The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1894-08-22
AWFUL ABSINTHE.
TIE HORRIBLE DRUG WHICH is Pop
ULAR IN FRANCE.


Brains of It's Victims The wickedest In
toxicant In the World.
During the Algerian war, which last
I'd from 1914 20 1917, the French army
were more in danger from African fe-
vers than from Algerian enemies. Sew
eral things We're tried as antidotes OF
preventives b. the skillful army physi-
clans. Finally absinthe was hit on as
the most effective febrifuge
The soldiers were ordered to mix it
III small quantities three times a day
with the ordinary French wine The
luckless happy go-lucky privates grew
TO like their medicine, which at first
they swOre ut bitterly for spelling with
its bitterness that beautiful purple vine
gar they fondly fancy is wine. But
when absinthe alone began to usurp the
time honOred place Of claret in the af-
fectiOns Of the French army the evil be-
came an unmixed one.
Absinthe straight rs a beverage Is a
direly different thing from absinthe
mixed Is "a medicine or an occasional
tonic. The victorious army on their
triumphal return TO Paris brought the
habit with them. IL is now so wide
spread through all classes of Partisan
Socicty-aud Paris gives the cue to
Franco-that Frenchmen of science and
publicists regard the custom Of absinthe
tipping as a vast national evil
The consequence of the use-and use
Of this drug ripens TO abuse, even with
men Of unusual viii power-has been
in France disastrous To Il dreadful de-
gree. Many men Of remarkable bril-
liancy have offered up their brains and
their lives on the Hvid altar Of absinthe
Baudelaire, who translated all Poe's
works into French, had terribly gro
tesquc passion for the pleasant green
poison. In one Of his mad freaks this
minor French poet actually painted his
hair the same tint rs the beverage that
cO-rOded his brain, possibly from an
odd fancy to have the outside OF his
head correspond with Or match the in
side
Alfred DC 1Tusset, who was the French
Byron, plus q tcnderer, naiver touch,
also fell a victim to the drug after
George Sand gave the final smash TO his
f-I-mcEtcly heart. Guy de Maupassant
Y
away with the same emeraldine flames
The brain disease caused by this drug is
considered almost incurable Far worse
than alcohol or opium, it can only be
compared to cocaine for the fellness of
its clutch on poor humanity.
Yet we take it occasionally as an
after dinner settler of digestive debts in
this country, and quite often Is an ap-
-
New Orleans, throughout the older quar-
ter, little cabarets, devoted almost ex-
clusively 70 the sale of it, are quite
common.
What, then, is this dreadful drink
composed of, and how is it made? The
answer Is easy enough, though the proc
ess, to insure perfection in the evil, Is
not so. Absinthe may be technically
described as n Redistribution of alcoholic
spirits (made originally from various
things potatoes, for instance), IN
which, TO give it the final character,
absinthium with other aromatic herbs
and bitter roots are ground up, or mac
Grated, III chemist lingo.
The chief ingredient is the tops and
leaves of the herb Artemisia absinthium,
or wCrmwood, which grows from two !
20 four feet IN great profusion under |
cultivation, and which contains Il VIOLA |
tile oil, absinthol, and = yellow, crys-
tallire, reSirous compound called alb |
sinthin, which is the bitter principle. |
The alcohol with which this and the |
essentials of other aromatic plants are |
mixed holds these volatile oils in solu- |
ton.
1t is the precipitation of these oils in |
water that causes the rich clouding of |
your glass when the absinthe Is poured |
on the cracked lce-double emblemS or
warnings OF the clOuding and the crack
ling of your brain if You take to it |
steadily. Thus every drink of the opaline
liquid Is an object lesson in chemistry
that carries its own moral.
Some barToOm Columbus, ambitious
10 Guido Dante and add another lower
circle to the inferno, recently invented /
or discovered the absinthe cocktail y
little whiszy-rhc worse the batter-a
dash Of bitterS, 4 little sugar and plenty |
of iced absiuthc make about the quickest
and wicllcdest iutCXicart III the world.
The continued use of absinthe gives |
rise to Cpileptic symptoms - an external
expression Of the profound disturbance
OF the brain and nerves. One large dose
II the essence of the wOrmwoCd indeed !
has been noted - causing almost instant
" epileptifOrIu commissions III animals.
But the drug l. not without its uses from
: broad point of view. As the name i'm
plies, it is an anthelmintic, or a pretty
sure cure for certain kinds Of animal
life that sometimes infest the intestines
Of men, causing pain and death. This
peculiar property was well known TO
the Greeks, who had a wine infused
with wormwOod called abSinthites-
In some parts CT Germany wOrmwOOd
Is used in lieu of hops for the brewing
of certain brands of beer, and it unques-
honably has valuable tonic properties.