The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-10-01
UNCLE SAM PUTS BAN ON
 THE GREEN DEVIL

By an order of the Department of Agriculture scheduled to go, into ef. afea M hereafter a be barrea from the United States on the ground that the beverage is a deleterious sub stance and a menace to the public health Iii taking this action, Uncle Sam follows the example set by Swift zeralTd, Belgium and Holland. which nave already placed the ban on the green devil Drinkers on this side of the Atlantic have never taken kind- ly to the drug which tastes and smells very much like the paregoric of our cess. transforms men into devils. Alo- sinthe gained great popularity in France and other European countries before the dangers attending it's con sumption became fully known, but it has never been popular among Anglo Saxons In Switzerland and Belgium the prohibition of the I1ar1ufacture importation and sale of the deadly stuff was accomplished only after widespread opposition of dealers and
 The effects of absinthe drinking have been luridly described in Marie CorTelli's novel Worm wood, '' and the picture, while it represents an ex- treme case, is by TO means over drawn. Tt is not the alcohol in the green beverage that is it's chief dang CT The experiments of physicians have demonstrated tlIat the essential oil of worrnwood which is the prir1- cipa1 ingredient of absinthe, when given alone causes all the symptoms of acute absintheisna, including spasans of great violence, vertigo, sud- den JOSS of consciousness, convulsions, and foaming at the mouth The alco- 1lol. fennel and estar-arIiSe in abSintI1e are comparatively harmless. Absin- thisrn is entirely different from alco- fo1ism and it's effects much worse.
 Frenchmen are the greatest con- sunens of absinthe, and so widespread and general is the use of the drug that those v.t1o are agitatIng for the suppression of the habit declare that it threatens the very existence of the republic Absintile was introduced in to France in 1s47. The French army suffered greatly from fever during the scribed the wormwood mixture as a fobrifuges The aromatic liquor, us- ed first as medicine. soon became popular beverage, and with the re- turn Of the soldiers it's use soon spread all, over France, and thence to eurrounding nations The consump- tion in France increased from less than a million litres in 1875 to thirty six million litres in 1910.
 Of course. the green devil" has it's defenders and these say that all that is best in the literature, Journalism, science and art of the. France of the last half-century owes it's inspiration and a host of other distinguished Fre1chmen were victims of the ab- sinthe habit, and practically all of the French authors, journa1ists and paint CTS of today are worshippers' of the green devil
 Tn America abeinthe is usually drank in the form of a, frappe' but this is practically unknown in France. The Frenchman takes his absinthe well sweetened with Italian syrups and di- 1l1ted with water. The syrup is per- 11litted to drip slowly from spoon placed over, the long absfnthe glass Usually an hour more is spent in si,pinR one glass, and taken slowly in this way much Of the liquors ca pacity for harm is eliminated