Absinthe

An alcoholic liquor, flavored by the plant Artemisia Absinthum, wormwood, containing absinth in, an aldehyde. It is best prepared in Switzerland. The dried and ground plant, with green anise and fennel, is digested in alcohol, diluted with water and distilled. The last third of the distillate is digested with small wormwood, hy op and lemon balm, strained and added to the first two-thirds. This is then diluted with water to 75 per cent alcohol. Inferior qualities are made, without distillation, by flavoring alcohol with e ential oils. It improves with age, losing its sharp and empyreumatic taste. It is drank diluted with water, when it is opalescent. Continued abuse deranges digestion, effects the nervous system, induces epileptic convulsions and paralysis. Magnan, French physician, noted 250 cases in Paris in three years. Much drank in France.