The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1885-07-15
ABSINTHE.
Popularity of the Deadly Beverage in This
Countrywide Terrible Nature of the
Stimulant and It's Effect Upon Those
Addicted to Its Use.

A weiI-dressed stranger of middle age
wearing haggard, care-worn look on his
rather handsome cOuntenance, walked into
a popular Market street sample-room yester-
day. He bore the Undesirable air of man
who had put in the night" and exhibited
restless impotence in waiting on the pleas
ure of the bartender. His order, when given,
was almost whispered, accompanied by a
significant nod. The bartender took an or
dinary-sized flask from the shelf behind
him, and picking up tiny spiral glass, hold
ing about dram, carefully filled it. This
glass was in turn emptied into an ordinary
wine glass filled with water. On the top of
the compound greenish sediment accumu-
lated, which was carefully removed with
spoon. The beverage was then handed to
the customer, who eagerly .gulped it down,
and paying the charges left the room. In
answer to question from a reporter, the bar
tender said the drink was absinthe, French
liquor, which is rapidly growing into popu-
larity in this country. In answer TO a query
as to the amount drank in Wheeling, the
bartender answered that the calls for either
that particular beverage or any other
fancy drink of a kindred nature were COM
paratively few, straight drinks having a
tenacious grip on the appetites of the greater
portion of the Wheeling people. 1--WE fill
an occasional order for absinte for theatrical
people, the exalting quality of the strong
stimulant making ii excessively popular
OF a number of ladies in Wheeling who
daily make use of the stimulant, and who,
in order to deceive outsiders, drink altern-
ately at several sample-rooms. There is a
strong fasciT alton about the drink, and when
a person gets into the habit of using il daily
he rarely breaks of. The gentleman who
Just left the room is iewelry drummer from
New York, and for the past few days he has
paid me two or three visits a day, always
drinking the same beverage. He told me he
had first begun using the drug eighteen
months ago, having II prescribed to him by
physician for dyspepsia, but forming the
habit from daily use OF the stimulant, he had
gradually increased the amount till he had
become a slave to the practice. He said he
had attempted on several occasions to break
off from the habit, but had been forced back
by excessive nervousness, glddlneSs, loss of
appetite and sleep. He added that he knew
the drug would cause his death i'll time but
that he could not refrain from its use. There
are several of the young fellows about town
who occasionally engage in q glass of
absinthe. carelessly disregarding the
warnings given them. There are
few outside OF these and the occasional tour-
ist that ever call for the drink. Later in the
day the reporter met prominent young
physician, and finding him at leisure secured
the following information in reference to the
origin OF the liquor: Absinthe is prepared
by pounding the leaves and towering tops of
various species of wo:mwOOd along with
angelica root, sweet f1ag-root, and star-anise
fruit. and macerating these in alcohol. After
soaking for eight days the compound is dis
titled, yielding an emerald-cOlOred liquor. to
which quantity of anise-Oil is added. The
liquid thus formed constitutes the genuine
French absinthe.
An inferior quality of absinthe is made
with other herbs and essential oils. while the
authorizations practiced are numerous and
deleterious. In the adulterated liquor the
green color is usually produced by tumeric
and indigo, but blue yitriol is often COM
monty used. The varities especially noted
in commerce are divided into two classes,
the common and the Swiss the latter being
genuine. The chief seat of its manufacture
in the Canton Neufchatel, in Switzerland.
The liquor is chiefly consumed in France,
but there are also large quantities exported
to this country. In addition to the large
quantities manufactured in France for home
consumption, the amount imported from
Switzerland averages 2,00O0 900 gallons yearly.
The drinking of absinthe was introduced in
France during the Algerian war, 1914.
The soldiers were advised to mix
absinthe with their wine as
febrifuge. On their return
they brought with them the habit of
drinking it, which is now so widely
disseminated in French society, and with
such disastrous consequences that the Gus
tom is justly considered a great national
evil. The appetite is often formed by pre-
scriptions given by physicians, as the drug is
often given as a tonic for fiatulent dyspepsia;
but in my opinion there is as little danger of
a man forming the habit, if he is possessed
of ordinary self-control, as that a prescrip-
ton of brandy should cause him to become
habitual drunkard. The powerful nature
of the stimulant is such that excessive drink
ing will prove far more deleterious than the
use of brandy or strong WHISTLES. In excess
sive drinking there is first the feeling of ex-
altation peculiar to a state of intoxication.
The Increasing dose necessary 10 create this
effect destroys the digestive organs, and con-
sequently the appetite of the victim.
An unappeasable thirst follows, with gid
diness, tingling in the ears hallucination of
the sight and hearing, constant me1al OPP
preston and anxiety, loss of brain power,
and eventually idiocy. The symptoms in
the case,of a tippler commence with muscu-
lar quiyerings and decrease of physical
strength, the hair drops of, and the victim
becomes emaciated, wrinkled and sallow
horrible dreams and delusion constantly
haunt the unfortunate, and are followed by
paralysis, which lands him in the grave.
Of. No.