Aspirin -- Wonder Drug Today, we pretty much take aspirin for granted, but when it was developed it was a true "wonder" drug that could cure a variety of ills, and today, it still fits that bill. Aspirin was first discovered in 1897 by a German chemist, Dr. Felix Hoffman, who worked for the Bayer Company. He was looking for some kind of medication to help his father's suffering from rheumatism. What he came up with became what people regarded as a wonder drug at the time, because it was such an effective painkiller. Bayer obtained an original patent in Germany for the medication in 1899, and patented it in the United States in 1900. Initially, the drug only came in powder form, and the manufacturer sent it to pharmacies in bulk. The pharmacists dispensed it to patients in paper bags that held one gram of the medication.

The first mention of what we know as aspirin came thousands of years ago when Greeks and Egyptians used willow bark to treat a variety of illnesses. Initially, aspirin came from powder of the willow bark, but now it is created synthetically. Therefore, aspirin is a very ancient...

Bayer introduced 500 mg tablets in 1900, and so aspirin became one of the first pharmaceuticals that druggists distributed in "standardized dosage form" (Editors). The drug grew in recognition and usage every year. By 1909, aspirin was responsible for almost one-third of Bayer's sales in the U.S. (Editors). To begin with, people used Aspirin for an assortment of uses, including reducing the aches and pains of rheumatism and arthritis, controlling fevers, and even in avoiding risky and sometimes fatal diseases such as the flu epidemic that sped through Europe and America in the 1920s. During this time, one European newspaper advised, "As soon as you feel ill, take to your bed with a hot water bottle at your feet, drink hot chamomile tea, take three Aspirin tablets a day. If you follow these rules, you'll be fit and well again in no more than a few days" (Editors). Aspirin is still…