The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-12-06
COW ABsINIHR Is MADE.
The Primo pal Ingredient of the Be-
wildering Fluid is NORWOOD.

Wilderilg Fluid ts Norwood.
From the San francisco Chronicle.
On my return from s Switzerland l was
detained few hours at the little frontier
town of Pontarlier, in the northern part Of
the Jura. 1 was told that the people Of the
department Doubs), for radius of thirty
miles about Pontarlier. including neces-
sarily a portion of Switzerland, depend
almost entirely for their support on
the making of cheese and the cul~
tivation and sale of worm wood. The rals-
ing Of NORWOOD, bitter weed of Ameri-
can fields and gardens used by old women
as febrifuge and vermifuge, seems a curl
GUS industry, but all that can he produced
finds ready sale to the distilleTs of alb
sinthe at Pentarlier, which is the center of
this extensive industry. Absinthe, it
should be remembered, is the French for
NORWOOD.
Absinthe is made OF NORWOOD, with the
addition Of other aromatic herbs that give
the green color and render the taste more
agreeable When 1t is distilled with care
says a special plea by the distillers) and
consumed in reasonable quantities it is 3
beverage tonic, and refreshing. But too
much of II should not be taken, even when
1t is good, Tor it contains high percentage
of alcohol. Many dsbillers simply macerate
tine wormwood and other herbs and steep
them cold i'll alcohol made of beets or of
grain, by which means the poisonous oils
are extracted from the herbs. These
poisonous qualities and the bai alcohols
necessarily have bad effect and produce
that rapid and dangerous state
of intoxication that drinkers of alb
slnthe have often noticed in
regard to themselves. A beverage
that operates on the nerves in such a man
ner as to produce instantaneous intoxication
must necessarily be dangerous, first to the
hoalth, and ultimately TO the reason. This
effect itself shows that the liquor Is Of bad
quality and should be condemned. A
French physician says of NORWOOD: "Its
bitterness is its principal merit. 1t is tonic,
stimulating, febrifuge and vermifuge. 1t
is par excollence the herb of pale and feeble
women. 1t is the Quiniue Of the poor. A
slight pinch is sufficient in liter of boiling
water" etc. 1t is evident to
the most ordinary apprehension that
liquor made with good alcohol from an
herb that has been in use the world over as
a common domestic remedy, and has formed
part of the medical pharmacopGia from
time immemorial,s cannot be harmful if
used in moderation.
Two kinds of absinthe, or NORWOOD, are
used in making the liquor at Pontarlier, the
great and the small, the first for its bitter
qualities, and the last. which is gathered
Immature, chiefly to act in giving the deli
cate green color. The other plants en-
ployed in the distillation are balm, carraway,
anse and hyssop. Balm is claSsed medici-
nallY as anti-nervous, an important anti
dote in a liquor considered generally as
acting too forcibly on the nervous system.
The Qualities of carraway and anise are
familiar to every one. The last is greatly
used in medicine and in many other ways, for
its flavor and perfume. The caraway used at
n , ko hnf
the best anise from Southwestern France
and from Andalusia, in Spain. The flowers
of hyssop are regarded as stimulating and
expsctoraut All the plants used in the
making of absinthe, 1T Will be seen, have
recognized medical qualities, and all, prob
ably, as tea and coffee, poisonous essence
that should not be extracted In the process
of distillation, and SO became part OF the
liquor
As 10 its history. absinthe, though it has
not been fashionable till within few years
mast. was invented some hundred and fifty
wears ago at Couvet a little city OF SWltzer-
land. few miles beyond Pontarher. Inc
inventor could never have anticipated the
fame it would achieve. After having passed
through various hands 1t was purchased by
the ancestors Of the principal dlstlllery OK
Pontarlier, to which place the Industry was
transferred near the close OF the last cent
ury. since which epoch the use OF the liquor
has been gradually extending.
The principal distillery of Pontarlier,
which has its patent from the inventor. is
an immense establishment, covering several
acres. admirably appointed in every re-
spe2t' kept with extraordinary neatness,
and. for the convenience of transportation.
connected with the railroad station, some
three-ouarters of a mile distant, by track
of its own. ... -
some questions regarding the habits OF
the workmen were answered with certain
freedom. desired to know how they were
treated, and if from daily contact with a
liquor reported so dangerous they did not not
ACQUIRE the habit of using it too often. My
euide said that happened sometimes, put
not as often as it happened in distilleries