Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1890-01-03
ABs'NTHE DRINKING.
Origin of the vice in France and -,
Prevalence

origin Oh the Vice In France and ~. ..,,.
~, Prevalence.
nero seems to be no doubt that all
n'n, a. cordial was largely made bv
'he old French conflseurs. who wero ~.
perts In the science of distillation. h..
u was only when used as a aavor to
u'her beverages, and does not seem to
nave become common potation until
ABOUT The beginning of the reign Of
,-ouis Philippe. The balance of evil
uehce, 80 Tar as it is obtainable wou,a
'oeih 10 show that the Algerian cam
paign, IN The days when the Princes Of
.ne orleans family were fighting so
oravely In North Africa. and when tho
iaVorlte song of the French troops was
La oasquette du Pere Bugeaud. . had a
great zeal to do with the popularization
VI apslhthe among military men. The
operations of war had to be carried ont
not only under burning sun, but in all
SEASONS at all hours, and very often on
marshy ground. The men were exnosed
10 continual fatigue, and NOTHING IL
more probable than that some skillful
ana KINDLY military surgeon, observing
.he ravages made by brandy on the
| health OF the troops in such a climate
as that OF Algeria, prescribed as slim.
uiaht diluted absinthe. The soldiers
may have made wry faces at first at a
| beverage which, to the uninitiated. tastes
very like doctors stuff but with dis.
astrous celebrity they soon grew to like
1t and to drink it in excess.
from camp tonic dispensed to re-
crult exhausted strength, and which ir
ehe beginning may have been as benefi
cent as the eucalyptus cordial served out
TO the laborers in the Roman Campapna
ansinthe became the favorite pick-me
up IN the Algerian cafes. 1t soon re-
crossed the Mediterranean, left it's trace,
at Marseilles and Toulon, and with ter
rlble quickness became domiciled If
| far1s. 1t seized, so to speak, upon the
people just as gin did on the Londor
populace early in the eighteenth cen
fury, and has never since released it,
dreadful grip. We had positively t.
pass an act of Parliament in George III. ;.
Time to diminish the number of gin
shops, and to restrict the consumption
OF the poison by placing largely in
creased excise duties upon it. Ou
neighbors have not yet seen fit to pas
any law tending to suppress, or even t,
restrict, the sale of absinthe. The del
eterious stuff has absolutely been allow
ed to adulterate the French language
Modern dictionaries have not scruplet
to admit the verb 'absinther." to 'sab
sinthiate," and "s'absinther," which il
to sWill or gorge ones self with alb
slnthe; then an absinthe drunkard i
called an ''absintheur''; and there i
even an aphorism current in the brasse
ries: IF thou hesitatest, absinthiat
myself" Poetry, finally, has beef
pressed into the darkly fascinating ser
vice Of this malefcent herb. Absinth
has been called from its half-verdant
half opalescent hue, the Fairy witt
the Green Eyes" Infinitely baleful
pernicious, fatal has that green-eye,
fairy been to tens of thousands o
frenchmen, gentle and simple, lettere,
and unlettered; nor among the victim
of the seductive poison should be for
gotten one of the greatest poets of mod
ern France, Alfred de Musset. -Londol
Telegraph.