The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1894-07-19
AWFUL ABSINTHE.
TIE HORRIBLE DRUG WHICH is pop.
uLAR IN FRANCE.

uLAR ~ FRANCE.
Tts Chief Ingredicnt n wormwood, and III
Poisons tho BODY and Barns Away the
brains Of Its Victims Ths wiokodest In
toxicans In tho world.
During the Algerian war, which last
sd from 1914 TO IS47. the French army
were more in danger from African re-.
vers than from Algerian enemies. Sew
eral things were tried as antidotes q
preventives BY the skillful army physi-
clans Finally absinthe was hit ON as,
the most effective febrifuge.
The soldiers were ordered to mix IL
in small quantities three times day
with the ordinary French. wine The
luckless happy-go- lucky privates grew
to like their medicine, which at first
they swore at bitterly for spelling with
its bitterness that beautiful purple vine
gar they fondly fancy il wine. But
when absinthe alone began 10 usurp the
time honored place Of claret In the af-
fections of the French army the evil be-
came an unmixed one
Absinthe straight as beverage is q
direly different thing from absinthe
mixed as . medicine or an occasional
tonic. The victorious army ON their
triumphal return to Paris Brought the
habit with them. Tt is now SO wide
spread through all classes Of Partisan
society-and Paris gives the cue to
France -that Frenchmen Of science and
publicists regard the custom Of absinthe
tippling as O vast national evil.
The consequence of the use--and use
Of this drug ripens to abuse, even with
men OF unusual will power--has been
in France disastrous TO q dreadful de-
gree. Many men Of remarkable bril-
iancy have offered up their brains and
their lives ON the livid altar OF absinthe.
Baudelaire, who translated all Poe's
works into French, had terribly gro
tesque passion for the pleasant green
poison. In one Of his mad freaks this
miner French poet actually painted his
hair the same tint as the beverage that
corroded his brain. possibly from an
odd fancy to have the outside Of his
head correspond with or match the In
side.
Alfred de Musset, who was the French
Byron, plus q tenderer, naiver touch,
also fell victim to the drug after
George Sand gave the final smash to his
fragnentary heart Guy de Maupassant
is reported TO hare burned his brains
away with the same emeraldine flames.
The brain disease caused by this drug is
considered almost incurable. Far worse
than alcohol or opium, il can only be
compared 20 cocaine fur the fellness of
its clutch on poor humanity.
Yet we take 10 occasionally az an
after dinner settler Of digestive debts In
this country, and quite often as an APP
petizer or tonic before meals, while in
New Orleans, throughout the older quar-
ter, little cabarets, devoted almost ex-
clusively TO the sale of ii, are quite
common.
What, then. 10 this dreadful drink
composed OF, and how is it NADER The
answer is easy enough, though the proc
ess, to insure perfection in the evil. is
not SO Absinthe may be technically
described as q redistillation of alcoholic
spirits (made originally from various
things - potatoes, for instance), i'm
which, TO give it the final character,
absinthium with other aromatic herbs
and bitter roots are ground up, or mac.
Grated, In chemist lingo
!. The chief Ingredient is the tops and
leaves OF the herb Artemida absinthiun,
on, wormwood, which grows from two
TO four feet in great profusion under
cultivation, and which contains vola-
tile oil, absinthol, and . yellow, crys.
talline, resinous compound called alb
sinthin. which Ia the bitter principle,
The alcohol with which this and the
essentials Oh other aromatic plants are
mixed holds these volatile oils In solu-
tion.
It Is the precipitation Of these oils In
water that causes the rich clouding Of
your glass when the absintbe Is poured
ON the cracked Ice double emblems or
warnings Of the clouding and the crack
ling Of your brain III you take to IL
steadily. Thus every drink Of the opaline1
liquid Is an object lesson In chemistry
that carries It's own moral.
Some barroom Columbus, ambitious
to outdo Dante and add another lower
circle 10 the inferno, recently invented
or discovered the absinthe cocktail. A
little whisky the worse the better--a.
dash Of bitters, little sugar and plenty
Of iced absinthe make about the quickest
and wickedest intoxicant in the world.
The continued use of absinthe gives
rise to epileptic symptoms as an anexternal
expression of the profound disturbance
or the brain and nerves. One large dose
Of the essence Of the wcrmwood indeed
has been noted as causing almost instant
" epileptiform convulsions In animals
lBvt the drug ID mot without its uses from
"a broad point OF view. - the name Inn
plies, IL Ii an anthelmintic, or d pretty
sure cure for certain kinds of animal
life that sometimes infest the intestines
az men tarIsin0 main and death This