Absinthe：Just in Time for Halloween, Come Meet the Green Devil in a Bottle
“opaque, bitter, tongue-numbing, brain-warming, stomach-warming, idea-changing liquid alchemy,”said Ernest Hemingway.saying, “It’s supposed to rot your brain out, but I don’t believe it. It only changes the ideas.” Hemingway succinctly captured the danger and allure of the pale-green drink. To enthusiasts it promised new ideas. To the unconverted it symbolized madness—“une correspondance pour Charenton,” a ticket to Charenton, the insane asylum outside Paris.
Valentin Magnan, an influential and well-respected psychiatrist, was appointed physician-in-chief of France’s main asylum, Sainte-Anne, in 1867 and thus became the national authority on mental illness.He claimed that through medical experiments, he determined chronic absinthe users suffered from seizures, violent fits, and bouts of amnesia. He recommended a ban on the Green Devil.
Others found his claims unpersuasive. Responses in The Lancet, for one, noted flaws in his methodology, including the crucial differences between a guinea pig inhaling high doses of distilled wormwood and a human consuming trace amounts of diluted wormwood. More likely, many argued, excessive consumption produced the same alcoholism as with any other drink. The British were especially skeptical of his claims; not coincidentally, the United Kingdom was one of the few countries never to ban the drink, which had never gained popularity there.
But in France, Magnan’s theories fit into the larger cultural conversation. Defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 escalated already existing anxieties about France’s collective health and especially its ability to protect itself against a bellicose and populous neighbor. (After the war Germany had 41 million citizens compared with France’s 36 million.) Public-health concerns gained an existential force; those worried about the rise of absinthe dubbed it “the poisoning of the population.” Not only did it contribute to the ill health of the populace, these opponents argued, but it was also an abortifacient and sterilized men, robbing the country of a generation of potential soldiers.
Though a pioneer in French psychiatry, Valentin Magnan did not transcend the biases of his time. His diagnosis of “absinthism” lent the imprimatur of medical science to what might have otherwise remained a folk belief and promoted the ban.
Bans helped solidify absinthe's deadly reputation in popular culture, and subsequent scientific study was often overshadowed by Magnan's work.Absinthe went on trial in the court of public opinion, facing a newly hostile citizenry, its longtime enemies in the temperance movements, and a bevy of respected medical authorities. Behind the scenes wealthy wine producers supported a ban in an attempt to eliminate an increasingly popular competitor, even though absinthe never accounted for more than 3% of the alcoholic beverages consumed in France. More than actual competition, it was the appearance of a trend that provoked wine makers to move against absinthe. Meanwhile, Magnan’s distinction between alcoholism and absinthism allowed wine to escape any blame for the state of the national health.
When Magnan died in 1916, he did so in a France freed from the shackles of the Green Devil. Absinthe faded into lore, kept alive through the stories of Parisian decadence. What remained were caricatures of mad geniuses who roamed from café to café calling out “une verte!” as they chased that next great insight, the transcendent perspective available only through the grace of the Green Fairy. Of course, anyone who knows this kind of story—romantic, poetic—knows the Green Fairy can never really die.
Over time, legal restrictions were gradually relaxed, scientists again began to examine the drink, homing in on its presumed active ingredient, thujone (C10H16O). Thujone, the essence of wormwood, was long thought to be hallucinogenic—based in part on literary descriptions from the likes of Baudelaire and Rimbaud. But little science existed to support this claim.In 1975, noting similarities in the psychological effects attributed to absinthe with those of marijuana, researchers suggested comparing thujone with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in cannabis. Thujone and THC have similar molecular geometry: both have similar functional groups available for metabolism in humans; both are terpenoids.
Later research proved that thujone exhibits some affinity for cannabinoid receptors but does not stimulate the same responses as THC.Thujone does, however, inhibit GABA-receptor activation; in extremely high doses this property can cause spasms and convulsions.
After nearly 100 years the Green Fairy lives again.
So, is absinthe a devil or a fairy to you? Come try it at SMO.Absinthe Bar this Halloween.
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