THE HOUSE OF PERNOD AND SONS
We read in the New Dictionary of the medicinal plants,
by Dr. A. Heraud (Paris 1875. J.-B. Baihiere and Son, 19
Hautefeuille Street): "If one takes account of the weak
quantities of alcohol and essences which absinthe contains, one
sees that with the amount of one or two glasses per day, it can
have only slight influence on the consumer."
Dr. Heraud notes that the danger comes not from
moderate use of absinthe, but from the abuse in which a great
number of drinkers all too easily involve themselves.
One can say as much of the abuse of wine, beer, cider and
other drinks classed as healthy.
MM. Dujardin-Beaumetz and E.Egasse, in their treatise
on the indigenous and exotic medicinal plants (Paris 1889.
Doin, editor), after having indicated the proportions of alcohol
and essences contained in an ordinary glass of absinthe, add
"One sees that the proportion of essence is very tiny, and it is
appropriate to incriminate all alcohol as well, especially
when it contains pentanol, as is the case with inferior liquors.
Bad alcohol, that is the enemy! We need look no further.
That was demonstrated by Mr. Emmanuel Alglave at the
international congress of hygiene which met in Budapest in
September 1894, the cause of alcoholism lies much less in the
quantity of alcohol absorbed than in the bad quality of the
alcohol. Indeed, liquors derived from industrial alcohols
contain, in addition to pure ethanol, pentanols, butylic and
methyl alcohol, etc. It is important to distinguish pure ethanol from the others, particularly
pentanol, because there are radical difference between their
effects.
