During the 1830s Ireland was awash
in alcohol, much of it produced locally in response to high alcohol import
taxes imposed by the ruling British government. While many locals were
assiduously distilling illegal poitín from potatoes or
malted barley, a backlash against alcohol was also growing. The leading figure
in this Irish temperance movement was a Catholic priest named Father Theobald
Matthew, who in 1838 established the Total Abstinence Society. Its credo was
simple: People who joined did not merely promise to consume in moderation, but
took The Pledge, a commitment to complete abstinence from alcohol from that day
forward. This simple approach was remarkably effective: In a single day more than
twenty thousand drinkers were reported to have taken an oath of total
abstinence at Nenagh, in County Tipperary. In fact, it is estimated that by
1844 roughly three million people, or about half the adult population of
Ireland, had taken The Pledge.
Not surprisingly, some people
looked for a way to keep to the letter of The Pledge while violating its
spirit. One of these was a Dr. Kelly of Draperstown, County Derry, who realized
that as a nonalcoholic tipple, ether filled the bill nicely. Ether is a highly
volatile liquid that may be produced by mixing sulfuric acid with alcohol, as
discovered by the German chemist Valerius Cordus around 1540. The inhalation of
ether vapors leads to effects that range from euphoria to stupor to
unconsciousness. In fact, ether was the first drug ever to be used for general
anesthesia when in 1842 Dr. Crawford Long of Jefferson, Georgia, employed it
during the removal of a tumor from the neck of a patient. Dr. Long had been
introduced to ether as a recreational drug during “ether frolic” parties while
a medical student at the University of Pennsylvania and had the insight to
imagine its practical use during surgery.
Dr. Kelly, desperate to become
intoxicated while maintaining The Pledge, realized that not only could ether
vapors be inhaled, but liquid ether could be swallowed. Around 1845 he began
consuming tiny glasses of ether, and then started dispensing these to his
patients and friends as a nonalcoholic libation. It wasn’t long before it
became a popular beverage, with one priest going so far as to declare that
ether was “a liquor on which a man could get drunk with a clean conscience.” In
some respects ingesting ether is less damaging to the system than severe
alcohol intoxication. Its volatility—ether is a liquid at room temperature but
a gas at body temperature—dramatically speeds its effects. Dr. Ernest Hart
wrote that “the immediate effects of drinking ether are similar to those
produced by alcohol, but everything takes place more rapidly; the stages of
excitement, mental confusion, loss of muscular control, and loss of
consciousness follow each other so quickly that they cannot be clearly
separated.” Recovery is similarly rapid. Not only were ether drunks who were
picked up by the police on the street often completely sober by the time they
reached the station, but they suffered no hangovers.
Ether drinking spread rapidly
throughout Ireland, particularly in the North, and the substance soon could be
purchased from grocers, druggists, publicans, and even traveling salesmen.
Because ether was produced in bulk for certain industrial uses, it could also
be obtained quite inexpensively. Its low price and rapid action meant than even
the poorest could afford to get drunk several times a day on it. By the 1880s
ether, distilled in England or Scotland, was being imported and widely
distributed to even the smallest villages. Many Irish market towns would “reek
of the mawkish fumes of the drug” on fair days when “its odor seems to cling to
the very hedges and houses for some time.” In 1891, Norman Kerr, writing in the
Journal of the American Medical Association, painted a
vivid picture of pervasive ether intoxication:
“Sturdy Irish lads and
beautiful Irish lasses, brimful of Hibernian wit, are slaves to ether
drunkenness. The mother may be seen with her daughters and maybe a neighboring
Irishwoman or two at a friendly ether “bee.” The habit has become so general
that small shopkeepers treat the children who have been sent to purchase some
article, with a small dose of ether, and schoolmasters have detected ether on
the breaths of children from 10 to 14 (or even younger) on their arrival at
school.”
It is interesting to note that,
even at the peak of the Irish ether-drinking craze, the possession, sale, and
private use of ether remained legal. The first attempt to control the problem
involved adulterating industrial ether with naphtha, which has an odor and
taste even more offensive than ether itself. This was an utter failure—people
just blended it with sugar and spices to mask the taste, held their noses, and
tossed it back. Ether drinking in Ireland was finally curtailed in 1891 when
the British government classified ether as a poison and enforced strict
controls on its sale and possession, thus dramatically restricting its
distribution and use. The practice lingered for a few years longer but appeared
to be completely abolished by the 1920s.
Cheap, quick, and no hangover
afterwards? No wonder ether was so popular. However, before you head out the
door to score some, it’s worth mentioning a few of the downsides. These include
a truly awful smell and taste, coupled with a strong burning sensation while
the foul stuff is going down. Plus, it makes you drool like a Saint Bernard dog
on a hot summer day, not to mention stimulating truly monumental burps and
farts. These aren’t normal emissions—they are laden with highly flammable ether
vapors. You can imagine what happened when an ether drinker would light up a
pipe and belch or sit down by an open fire and break wind. Severe burns at
either end of the alimentary canal were a common hazard.