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...
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