"An analysis of century-old bottles of absinthe — the kind once quaffed by the likes of van Gogh and Picasso to enhance their creativity — may end the controversy over what ingredient caused the green liqueur's supposed mind-altering effects.
The culprit seems plain and simple: The century-old absinthe contained about 70 percent alcohol, giving it a 140-proof kick. In comparison, most gins, vodkas and whiskeys are just 80- to 100-proof." [via Disinfo]
For some reason this doesn't strike me as being that surprising at all, considering that plain old alcohol has been one of the most common and harshest muses to artists of all times. Wormwood on the other hand has been used medicinally since the time of the Greeks, and it seems that the desire to believe in the mind altering effects of the plant may have been due to the temperance movement, which, in a move similar to the modern American War on Drugs' demonization of marijuana, attempted to paint what was an otherwise cheap and ubiquitous drink as a dangerous and maddening substance. Which all signs point to alcohol being anyway, regardless of if it's green or not. I wonder on the other hand what absinthe's connection might be to the mention of wormwood in the Book of Revelations as a poisonous falling star.
[Edit: Since getting clean I've become quite fascinated by the mystique of drugs, not necessarily their psycho-physical effects but the bizarre subcultures and paraphernalia that accrue to perpetuate the use of certain chemicals. For instance on one of my sojourns on the West Coast I stumbled across a small enclave of "absinthe fiends," who were not emulating Baudelaire et al., but were emulating the media copies of Baudelaire- that is, they all dressed like the Disney version of the Mad Hatter, wore skull rings, smoked clove cigarettes, and drank lots of absinthe. It was really quite humorous, in a sad confused kind of way.]
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