Jacob Bell
New Member
By Robert P. Walton.
Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1938. 223
pp. Price, $3.00.
This is an authoritative discussion of
the scientific uncertainty and scholastic
ignorance which surround the resinous
exudate of the hemp plant. The author
has chosen to call this marihuana,
though he does not tell us why. Among
several pages of alternative titles, this
one is described as " the name given
the weed in Mexico and the Latin
American countries " (but would the
Spanish peoples use that letter h?) and
it is derived from "maraguango "
meaning any substance producing an
intoxication.
The one thing certain about the history
of our subject is that hemp was
a reasonably common plant in various
pre-Christian civilizations. But as soon
as one authority has theories regarding
its early use another authority seems
to disapprove. Creighton thought that
the grass (" hashish") on which
Nebuchadnezzer fed was hemp, and
that the first chapter of Ezekiel was
written by a marijuana addict. Most
of us would have accepted his suggestion
were it not that Dr. W. C. Graham
who teaches Old Testament at the University
of Chicago finds these theories
unconvincing. De Sacy's theory that
Assassins were originally hashish eaters
has many apologists among the
pamphleteers and has been naively
accepted by the Encyclopaedia Britannica
but there are other philologists
who doubt.
Some say that marijuana causes addiction.
Others say not. Dr. Walton
is convinced that " there is a certain
degree of addiction when this drug is
smoked for an extended period of
time." There is no doubt that men
commit crimes while under the influence
but it is seldom easy to decide
whether the crime was planned before
taking the drug or was committed without
premeditation. The pathology is
unknown and even the pharmacology
has its doubtful points. For instance
22 c.c. of fluid extract did not kill a 40
lb. dog but 10 c.c. more rapidly injected
did do so. No one knows
whether the dog died from cannabinol,
or alcohol, or precipitated resin.
Modestly included in the pharmacological
research is an item which on
consulting reference number 417 in the
bibliography turns out to be work done
by the author himself and published in
1938.
Whether the effects of taking hashish
are aphrodisiac, whether they are even
pleasant, is a matter on which experiences
do not accord. Dr. Walton
points out that Dumas's famous description
of a voluptuous fantasy in The
Count of Monte Cristo " has never been
incriminated in the development of any
hashish addiction." This fact he adduces
in support of his thesis that
literature has little or no influence on
the propagation of this sort of vice.
Perhaps there are other readers, like
myself, who do not feel themselves
seduced by those marble goddesses with
their breasts of ice and their burning
mouths.
What can be done? Dr. Walton tells
how the police in New Orleans have, by
arrests and seizures, forced up the price
of marijuana cigarettes to 30 or 40 cents
each. He believes they can be made
even more expensive. But he is not
over-optimistic: ". . . the vice still
flourishes in every country in which it
has once been established. This is
despite the fact that, in some of these
countries, attempts have been made for
almost 1,000 years to stamp out the
practice." J. RoSSLYN EAmP
Health Insurance with Medical
Care: The British Experience-
By Douglass W. Orr, M.D., and Jean
Walker Orr. New York: Macmillan,
1938. 271 pp. Price, $2.50.
Out of the plentiful accounts on the
British Health Insurance system, which
include elaborate reports of two Royal
Commissions and numerous technical
documents, comes the Orr book, the first
thoroughly readable and enjoyable account
of the subject.
At the outset they states that "The
English scheme is neither . . centralized
nor . . . simple." With the
National Health Insurance, the main
theme, they clearly weave into the pattern
the important services such as public
medical services, public assistance
medical care, and voluntary contributory
insurance that comprise the English
health insurance system.
According to the Orrs, public health
work in the medical inspection of school
children and maternity and child welfare
work, marked one of the major
steps in the drive for health legislation
in England. It has been pointed out
that National Health Insurance is restricted
in scope through its failure to
provide specialist and hospital services,
and care for dependents of insured persons.
Nevertheless, the scope of public
health work, which also includes many
welfare activities, is such that " theoretically
no one in England need go
without medical care." These services
are further implemented by numerous
medical agencies, so that practically 40
per cent of the entire population and 80
per cent of gainfully employed persons
are covered.
The network of medical services
available to the English people is described
succinctly and well. The Orrs'
belief in the effectiveness of these services
is perhaps too rosy when one considers
health conditions in the slums of
London, Manchester, and Birmingham.
Their sample of physicians' incomes is
equally idealized.
In their desire to learn what the
English people think of health insurance,
the Orrs went directly to the
" producers "-the practising physicians,
officers of the British Medical Association,
and government officials-and the
" consumers " of medical services. There
is a unanimity of approval in both
groups, even that the services should be
extended. In light of the repeated
assertions on the part of the American
Medical Association to the contrary,
this testimony is significant.
JOSEPH HIRSH
Source: Marihuana: America's New Drug Problem
Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1938. 223
pp. Price, $3.00.
This is an authoritative discussion of
the scientific uncertainty and scholastic
ignorance which surround the resinous
exudate of the hemp plant. The author
has chosen to call this marihuana,
though he does not tell us why. Among
several pages of alternative titles, this
one is described as " the name given
the weed in Mexico and the Latin
American countries " (but would the
Spanish peoples use that letter h?) and
it is derived from "maraguango "
meaning any substance producing an
intoxication.
The one thing certain about the history
of our subject is that hemp was
a reasonably common plant in various
pre-Christian civilizations. But as soon
as one authority has theories regarding
its early use another authority seems
to disapprove. Creighton thought that
the grass (" hashish") on which
Nebuchadnezzer fed was hemp, and
that the first chapter of Ezekiel was
written by a marijuana addict. Most
of us would have accepted his suggestion
were it not that Dr. W. C. Graham
who teaches Old Testament at the University
of Chicago finds these theories
unconvincing. De Sacy's theory that
Assassins were originally hashish eaters
has many apologists among the
pamphleteers and has been naively
accepted by the Encyclopaedia Britannica
but there are other philologists
who doubt.
Some say that marijuana causes addiction.
Others say not. Dr. Walton
is convinced that " there is a certain
degree of addiction when this drug is
smoked for an extended period of
time." There is no doubt that men
commit crimes while under the influence
but it is seldom easy to decide
whether the crime was planned before
taking the drug or was committed without
premeditation. The pathology is
unknown and even the pharmacology
has its doubtful points. For instance
22 c.c. of fluid extract did not kill a 40
lb. dog but 10 c.c. more rapidly injected
did do so. No one knows
whether the dog died from cannabinol,
or alcohol, or precipitated resin.
Modestly included in the pharmacological
research is an item which on
consulting reference number 417 in the
bibliography turns out to be work done
by the author himself and published in
1938.
Whether the effects of taking hashish
are aphrodisiac, whether they are even
pleasant, is a matter on which experiences
do not accord. Dr. Walton
points out that Dumas's famous description
of a voluptuous fantasy in The
Count of Monte Cristo " has never been
incriminated in the development of any
hashish addiction." This fact he adduces
in support of his thesis that
literature has little or no influence on
the propagation of this sort of vice.
Perhaps there are other readers, like
myself, who do not feel themselves
seduced by those marble goddesses with
their breasts of ice and their burning
mouths.
What can be done? Dr. Walton tells
how the police in New Orleans have, by
arrests and seizures, forced up the price
of marijuana cigarettes to 30 or 40 cents
each. He believes they can be made
even more expensive. But he is not
over-optimistic: ". . . the vice still
flourishes in every country in which it
has once been established. This is
despite the fact that, in some of these
countries, attempts have been made for
almost 1,000 years to stamp out the
practice." J. RoSSLYN EAmP
Health Insurance with Medical
Care: The British Experience-
By Douglass W. Orr, M.D., and Jean
Walker Orr. New York: Macmillan,
1938. 271 pp. Price, $2.50.
Out of the plentiful accounts on the
British Health Insurance system, which
include elaborate reports of two Royal
Commissions and numerous technical
documents, comes the Orr book, the first
thoroughly readable and enjoyable account
of the subject.
At the outset they states that "The
English scheme is neither . . centralized
nor . . . simple." With the
National Health Insurance, the main
theme, they clearly weave into the pattern
the important services such as public
medical services, public assistance
medical care, and voluntary contributory
insurance that comprise the English
health insurance system.
According to the Orrs, public health
work in the medical inspection of school
children and maternity and child welfare
work, marked one of the major
steps in the drive for health legislation
in England. It has been pointed out
that National Health Insurance is restricted
in scope through its failure to
provide specialist and hospital services,
and care for dependents of insured persons.
Nevertheless, the scope of public
health work, which also includes many
welfare activities, is such that " theoretically
no one in England need go
without medical care." These services
are further implemented by numerous
medical agencies, so that practically 40
per cent of the entire population and 80
per cent of gainfully employed persons
are covered.
The network of medical services
available to the English people is described
succinctly and well. The Orrs'
belief in the effectiveness of these services
is perhaps too rosy when one considers
health conditions in the slums of
London, Manchester, and Birmingham.
Their sample of physicians' incomes is
equally idealized.
In their desire to learn what the
English people think of health insurance,
the Orrs went directly to the
" producers "-the practising physicians,
officers of the British Medical Association,
and government officials-and the
" consumers " of medical services. There
is a unanimity of approval in both
groups, even that the services should be
extended. In light of the repeated
assertions on the part of the American
Medical Association to the contrary,
this testimony is significant.
JOSEPH HIRSH
Source: Marihuana: America's New Drug Problem
