Absinth is an alcoholic liqueur which takes its name from the botanical name of wormwood, Artemisia Absinthium. This is a perennial plant which is indigenous to Europe and Northern Africa. It is cultivated to some extent in the United States in limited localities in New York, Michigan, Nebraska and Wisconsin. The dried leaves and flowering tops of the plant are used for the extraction of the drug. The active principle is a volatile oil, of which the leaves and dried flowering tops contain about 0.5 of 1 percent. The oil is of a dark blue or greenish color, has a bitter lasting taste, and consists essentially of a substance known as absinthol in various forms of combination. There is also a bitter principle, probably a glucoside, which is known as absinthin. Absinth is of a most seductive character, and its victims are as helpless almost as those addicted to the alcohol or opium habit. The continued drinking of considerable quantities of absinth seems to break down the morale, sometimes paralyzing, or deranging digestion and general health, and reducing the victim to complete subjugation. The victims of absinth are more to be pitied, as a rule, than those of alcohol, opium, or cocain.