Allow us to offer a short digression on the harmful effects attributed to absinthe. We are aware of the campaign almost everywhere against alcoholism; admittedly the goal is excellent and one can only applaud the efforts of those who seek to cure humanity of this hideous disease. That said, we have reservations about their methods, which cannot all be approved; and with very good cause, they have their zealots who, by their manifest exaggerations, compromise themselves in the eyes of reasonable people. Thus condemning moderate use of alcohol as well as abuse, they want to impose complete abstinence, and even, finding moral action insufficient and too slow, they call for forced measures to achieve complete removal of the production and sale of alcohol, with contempt for freedom of commerce and industry.