ANT 4461 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: John Jopson, Thuja Occidentalis, Thujone
Document Summary
The green fairy: absinthe (wormwood, artemisia absinthium, found in europe, near east, green fairy, wormwood, as it is normally consumed is a greenish distilled alcoholic spirit made from fermentation of the wormwood plant and other additives. In europe it was served in taverns and caberets. This eerie greenish color earned it the name green fairy: active ingredient: thujone, the drink is a fermented alcohol but with psychoactive effects beyond a typical alcohol spirit, researchers are not certain of containing thujone. In any case, absinthe is 75% ethanol alcohol and almost certainly has the effects of alcohol inebriation: thujone is also found in arborvitae (thuja occidentalis) the cypress nicknamed. Tree of life from which it gets its name: alchemy of spirit, in the ancient world the mysterious powers of alcohol were celebrated in the mysteries of dionysus (bacchus). Degenerate behavior of absinthe drinkers would pass down to their children: doctors would diagnose their patients with absinthism .
