The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-05-12
pEApL1Esr OF STRONG DRINKS
New York Graphic.

"With seltzer, sir?"
 "Umw and the first speaker leaned heavily against the mahogany rail of a luxurious down town bar. He was handsome, haggard youth and he had plainly been making night of it. His sallow face grew ashen as the odor of strong cheese caromed against his nostril. His eyes were trimmed with leaden streaks and deep shud- der from moment to moment denoted that his stomach had gone back on him.
 The rosy checked bartender drew his snowy cuffs farther out of the sleeves of his fresh lawn jacket. Then he poured into thin glass small quantity of the greenish fluid that smells and tastes like paregoric over cracked ice. He clapped a silver shaker over the tumbler, shook the fluid vigorously and drained it into another and smaller glass. Then he fizzed seltzer into the compound and the young man clutched and drank it thirstily. With distinct improve ment in his gait and manner he saun- tered out. This was clearly corpse reviver.
 This young man had put life in his nerves and death in his muscles. He had settled his stomach and disturbed the action of his heart. When the ef- fects of the drink wore off he would need couple more. By nightfall he would be consumed with a burning thirst. If he drank heavily of absinthe and pint of absinthe is equal in injurious effect to gallon of whisky -giddiness and tingling in his ears would follow the thirst. Mental de- pression would ensue, and, finally, hallucination and loss of brain power. The absinthe tippler of several years suffers from muscular quiverings, loss of physical strength, cancellation and sallow complexion. His digestive organs are ruined and paralysis finally sends him to the grave.
 Absinthe is the deadliest intoxicant in the world and it's use is increasing. It's slightest use is it's abuse. And it is easy to form the habit of taking it because the intoxication it causes is exhilarating and pleasant, and it needs a very small quantity to do the work. The drink was introduced into New York by Frenchmen and travellers and it is now common beverage in ho- tels, clubs and fashionable bar-rooms. French soldiers introduced it into Paris after the campaign in Algiers in 1844. In an astonishingly short pe- riod it permeated the civilized world. To-day it's manufacture is one of the liqror trades of Europe. Neufchatel, in Switzerland, is the headquarters for its manufacture. Two millions of gallons yearly are made there. What France makes and does not consume is sent for the most part to America.
 It is pretty, seductive and insidi- ous liquor, The taste is pleasant and not at all like spirituous compound. Yet it is made by smashing together the leaves and Towering tops of four species of wormwood, with sweet flag and angelica root and star anise fruit, and macerating them in alcohol. The compound is distilled after eight days soaking and anise oil is added to give it taste. limitations are made of essential oils and barks with blue vit- riol. This is quickly fatal. But the gen. uine is deadly enough. The imitation is very close too, and importers them- selves are often deceived. On general principles it may be said that the av- craze absinthe tippler in this country has never tasted the genuine absinthe in his life. The hospitals are rapidly getting to know the victims of ab- sinthe. It's effects are frightful and unmistakable, and very few of its devotees are ever restored to entire health. A new and special treatment is now being experimented with by some of the Bellevue physicians.