The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1894-07-27
AWFUL ABsIETHE.
TIE HORRIBLE DRUG WHICH IS pop
uLAR Ia FRANCE.


tONicaMt In the World.
During the Algerian war, which hast +
cd from 1874 20 1847, the French army
wero more in danger from African fe-
veTs thn from Algerian enemies. Sev-
eral things were tried as antidotes OF
prsyentives by the szillful army physi-
clans. Finally absinthe was hit ON as
the most effective febrifuge.
The soldiers were ordered to mix it
in small quantities three times day
with the ordinary French wine The
lnalkless happy-go- lucky privates grew
to like their medicine, which at first
they swore at bitterly for spelling with
its bitterness that beautiful purplevine-
gar they fondly fancy is wine. But
when absinthe alone began to usurp fhe
time honored place Of clarst in the af-
fections Of the French army the evil be-
came an unmixed one.
Absinthe straight as q beverage is a
direly different thing from absinthe
mixed as a medicine or an occasional
tonic. Tho victorious army ON their
triumphal return to Paris brought the
habit with them. 1t is now 50 wide
spread through all classes of Partisan
society--and Paris gives the cue to
France--that Frenehmen Of science and
pnblicists regard the custom OF atsinthe
.tippling as a 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
Ill France disastrous to q dreadful de-
gree. Many men Of remarkable bril-
liancy have offered up their brains and
their lives on the livid altar Of absinthe
BaudelaiFo, who translated all Poeis
works into French had a terribly gro-
tesque passion for the pleasant green
poison. In one Of his mad freaks this
minor 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 dc Musset, Nv no was the French
Byron, plus a tenderer, naiver touch,
also fell victim to the drug after
George Sand gave the final smash to his
fragmentary heart. Guy de Maupassant
is reported TO have bnrned his brains
away with the same emeraldine flames.
The brain disease caused by this drug is
considered almost incurablc Far worse
than alcohol OF 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 as an ap-
peti2cr Or tonic before meals, while in
New Orleans, throughout the older quar-
ter, little cabarets, devoted almost ex-
Clusively to tho 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 III the evil is
not so. Absintho may be technically
described as a rehabilitation of alcoholic
spirits (made originally from various
things - potatoes, for instanee), in
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 tbeherb Artemisia absinthium,
Or wormwOOd which gFoHYs from, two
to four feet in great profusion under
cultivation, and which contains a vola-
tile OIL absinthol and yellow, erys-
talline, reslnous compound called alb
sinthin, which is the bitter principle.
Tho alcohol with which this and the
essentials of other aromatic plants arc
mixed holds these volatile oils in solu-
ton.
1t is the precipitation of these oils in
water that causes tho rich clouding of
your glass when the absinthe is poured |
OIL the cracked ice--donble emblems or
Of the elouding and tho crack |
ling of Your brain if you take to it
Thus every drink of tho opalino
liquid is an object lesson in chemistry
that carries its own moral.
Some barroom Columbus, ambitious
10 Guido Dante and add another lower
circle to the inferno, recently invented
lr discovered the absinthe cocktail. A
little whisky--the worse the better-a
lash Of bitters, a little sugar and plenty
Jf iced absintho make about tho quickest
and wickedest intoxicant in the world.
The continued use OF absiuthe giveg
Use to neutrality-suspicious. as an external
Of the profound disturbance
u the brain and nerves. One large dose
If the essence Of the WormwOod indeed
las been noted as causing almost instant
y epileptiforn commissions in animals
But the drug is not without its uses from
! broad point of view. AS the name i'm
plies, it is an anthelnlintic, Or a pretty
iuTe cure for certain kinds of animal
ife that sometimes infest the intestines
4 men, causing pain and death. This
,eeuliar property was well known to
he Greeks, who had wine infused
With NORWOOD called absinthites.
In some parts Of Germany NORWOOD
s used in lieu of hops for the brewing
# certain brands of beer, and it unques-
ionably has valuable tonic properties.
Absinthe is made almost everywhere,
xeept in the extreme tropics, and the
New York variety is just as good---or
any, The duty on French abb
inthe is very high--S12 a case Of a f
lozen bottles
The first effects of it are q profound
erenity Of temper and q slight height
ming Of the mental powers, coupled
With bodily inertia. This is the general
ule; but, as lannon's physician once re-
marked Of q dreadful disorder IN his
ecture room, @5entlemen, the chief
Ilory Of the beautiful disease am now
xplaining is the remarkable variety Of
IS manifestations. New York World.
Ameriea Europe Dumping Ground.