, either given by the mouth or burned and its fumes inhaled.