Alcademics

I just finished reading The Hour of Absinthe: A Cultural History of France's Most Notorious Drink [amazon] [bookshop] by Nina Studer. The book is an academic look at parts of absinthe’s history. 

(I wrote another blog post about one aspect of it - that wine was considered a better base spirit than grain or sugar beets.)

Two additional facts stuck out to me about the medicinal history of absinthe I learned in the book. These are important to me, as I wrote a book about the history of alcohol and medicine. 

Absinthe was not Prescribed against Disease in Africa

Absinthe as we know it was most likely “invented” in Switzerland and commercialized in Pontarlier, France. It became popular in Algeria, North Africa, among French soldiers in the colonization effort there. Later, due to those returning soldiers and national pride, it became popular at the cafes in Paris and Marseilles and elsewhere in mainland France. 

However it is frequently written that the French soldiers in Algeria were prescribed daily rations of absinthe to fight against dysentery and malaria. But Studer writes, “I have already discussed in my 2015 article, “The Green Fairy in the Maghreb,” I have not come across a single source from the period of 1830-1847… or the in the years immediately following the French victory that recommended or even discussed daily absinthe rations for French soldiers."

The army sometimes even prohibited the sale of absinthe to soldiers. However, the soldiers did drink a ton of absinthe and did believe that it was preventative against disease. And they did popularize it back in France. It’s the word “prescribed” that should probably be changed in the history of absinthe. 

Alcoholism vs Absinthism

Wine, beer, and cider were called “hygienic” beverages in France, and absinthe “artificial.” Other distilled spirits and liqueurs were also considered more dangerous than wholesome fermented drinks. Further, the term “alcoholism” was used in its early days only referring to the condition we know today when distilled spirits were consumed, not really when people only drank fermented ones. [Studer doesn’t go into this distinction between fermented and distilled specifically, but it would be interesting to study further, as this seems to be the case in other countries as well.]

Absinthe was considered “artificial” due to the wormwood/anise flavor and probably also the distilled base spirit behind it. And the physical effects from drinking absinthe were distinct - absinthe consumption was associated with epileptic-type seizures specifically, and later a propensity for violence. (For a time of course it was also considered a source of artistic inspiration.) 

The term “absinthism” was used to basically describe alcoholism when the alcohol in question was absinthe (though absinthe drinkers usually consumed other alcohol as well). Studer writes, “The 1860s saw the emergence of the diagnosis of absinthism, based on the diagnoses or alcoholism, which had only been developed in the 1850s.”

“The first medical publication that defined the addiction to absinthe as a separate diagnosis from alcoholism seems to have been August Motet’s 1859 medical dissertation.” 

These diagnoses being defined so close together indicates to me that absinthism was a sub-category of alcoholism, where alcoholism really only applied to drinking absinthe anyway. But the supposed special effects of absinthe drinking were not correct in the first place.

A 2006 article "Absinthism: a fictitious 19th century syndrome with present impact” summarized it thus: 

The only consistent conclusion that can be drawn from those 19th century studies about absinthism is that wormwood oil but not absinthe is a potent agent to cause seizures. Neither can it be concluded that the beverage itself was epileptogenic nor that the so-called absinthism can exactly be distinguished as a distinct syndrome from chronic alcoholism.

The book The Absinthe Forger cited a lot of animal studies in which animals were injected with wormwood oil and died in convulsions, alluded to in the above quote. Wormwood oil does cause these issues in high doses (a case in humans is cited in my book) but nowhere near the same doses as found in the beverage absinthe; only concentrated wormwood oil.

I believe I implied or outright stated in Doctors and Distillers that absinthism was used as another word for alcoholism. I think that’s true in practice because there were not many diagnoses of alcoholism from other beverages.

Studer writes, “Absinthism and alcoholism were confused, and alcohol dependent people were simply deemed ‘absinthe drinkers.'"

Purchase links (may earn me a commission)

The Hour of Absinthe: A Cultural History of France's Most Notorious Drink [amazon] [bookshop]

Doctors and Distillers: The Remarkable Medicinal History of Beer, Wine, Spirits, and Cocktails [Amazon][Bookshop]