16 
MEALS MEDICINAL. 
ABSINTHE. 
ABSINTHE is a liqueur used largely in France, being concocted in 
the main from the herb Wormwood (artemisia absinthium) which 
yields an essential oil consisting chiefly of absinthol. This oil 
is the basis of the said liqueur, the effects whereof, when taken 
to excess, are frequent giddiness, and attacks of epileptiform 
convulsions. Much diluted doses of the liqueur, if carefully ad- 
ministered, will materially relieve ailments of this same char- 
acter which are determined by physical irregularities within the 
body. One teaspoonful of the absinthe twice a day with a 
wineglassful of cold water for an adult patient. 
The original absinthe was a harmless medicament, prepared 
and used by a French physician named Ordinaire, who was living 
as a refugee in Switzerland at the close of the eighteenth century. 
He was a country doctor, and a druggist, cultivating in his little 
garden the herbs for making absinthe, then without alcohol. 
But the French “absinthe” of to-day is a highly aromatic, 
intoxicating liqueur, of an opaline green colour, and with a bitter 
taste. It is prepared by steeping in alcohol, or Strong spirit, 
certain bitter herbs, of which the chief are artemisia absinthium, 
and artemisia mutellina, with artemisia spicata, each &@ wormwood, 
The mode generally practised of drinking this liqueur is by adding 
it to water, drop by drop, or by allowing it to trickle through a 
funnel having only a minute opening below; thus prepared, it 
is styled “la hussarde,” and is commonly supplied in the cafés 
of France, Italy, and Switzerland. 
When indulged in as an appetizer by connoisseurs, absinthe, 
the “fairy with the green eyes,” is modified by admixture with 
anisette, and is of note as an “ agreeable and bronchitis-palliating 
liqueur.” If served sparingly at table, and not taken habitually, 
it soothes spinal irritability, and gives tone to persons of a highly 
