The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-03-29

Alfred de Musset's end was tragic enough;
but II is by no means certain that 1t ought to
be attributed to absinthe rather than TO any
! other strong drink. Balzao, in his 'hssay on
| Modern Stimulants," confines hlmselt 10 VINE,
! coffee and tobacco, and, by strange omission,
! makes no mention of absinthe. But the cham
MON of absinthe has borrowed from Balzac his
! short and easy method of testing stimulants;
| and he devotes one OF the most curious chap
! ters in his book to the Experiences Of an
absinthe d1inker," who, it appears, went to
cafe on the Boulevard Monlmartre and de-
liberately drank four glasses of the mixture;
for absinthe, we need hardly say, must be
taken with water. After his frss glass the
absinthe drinller was supremely happy, and
felt that his intellectual power had been in
creased tenfold. Here, of course, he should
have stopped. However, in the cause of
science, he repeated the dose and then took
third and fourth glass, until, at last,
instead OF feeling suPremely happy, he be-
came "dull, heavy, silent, and morose." He
wandered about, and at last found himself
seated on a bench in one of the outer boule-
wards. After that he had ''a vague notion
that he went into low restaurant, ate some
duck stewed with turnips, walked about for
a couple of hours, aud, finally, with dead
eye, q heavy heart, aud a tottering gait" got
home and went to bed. This condition had
been brought about by four very small glasses
of absinthe, and it is asked by the absinthe
drinkers critics whether four very small
glasses of brandy could have produced the
same effect, more especially the "vague
notion"
1t appears that until 1854 the belief that
there was nothing injurious in absinthe ex-
cept the alcohol was general enough. In that
year, however, a mad doctor named Marco
communicated paper to the Academy Of
Sciences, in which he demonstrated that the
essence of wormwOod was contained in the
liquor called absinthe in the proportion of
twenty grammes of essence to 100 litres of
alcohol, and argued that this essence had
peculiarly injurious effect on the brain. In
1867 petition was presented to the Senate,
praying that the sale of absinthe might be alb.
sOlutely forbidden. Nothing came of it; and
now the Question of absinthe'' has been once
more brought forward by two physicians, NM.
Magnan and Bouchereau, who, for the first
time, have made regular scientific eX-
periments with the questionable stuff.
The object of the eXperimentalists was
to show what the effect of pure alcohol would
be on a guinea-pig, and what the effect Of
absinthe. With this view they placed
guinea-pig under glass case with saucer
full of essence OF wormwood by his side,
another guinea-pig being placed under
another glass case with saucer full Of
alcohol. The guinea-pig, who, SO to say, was
being "treated" with absinthe, shifted at the
fumes, and for few moments seemed, like
the absinthe drinker before mentioned, "su-
premely happy" Gradually, however, he
became heavy and dull, and at last fell on his
side, sgitating his limbs cOnvulsively, foam
ing at the mouth, and presenting all the signs
of epilepsy. The same epileptic symptoms
were manifested on the part of cat aud
rabbit who, in similar manner, were made
to inhale the fumes OF absinthe. On the other
hand, the guinea-pig who was forced to get
intoxicated with pure alcohol behaved like an
ordinary drunl1ard. He became lively, then
rseled about, and at last lay down and fell into
heavy sleep.
These experiments will, probably, have no
effect whatever in diminishing the sale of alb
sinthe; but that absinthe produces results
other and more injurious than those brought
about by pure alcohol seems to have been
clearly demonstrated.-PaH Mall Gazette.