Evening star., 1901-02-02
Crooked Business,

In March. 1899, after the municipal
laboratory had admitted itself Incapable
Of stopping this traffic in poisons, the dis
content among the honest dealers was so
great that VI. Girardin, president of the
chambre syndicate took measures to start
the procureur de Ia republique to work.
y judge d instruction, NJ. Lemercier, was
designated to proceed particularly against
d celebrated company. Then something eX-
traordinary happened. Having ordered that
all the prOces-verbauX commenced against
this one adulterator during the two pre-
vious years should be brought together for
the purposes of the instruction of the
case, Judge LemerCier was stupefied to
observe the avalanche of papers that re-
suited. No less than 40 indictments had
been begun-pgeOnholed away-in the
OF this single individual. Fearing that these
obviously crooked practices of the past
might cast suspicion on his own 'instruc-
tion," Judge Lemercier demanded collabora-
tors. so that there were added to the in
struction Mn. COchefert, chief of the
surete detective service; Girard, director
of the municipal laboratory; DIR. Magnier
dc la Source, expert chemist, and Loubery,
expert bookkeeper. The resulting analysis
of the wine" was as follows: Water. 80
per cent; gylcerine. tartaric acid, diverse
products. The detective department brought
its data. 1t proved that in sixteen months
the company had purchased 10000 kilos
G4.oO pounds of tartaric acid. The
pert bookkeeper started in to prov" that
the firm had sold more wine than II had
bought. The examination was long and
painful. These fraudeurs kept no receipted
bills ana Jumped their sales as well as
their purchases. 1t appeared, nevertheless,
that in one year the firm realized profit
Of 411.54o francs. According to their own
accounts, the company mixture was
made up of four parts Of Algerian wine
one part of Spanish wine and two parts of
south Of France wine. This mixture could
not be made wholesale for less than 43
francs ~ per hectolitre taxes. etc. added
NJ I.4I.. sold hair yRr. IN
frances ~ per hectOiitre. That IS to say
this extraordinary Partisan partnership, by
selling for IL francs 50 what cost them 43
francs 80 realized in one year profit of
41l-J4U francs. or over $4,000!
Room for Improvement.
While true wines are now to be given
a chance at the expense of cognacs. alb
sinthes and aperitifs these latter them
selves run a chance OF improving In quality
this time by reason of the increased tax
1t really seems strange, now that both In
creasing and decreasing taxes turn out to
lie specifics to insure good quality, that no
one thought of it before in all the years.
In any case there is need to improve the
quality of the poisonous aperitifs that fairly
inundate the Paris of today. Absinthe. II
not the worst, Is the most dangerous, be-
cause of its immense vogue. A proposition
10 saddle the new law with an amendment
forbidding the sale of dangerous essences
almost compromised its passage. The
ate pretended to see in 1t only attack on
the perfume industry. and asked for more
light The chamber satisfied Its conscience
by platonicarly demanding of the Academy
Of Medicine list of essences to pro-
scribe"
Yet the list has been made up for long
time past.
Absinthe as n Poison.
All doctors are familiar with the cele-
brated experiments OF Magnan, Iaborde.
nd Mapnan'S q
first experiments date back twenty-five
years. At that epoch abslnthe was still a
Nquer of absinthe 1t was the essence Of
absinthe itself which Magnan administered
10 his dogs and which proved itself there
Hy-to be a convulsive poison OF the first
order
At the same time I.ancereaux. studying
the action of absinthe ON man, demonstrate
cd the same fact. The absinthe fiend dis
tiaguishes himself from the vulgar brandy
driuker by his conVulsive crises. The spe-
cisllists are still disputing whether they be
cpileptic, hystero-epileptic or hysteric
They are generally called epileptiform.
But the absinthe Of commerce IS no longer
what vain people imaG Gine 1t to be. II IT
Rbsinthe is noticeable Dy its absence. In
deed there is every thing in 1t but absinthe
The Repertoire General de Pharmacie
says: The drink vulgarly called absinthe
30 universally consumed in France today
no longer contains the absihthe which
should be its basis. II is alcohol colored
with spinach. parsley. the juice of hyssop
or ortie tincture of curcuma. indigo, etc
ard containing in dissolution enough of the
essence of anise and badiane 70 give it the
property of whitening yeIiowing when
water is added to It
An AbominaSIe Mixture.
Eut, If absinthe no longer contains ~
sinthe, what becomes of the experiments Sf
Magnan and Lancercaux? The researches