Elsevier

The Lancet

Volume 350, Issue 9075, 9 August 1997, Pages 437-439
The Lancet

Department of Medical History
One hundred years of aspirin

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The early history of salicylates

Human beings have suffered from inflammatory rheumatic disease since ancient times. The Assyrians left behind stone tablets from the Sumerian period describing the use of willow leaves for this condition. The Egyptians were aware of the analgesic effects of a decoction of myrtle or willow leaves for joint pain and the Ebers papyrus has a very accurate description of an inflammatory condition: “When you examine a man with an irregular wound… and that wound is inflamed…[there is] a concentration

The 18–19th century

Willow leaves and its bark, myrtle leaves, and a number of other plant extracts rely for their effect on the presence of the very simple organic acid, salicylic acid. The Reverend Edward Stone, from Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, UK, is generally recognised as giving the first scientific description in 1763 of the beneficial effects of willow bark in a letter to the Earl of Macclesfield, President of The Royal Society, in which he describes successfully treating patients with ague (fever,

The 20th century

In 1904, the original powder form of aspirin was replaced with a stamped tablet to allow exact dosage and prevent adulteration. The drug quickly became part of everyday life and it began to be mentioned in novels by authors such as Thomas Mann, Graham Greene, Edgar Wallace, Kafka, Ortega y Gasset, and Giovanni Guareschi. In 1950, aspirin earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the most popular painkiller in the world, and in 1969 the on-board first-aid cabinet of the Apollo spaceship

The future

Unlike many centenarians, aspirin is not ready to retire. In fact, its future seems assured following the publication of numerous major trials showing its efficacy as an antiplatelet agent,12 and in prevention of myocardial infarction,13 stroke,14 migraine,15 dementia,16 and even colon cancer.17 In April, 1997, over 300 researchers and journalists attended a major scientific symposium in Venice to review the latest data on this remarkable drug which seems poised to continue its blockbuster

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