Absinthe's Murky Past
Absinthe, often called the green fairy, is a green alcoholic liquor with a very murky past.
It was very popular with the Parisian artists, poets and intellectuals of the late 19th century and early 20th century.
Absinthe was thought to stimulate the creative juices in a special way that alcohol did not. However, it exacted a hefty price.
There was a disease associated with absinthe, which was called absinthism, and which involved terrifying hallucinations, enfeeblement, epileptic attacks and insanity.
At the time, absinthism was blamed on a specific chemical called thujone. This thujone was found in the wormwood herb used to make absinthe. And so, by 1915, absinthe had been banned in most of the Western world.
But it seems as though thujone was not the culprit.
