Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1868-05-29
The Absfntl,e Drinkers ii, Paris.

5I The Absinthe Drinkers i'm Paris. 6
: !. The Paris. correspondent Of the Pail Mall
Gazette gives the following account OF abslnthe
and 5absinthe drinkers: :'l' On '.s., : j
AitssThe indulgence i in D. absnthe which already
nrevails to:a great extent among all classes OF
2 Rranehrnen threatens to become as widespread
in France and as injurious there as oplum.eat-
a;nors in China. - lf a. visitor to Paris strols
aIone,the boulevards from the Madeline to the.
Rastile, some summer s, afternoon, between i've
and six o'clock which Is commonly called the
bour of absinthe' he can hardly, fail to remark
hundreds OF Parislans, seated outside the va
rious cafes, OF lounglng at the counters OF the
wine; shops and imbibing this insldious stimu
apt. At particular cafes, the Cafe de @Rade
for example, cut of fifty idlers seated at the
little round tables forty=6ve will be found thus
engaged. But it isinot0n the bouleVards alone
that absinthe is the special five O'Clock bever-r
aee.s: In: most Of the wine shops IN the tau
bourcs, la the tQuartier Latin, and around
q about the Ecole Militaire you may see at that
particular hour Workmen, students, soldiers,
their customary draughts of emerald tinted
poison and watching the fantastic movements
Of the fluid, as it sinks, to the bottom of tho
GLASS. wherein it, turns from green to an nlalmost
milky white, at the moment when the perfumes
3 Of the various aromatic plants from which tits
distilled disengage themselves. ,2goH s
I, "a quarter of q century age abslnthe was the
drink of French coachmen, grooms and loot
men and people Of the lowest class; to-day its
most ardent lovers are to be found among edu-
Gated and weh.to-do lParisians, Literary men,
professors, artists, actors, musicians, fnanclers,
speculators, ish0pkeepers, even women, Yield
themselves toits seductive inAuence-to those
undeGnable provocations which seem, they say,
to impart renewed, activity to an enleebled
brain, developing q world of new ideas, and
which thus, it is believed, have inspired many
noble work. .ot imagl glnatlon ID literature and
art. 1t may be SO; but then those who habit
uay excite the brain with absinthe soon dis
cover that they can produce nothing without
its aid, and that a time arrives when heavy
stupor snpersedes that excitement OF the intel
lectuaI facplties which once seemed SO easy and
so harmless. eltj Daa ,sa'41if tsoW VI
"After the first draught of the poison, which
DR.; Legrand, who has studied its effects, pro,
.nounces to be. one of the greatest scourges of
! our time, YOU seem 10 lose your feet, and you
mount to a boundless realm without horizon.
You probably imagine, that you are going in
the direction -the4infinite, whereas you are
simply drifting into the inco herent. Absinthe
affects the brain unlike any other sLlmulant: 1T
produces neither the heavy drunkenness OF
beer. the furious inebriation Of brandy, nor the
exhilarant; ;intoxication Of wine. j..
= s.There are two classes Of absinthe drinkers.
The one, after becoming accustomed to it for
short time, takes TO imbibing it in considerable
quantities, when all OF a sudden delirium de-
cIares ITSELF The other is more regular, and at
the same time more moderate IN It's lbatlons
but UPON them the effects though necessarily
more gradual, ARE none the less sure. Abslnthe
drinkers of tho former class are usually noisy
and aggressive during the period OF lntoxlca-
ton, which, moreover, lasts much Longer than
drunkenness produced by spirits or vine, andil
followed by extreme depression and sensation
Of fatigue whiehlis not to be got rid OF. After
awhile the digestive organs become derangeb,
the appetite continues to diminish until it lis
altogether los, and az intense thirst supplies IT'S
place. liza .y,,;a t...a7ag ,,i3iW. .d9:>{ anjaia5 3
Paris actually has Its clubs of absinthe
drinkers. They assemble daily at some 1ap-
/. pointed place of rendezvous at a certain hour,
and proceed to dissipate their energies and their
centimes in draughts of that fatal poison, which
fill the public and private mad, houses of Paris
These absinthe- drinking clubs are certainly not
. numerous, but1liquor shops abound IN alEguar-
sters of the city where absinthe may be said to
be the staple drink; oahda lately several have
sprung up which, to attract the youth Of Paris
to them, dispense the insidious beverage .atthei
hands OF pretty women. % I 10y
ss!5','Iu the French army dtinkingofz absirthe of
the cheapest quality and as nTatter Of course
the most deletesious of all, used to prevail 20.
such an ex tent that both military and medical
;. commissions we're appointedto report upon the
practice and the effects resulting from IT. iIhe