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THE FLOWING BOWL
which have been macerated for a week or so the
pounded leaves and flowering tops of wormwood,
together with angelica root, sweet-flag root, star-
anise, and other aromatics. The liquor is then
distilled, and the result is the decoctions sacred
to the " little green fairy," who has accomplished
even more manslaughter than the Mahdi, the
Khalifa, and the Peculiar People, put together.
Ofall the liqueurs absinthe is the most pernicious ;
and with many other sins it occupies some time
in taking possession of its victim. Like Mr.
Chevalier's hero, you " have to know it fust,"
and after that the rest is easy. Like golf,
" scorching," and gambling, once you " get"
absinthe, it gets you, and never leaves youwhilst
you last; and there is a weird, almost tragic,
look about the milky liquid, when diluted with
water, as to suggest smoke, and brimstone, and
flames, with a demon rising from their midst.
But it is only "the little green fairy" ; who is,
however, as deadly and determined as any demon.
The best absinthe is made in the canton of
Neuchatel, Switzerland, and is not made entirely
from Wormwood proper, but from a mixture of
plants related to it—such as Southernwood (" Old
Man "), and another which takes its name from
the invulnerable Achilles. But the merry Swiss
boy knows a trick worth two of drinking
absinthe; so the French get the most of it,
whilst some goes to America, and some to the
foreign quarters of our great metropolis. The
French soldiers learnt to appreciate it, from
drinking it as a febrifuge, during the Algerian
campaign, 1832-47, and it afterwards became,