1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,520 Speaker 1: Hey everybody, Like so many of you, my love for 2 00:00:02,640 --> 00:00:05,360 Speaker 1: learning didn't just stop when I finished school. I wouldn't 3 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:08,080 Speaker 1: be doing this podcast otherwise. That's why I'm excited to 4 00:00:08,119 --> 00:00:12,080 Speaker 1: tell you about the Great Courses Plus Video Learning service. 5 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:14,800 Speaker 1: This is a service where you get unlimited access to 6 00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:19,279 Speaker 1: thousands of the great courses online lectures on many topics 7 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:22,320 Speaker 1: that are taught by top professors. 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It's totally awesome. So I'm a fan of this. 18 00:00:57,480 --> 00:00:59,400 Speaker 1: I want you to try it, and as one of 19 00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:03,560 Speaker 1: our listeners, when you sign up, you'll immediately get one 20 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:07,240 Speaker 1: whole month free to start any lectures you want. Start 21 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:10,120 Speaker 1: your free trial today by going to the Great Courses 22 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:14,680 Speaker 1: plus dot com slash brain Stuff. That's the Great Courses 23 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:20,880 Speaker 1: plus dot com slash brain Stuff. Welcome to brain Stuff 24 00:01:20,959 --> 00:01:29,400 Speaker 1: from How Stuff Works. Hey there, kids, I'm Christian Sager 25 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:31,560 Speaker 1: and this is brain stuff. The one that is about 26 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:36,040 Speaker 1: the most powerful of liquors absinthe. So in a Swiss 27 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:39,640 Speaker 1: vineyard worker named John Lanfrey shot his pregnant wife and 28 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:43,920 Speaker 1: his two daughters. Then he tried to kill himself unsuccessfully. 29 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:47,760 Speaker 1: The public were absolutely outraged and blamed the whole thing 30 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:52,480 Speaker 1: on two glasses of absinthe that Lanfrey had consumed before 31 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:55,720 Speaker 1: his rampage. What is this beverage that could drive a 32 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:58,760 Speaker 1: man to such madness? How is it made? Does it 33 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:03,920 Speaker 1: actually make you hallucinate as some people claim? Well. Absinthe 34 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:07,320 Speaker 1: is an annis flavored alcoholic drink, and for a while 35 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:11,119 Speaker 1: there it was banned in the United States, Switzerland, and France. 36 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:14,880 Speaker 1: It tastes kind of like liquorice. People used to call 37 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:18,560 Speaker 1: it the green Fairy because it's green and supposedly it 38 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:22,240 Speaker 1: made its consumers see things like you know, fairies. The 39 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:25,880 Speaker 1: traditional recipe from before the band has a really high 40 00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:30,600 Speaker 1: alcohol content anywhere from fifty five to seventy, so you're 41 00:02:30,639 --> 00:02:33,639 Speaker 1: supposed to dilute it when you drink it, unless you've 42 00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:37,359 Speaker 1: already started the day drinking paint thinner, that is absence 43 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:40,760 Speaker 1: made from anis phennel, a plant called wormwood, and a 44 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:44,239 Speaker 1: variety of other herbs and flowers. You soak all these 45 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:48,000 Speaker 1: ingredients in alcohol for anywhere from a day to a month. 46 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:51,600 Speaker 1: Then you distill the mixture, causing it to evaporate and 47 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:56,200 Speaker 1: leave behind bitter essences. You then recondense these with the 48 00:02:56,280 --> 00:03:01,160 Speaker 1: alcohol as it cools and dilutes. Manufactures add more herbs 49 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:04,040 Speaker 1: later to give it the milky greenish color that it's 50 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:07,120 Speaker 1: known for. It gets it the roma from the wormwood, 51 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:10,520 Speaker 1: something like a mix of cinnamon and clothes. But don't 52 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:12,200 Speaker 1: go buying this stuff out of the trunk of a 53 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:17,360 Speaker 1: stranger's car. Falsified absinthe is typically made with industrial alcohol, 54 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:22,920 Speaker 1: food dye, antimony, and copper salts. With that combination, you 55 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:25,240 Speaker 1: might as well just stick with the paint thinner. But 56 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:28,480 Speaker 1: the vintage absinthe from before the band that stuff can 57 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:31,640 Speaker 1: go for as much as five hundred dollars for three 58 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:36,160 Speaker 1: ounce vial, or ten thousand dollars for an entire bottle. 59 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:41,120 Speaker 1: Wormwood has been used medicinally since fifteen fifty two BC 60 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:45,240 Speaker 1: in Egypt. It's bitter taste is so old it's actually 61 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:49,880 Speaker 1: mentioned in the Bible as a representation of injustice. It 62 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:52,480 Speaker 1: was used as a general remedy for disease in the 63 00:03:52,480 --> 00:03:55,680 Speaker 1: Middle Ages, and get this, Mothers used to apply it 64 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:59,000 Speaker 1: to their nipples to wean their babies off of breast milk. 65 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:02,880 Speaker 1: In the eighteenth century, a French physician is rumored to 66 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:07,200 Speaker 1: have developed the absinthe recipe with wormwood. This recipe was 67 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:12,080 Speaker 1: first commercially produced in seventeen seven by Henri Louis Pernode, 68 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:15,960 Speaker 1: and a century later it was incredibly popular because a 69 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:20,279 Speaker 1: vine pest had made wine less available and people needed 70 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:24,239 Speaker 1: to get their drink on. Simultaneously, an anti alcohol movement 71 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:27,880 Speaker 1: was growing, called for by both doctors, the clergy and 72 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:31,480 Speaker 1: the wine growers who wanted their industry back. The growers 73 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:37,719 Speaker 1: started a misinformation campaign linking absinthe to hallucinations, seizures, suicides, 74 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:42,279 Speaker 1: and murders like those committed by Lanfrey. They even produced 75 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:45,960 Speaker 1: posters denouncing addiction to the drink as absinthe is m 76 00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:49,240 Speaker 1: Recent studies however, have shown that if there was a 77 00:04:49,279 --> 00:04:54,560 Speaker 1: real problem, it was actually widespread alcoholism that was to blame. Remember, 78 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:58,320 Speaker 1: absinthe has an incredibly high concentration of alcohol in it, 79 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:00,800 Speaker 1: and at the time it was one the most highly 80 00:05:00,839 --> 00:05:04,719 Speaker 1: consumed drinks in France, so the two went hand in hand. 81 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:09,520 Speaker 1: But the scientists of the time, perhaps misguided by absintheism propaganda, 82 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:14,920 Speaker 1: missed this inter relationship. Instead, they performed experiments on animals 83 00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:18,160 Speaker 1: to prove that wormwood was at fault, and rather than 84 00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:22,360 Speaker 1: use absinthe in their tests, they use essence to absinthe, 85 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:26,480 Speaker 1: which is essentially pure wormwood oil. They shut guinea pigs 86 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:30,000 Speaker 1: up with saucers of absinthe and alcohol, testing the effects 87 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:33,320 Speaker 1: as the animals huffed in the fumes. They even made 88 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 1: lesions in the brains and spinal cords of cats so 89 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:40,960 Speaker 1: they could administer wormwood directly. Guess what, When you cut 90 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:43,839 Speaker 1: up a cat and rub wormwood oil on its bare brain, 91 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:48,480 Speaker 1: it has seizures. Seeing this as a confirmation of their hypotheses, 92 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:51,040 Speaker 1: their results were assumed to have the same effect on 93 00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:54,440 Speaker 1: the humans who drank commercial absinthe. Now here's the thing. 94 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:58,400 Speaker 1: There's a component in wormwood called fo jone that in 95 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:02,400 Speaker 1: high doses can be toxic. We used to think that 96 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:06,680 Speaker 1: it suppressed neurotransmitters in the brain, but it's actually a 97 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:12,160 Speaker 1: gamma amino betric acid inhibitor, meaning it blocks the brains 98 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:17,520 Speaker 1: GABBA receptors. This causes convulsions. Food jone occurs naturally in 99 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:20,280 Speaker 1: a lot of different foods, but never in doses that 100 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:23,960 Speaker 1: are high enough to hurt you, and this includes absinthe. 101 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:27,360 Speaker 1: Even with the variation in its alcohol levels, by the 102 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:31,119 Speaker 1: time the drink is distilled, there's barely any food jone left. 103 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:34,560 Speaker 1: There are different chemotypes of food jone two, and not 104 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:38,440 Speaker 1: all of them have the same toxicological effects. And furthermore, 105 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:41,880 Speaker 1: any effects felt under the influence of absinthe were in 106 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:46,360 Speaker 1: conjunction with the intoxicating depressant of the ethanol that's also 107 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:51,000 Speaker 1: in the drink. Examination of historic absinthe products has determined 108 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:53,320 Speaker 1: that they actually had about the same food jone in 109 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:57,760 Speaker 1: them as today's maximum limits will allow, meaning they weren't 110 00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:02,520 Speaker 1: toxic but did absent to make people hallucinate. It's unlikely, 111 00:07:02,839 --> 00:07:05,200 Speaker 1: but if it did, it was probably caused by the 112 00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:09,000 Speaker 1: ethanol content and not the thoo jone in the wormwood. 113 00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:13,280 Speaker 1: The absentthe available today in Europe has less ethanol and 114 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:17,320 Speaker 1: a legal food jone content a thirty five milligrams per leader. 115 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:22,080 Speaker 1: Most brands have the same ingredients and extracts as absinthe 116 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:25,520 Speaker 1: from before the band they simply monitor the thoo jone. 117 00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:29,320 Speaker 1: Since two thousand seven, modern absinthe can only be sold 118 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:32,440 Speaker 1: in the United States if it's through jone free. If 119 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:35,360 Speaker 1: it has wormwood in it, the f d A considers 120 00:07:35,400 --> 00:07:39,400 Speaker 1: it adulterated. But honestly, you could probably get away with 121 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:42,040 Speaker 1: bringing a bottle or two into the country in your suitcase. 122 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:44,960 Speaker 1: And if you're looking to hallucinate with the Green Fairy, 123 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:48,400 Speaker 1: there is no evidence that absinthe, even with high doses 124 00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:52,000 Speaker 1: of thoo jone, will get you there. Frankly, you'd probably 125 00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:55,520 Speaker 1: die from alcohol poisoning well before you felt any effects 126 00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:59,080 Speaker 1: from the thoo jone. It's possible that the constituents in 127 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:03,960 Speaker 1: wormwood or other absent ingredients may cause health problems, but 128 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:07,720 Speaker 1: so far there is no evidence. So don't let advertisements 129 00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:11,640 Speaker 1: fool you that absinthe will have any psychotropic effects. That's 130 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:15,880 Speaker 1: just marketing trying to cash in on the beverage's past reputation. Oh, 131 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:19,480 Speaker 1: and for the record, when John Lanfrey killed his family, 132 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:22,200 Speaker 1: he had a lot more to drink than absent. He 133 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:26,440 Speaker 1: also had about thirteen glasses of wine, six cognacs, two 134 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:34,280 Speaker 1: copies full of brandy, and a Creme de men. Check 135 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:36,360 Speaker 1: out the brain Stuff channel on YouTube, and for more 136 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:38,959 Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff 137 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:53,360 Speaker 1: works dot com.