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Show OUIISE OF A NATION FEARFUL EFFECTS FOLLOW U3E OF ABSINTHE. Government Intervention Talked of as the Only Means of Saving France From Ruin The Drug Produces Strange Feeling of Exaltation. Tho greatest curse Franco has ever known Is that which today Is undermining under-mining tho constitutions of a great majority of the citizens of tho republic. repub-lic. Statistics show that alcoholism Ib rapidly Increasing and the effect of liquors, especially absinthe, Is ono of tho main factors In tho decrease, ot tho French population. Absinthe wns never moro generally used. Its effects ef-fects aro demoralizing nnd government govern-ment Intervention may bo noccssary to prevent most serious effects. Absinthe, Is prepared by pounding tho leaves and flowers of various kinds of wormwood, the root of an-gcllca, an-gcllca, sweet flngroot, Cretan dittany, star-anlso fruit and other nromntlcs, nnd mncerating them In nlcobol. Tho compound soaks for eight days, and Is then distilled, yielding an emerald-colored emerald-colored liquid, to which a proportion of nn essential oil oil of anise usuul-ly usuul-ly Is added. This Is the pure nbslntho; but very llttlo of It Is now sold In France, for the adulterations which can bo, and are, practiced in Its manufacture are Innumerable. In the adultorated drink tho green color Is produced by turmorlc and Indigo; but bluo vitriol 1b often used as a coloring ingredient. It Is Impossible to ostlmato tho amount of abslntho distilled every year In Franco for homo consumption; but the amount Imported from Switzerland Swit-zerland has not been lees than 3,000,-000 3,000,-000 to 4,000,000 gallons overy year. It Is the effect rather than tho taste of abslntho which Is responsible for Its high favor with tho French. Its tasto 1b not nice. In tho accustomed drinker abslntho produces a feeling of strange exaltation. It Is not tho exaltation ex-altation of drunkenness from wine, but ono which seems to clear each Individual In-dividual faculty. Tho abslntho drinker drink-er after his first or second glass, If ho bo a beginner, or If an Inured consumer, con-sumer, Immediately after tho absorption absorp-tion of his usual limit, displays great brilliancy of thought, and for a tlmo Is, to use tho French expression, "raised abovo hlmsalf." The action of the drug, which takes placo with more or les3 rapidity, according ac-cording to tho r.ntural resistance of tho victim to the crazo Is greater or lesser, as follows: At first, following closely upon n loss of appetite, an unappeasable un-appeasable thirst takes possession of him, with giddiness, tingling In tho ears, hallucinations of sight and hearing, hear-ing, and a constant mental depression depres-sion nnd anxiety when not under tho Influence of tho drug. Loss of brain power nnd either Idiocy or furious madness shortly fodow. Tho other, If moro gradual, symptoms symp-toms of tho confirmed absinthe tippler tip-pler aro no loss terrible. They begin with qulvorings of the muscles and a great decrenso of physical strength. Then tho hair drops off, teeth become loosened In tho gums; tho abslntho drinker becomes emnclated, wrinkled and Ballow looking, and Is a victim to horrible dreams and delusions of all kinds, and finally falls a victim to paralysis. |