Absinthe

“ The best absinthe contains 70 to 80% of alcohol. It is said to improve very materially by storage. There is a popular belief to the effect that absinthe is frequently adulterated with copper, indigo or other dye-stuffs (to impart the green colour) , but, in fact, this is now very rarely the case. There is some reason to believe that excessive absinthe-drinking leads to effects which are specifically worse than those associated with over-indulgence in other forms of alcohol. ”

“ Is the man who never touches a lethal weapon—alcohol, opium, tobacco, chloral, hasheesh, absinthe, or arsenic—a worse man, a weaker man, a less industrious man, a less-to-be-trusted man, than he who indulges in those choice weapons ever so moderately, or ever so freely? ”

“ I put the glass on the mantelpiece and picked it up again.
‘Don’t be frightened,’ he soothed me. ‘I know what you were going to say. You have always heard that absinthe is the deadliest of all poisons, that it is the curse of Paris, and that it makes the most terrible of all drunkards. So it is; so it does. But not as we are drinking it ”

“ Absinthe makes [Pg 351] people lie. It is the essence of seasickness and mendacity, and good only for those who, like horses, can’t get sick at the stomach and can’t tell the truth. When I have an enemy I will treat him to absinthe, but I will not drink it with him. Doctor Frank liked it on account of its reputation, just as his patients like him. Doctor Newman looked at his emptied glass and grunted, then rolled his head solemnly from side to side and opened his mouth as if he were going to say something important ”

“ Abruti, m., a plodding student at the Ecole Polytechnique, termed a “swat” at the R. M. Academy; stolid and stupid man; —— de Chaillot, blockhead, or “cabbage-head.” Chaillot, in the suburbs of Paris, has repeatedly been made the butt for various uncomplimentary hits.
Abrutir (familiar) , s’——, to plod at any kind of work. Literally to make oneself silly.
Abs, abbreviation of absinthe.
Absinthage, m. (familiar) , the drinking or mixing of absinthe.
Absinthe, f. (familiar) , faire son ——, to mix absinthe with water. Absinthe à la hussarde is prepared by slowly pouring in the water ”

“ It really matters little which of the intoxicants it is that is learned to be craved for; the craving for it will continue when it has struck an abiding impression. We know this fact well from the wide experience that has been gained of it in the cases of alcohol, tobacco, opium, chloral, hasheesh, absinthe, and arsenic. More incongruous things could scarcely be; incongruous to the senses, to the sensibilities, to the methods of taking, to the result of them; yet the craving for any one of them as it is may be established. The devotee to one will laugh at the devotee to another ”

“ The effect which the absinthe exerts in a direct way on the stomach would alone be sufficiently pernicious. It controls for mischief the natural power of the stomach to secrete healthy digestive fluid. It interferes with the solvent power of that fluid itself, so that taken in what, is considered to be a moderate quantity, one or two wineglassfuls in the course of the day, it soon establishes in the victim subjected to it a permanent dyspepsia. The appetite is so perverted that all desire for food is quenched until the desire is feebly whipped up by another draught of the destroyer. ”

“ It is the most innocent tasting stuff in the world, and does not affect one immediately. And so the ignorant stranger, on his first introduction to it, takes dose after dose of it, and goes home wondering why people are so mortally in dread of absinthe. ”

“ Mr Finlay Dun prescribes fomentations, poultices, counter-irritants, the knife, cauterisation, carbolic-acid dressing, stimulating injections, and the administration of sulphites and chlorate of potash.
ABSINTHE. [Fr.] Absinthium, L.; Wormwood, E.; Wermuth, G. This article is met with in commerce in the form of the dried herb with the flowers of Artemisia Absinthium, having a whitish-grey appearance, a soft feel, an aromatic and unpleasant odour, and an extremely bitter and aromatic flavour. The plant is indigenous, and grows in thickets, in mountainous districts, and on waste ground. ”

“ The small, regular and frequent pulse, the clammy perspiration, cool skin, cold hands, the eructations and mild paroxysms of vomiting of greenish yellow material with fecal odor, were symptoms produced by opium, food and morphine, as should have been fully apparent to any medical mind.
If the patient had been treated rationally from the start, at this stage of the disease he would have been as comfortable as at any time in his life, and after the opening of the abscess, forced though it was and followed by those symptoms, the patient still had a chance to get well if he had been left alone. ”

“ Suppuration is to be promoted by frequent fomentations with sponges, by cataplasms of barley-meal with a decoction of figs in mead or wine, to which may be added pounded wormwood, spurge, &c. For promoting the rupture of the abscess, diuretics are prescribed, such as wild marjoram, mock dittany, and the like. When the abscess does not burst, acrid clysters containing black hellebore, radishes, garlic, and the pulp of colocynth are to be given. ”

“ Give plenty of fresh air and do not crowd. Keep quiet yourself; do not get excited. In mild cases, mild stimulants may be necessary. Let the patient smell of camphor, put a cloth with camphor or ammonia near the nose. In other cases amylnitrite and strychnine may be necessary. Small doses of whisky or brandy frequently help. Remove the cause. Give tonics for general anemia.
TUMORS OF THE BRAIN AND INFLAMMATION, Abscess, etc. Abscess.
Causes.—This is always secondary and comes from some other part of the body. It comes often in young and middle life and is more common in males than in females. ”

“ The active principle absinthin is a narcotic poison. The stuff creates a habit most insidious and difficult to break, a longing more exacting than hunger. It is almost as fatal as cocaine in its blasting effects on mind and body. ”

“ Potassium Permanganate: as antiseptic.
Poultices: advantageously medicated, e.g. with belladonna or opium, to allay pain or inflammation.
Quinine.
Resorcin: in syphilitic and other unhealthy sores as an antiseptic.
Salicylic Acid: as antiseptic dressing.
Sarsaparilla: in chronic abscess with profuse discharges.
Sheet Lead: is useful in the chronic abscess of the leg as a dressing.
Silver Nitrate: a strong solution in spirit of nitrous ether, painted around the area of inflammation, will check it in superficial parts.
Sodium Gold and Chloride: in scrofulous abscesses as a tonic. ”

“ This was the first day for nearly ten years that I had existed without opium. I persevered in my abstinence for 90 hours; i.e. upwards of half a week. Then I took —— ask me not how much: say, ye severest, what would ye have done? then I abstained again: then took about 25 drops: then abstained: and so on.
Meantime the symptoms which attended my case for the first six weeks of the experiment were these:—enormous irritability and excitement of the whole system: the stomach in particular restored to a full feeling of vitality and sensibility ”

“ Any professional man, with the right regard for his patient's welfare, and the judicial understanding that qualifies him for taking the responsibility of directing the treatment of so important a case, would scarcely have laid the weight of his finger on an abdomen in such a dangerous condition. The symptoms and course of the malady up to that time should have told the real diagnostician that there was an abscess and that the abscess would rupture into the cecum if it were not meddled with. ”

“ The local symptoms vary with the seat of the abscess. When it is situated superficially--for example, in the breast tissue--the affected area is hot, the redness of inflammation gives place to a dusky purple colour, with a pale, sometimes yellow, spot where the pus is near the surface. The swelling increases in size, the firm brawny centre becomes soft, projects as a cone beyond the level of the rest of the swollen area, and is usually surrounded by a zone of induration. ”

“ It is always necessary to apply strong liniments to the
throat, as they relieve inflammation and stimulate the formation of an
abscess. The following liniment will be found very beneficial: Aqua
Ammonia Fort., four ounces; Oil of Turpentine, four ounces; Sweet Oil,
six ounces; shake well and apply two or three times daily. If the
swelling is extreme between the jaws, so as to interfere with the
animal's breathing, it is well to lance the abscess if a soft spot can
be found. Just cut through the skin with a knife; then use a clean blunt
instrument to locate the pus cavity. ”

“ If the pain be attended with weight in those who have abscess in the liver, it is an indication that the fleshy part of the liver is affected; but if the pain be acute the matter is rather in the coats, and we must burn the part thus:—Having strongly heated slender, knobbed cauteries, we apply them a little above the loins at the extremity of the liver, making an eschar. ”

“ Of course, the surgeon declares that pus should be let out by cutting into it, or it is liable to break into the peritoneal cavity and cause death This is positively not the truth, for when an abscess threatens, nature at once proceeds to throw a wall around in order to avoid accidents. All around the point of prospective abscesses, heavy walls of adhesions are built, and if nature is not interfered with, the abscess will break into the gut, because it is the point of least resistance, and it is also the point favored by gravity. ”

“ In due time diuretics are to be administered, such as the root of acorus, ground-pine, cassia, spignel, parsley, sea urchins, radishes, carrots, and the like. When an abscess is formed, there is a discharge of tawny and more natural urine, there is swelling in the loins, strong heat in the kidneys, and the pain becomes duller with irregular fever. The abscess bursts either into the bladder or intestines. Praxagoras, he says, related a case in which there was pus voided by the anus for twelve years and probably longer. When it bursts into the bladder, pus is voided with the urine. ”

“ I do not give solid food because there is a large abscess cavity opening into the bowels, and if solid food is given before it has time to close, it is liable to find its way into this cavity, thereby preventing healing, and bringing on a chronic condition that will ultimately end in death. The less food taken for one week after the discharge takes place, the better. Any rational individual should see that withholding food is the proper treatment. ”

“ When the abscess is situated at the mouth of the womb, so as that it can be operated upon, we must not be in haste in having recourse to incision, nor until the disease be ripened, and the inflammation has increased to its utmost, and the vascular bodies which surround it have become attenuated, owing to the importance of the uterus in the system. In operating, the woman should be placed on a seat in a supine posture, having her legs drawn up to the belly, and her thighs separated from one another. ”

“ When, notwithstanding the use of issues, matter is formed in joints, or, when these fail to procure the absorption of what was formed before they were introduced, then one of two things must happen; either the abscess must be punctured, or it must be allowed to burst of its own accord. In general, I believe, it is most advantageous to allow the abscess to burst, without any interference, except the continuance of the issue, or the establishment of such new ones as circumstances, particularly the situation of the pain, may point out. ”

“ Many surgeons advise that so long as the abscess is quiescent it should be left alone. All agree, however, that if it shows a tendency to spread, to increase in size, or to approach the skin or a mucous membrane, something should be done to avoid the danger of its bursting and becoming infected with pyogenic organisms. Simple evacuation of the abscess by a hollow needle may suffice, or bismuth or iodoform may be introduced after withdrawal of the contents. ”

“ The swelling may attain a considerable size without the patient being aware of its existence, and, as a matter of fact, it is often discovered accidentally. The absence of toxæmia is to be associated with the incapacity of the wall of the abscess to permit of absorption; this is shown also by the fact that when even a large quantity of iodoform is inserted into the cavity of the abscess, there are no symptoms of poisoning. The abscess varies in size from a small cherry to a cavity containing several pints of pus. ”

“ The treatment, at first, consists in warm fomentations, such as those of poppy-heads, or hops, with cooling drinks, purgatives, low unstimulating diet, and [441] occasional doses of James's Fever Powder, to promote perspiration. This is intended to disperse the swelling, and, in general, it does so. If, however, the abscess forms and breaks, in spite of all the means used, it must be treated the same as abscess in the breast, previously described. In ordinary practice, it is the general custom to bleed at the commencement of the disease, or to apply leeches to the groin. ”

“ An abscess may be detected, if situated externally, by heat, pain, redness, and swelling in the early stages, and, if further developed, by the fluctuation which is present. When any of these symptoms are absent, the suppuration should be encouraged by the means of hot fomentations and poultices. Care must be taken that the abscess is not opened too soon, or to some extent it may cause it to scatter, and the escape of pus will be lessened. The time to open an abscess is just before it is ready to break, and should be done with a sharp lance, a crucial incision sometimes being necessary. ”