THE hangovers and aphorisms brought on by alcohol could soon be a

thing of the past if a new drug from America lives up to the froth of

publicity surrounding its discovery.

Gone will be the morning after when your skull feels as if it is

hosting a rodeo. Gone too will be the aphoristic days when Bertie

Wooster doesn't have the heart to touch his breakfast -- ''I told Jeeves

to drink it himself.''

Early in the morning, everyone will know what to do with a drunken

sailor.

Gone too, sadly, will be those heady days when Humphrey Bogart, when

asked, ''Were you drunk at 4am?'' replied, ''Isn't everybody?''

Instead, Mr Bogart would have had to have answered: ''Yes, I forgot to

take my Detoxahol,'' which doesn't quite have the same resonance.

Detoxahol has been developed by American scientists and can, it is

claimed, sober you up in minutes. It is said to be able to remove the

effects of alcohol even after several hours of heavy drinking -- and its

makers hope to sell it in bars without a prescription.

Compumed Inc., of Manhattan Beach, California, claims it speeds up the

way blood rids itself of alcohol by working on the small intestine.

Detoxahol has so far only been tested on animals and it would have to

pass Government vetting before it was allowed on the market.

The British Medical Association said the Medicines Control Agency

would have to see ''what the side-effects are and it would have to stand

up to scrutiny''.

A Department of Health spokesman said: ''Frankly, we are talking about

something which has not been produced yet. And it would have to be

rigorously tested before it was allowed on the market.''

It takes at least an hour for the effects of half a pint of beer to

wear off and eight hours to get over four pints.

The makers claim the drug speeds up this process and helps the liver

to recover after a drinking bout.

We'll raise a glass to that.