An aspirin a day keeps......

A Willow Tree

One Billion, One Hundred and Twenty Two Million a Year and Counting.

That is what the world consumes of that little tablet that we call aspirin.  I would say that one of the most used phases in our vernacular is. " Take an aspirin".  Yes even more than Yogi Berra's famous, " it' dejevue all over again".  At least in America.  It is something you will find in almost every medicine cabinet. The drug goes back to 1758. When it was discovered the bark of the willow had the same distinct a strong  bitter taste of a Peruvian tree bark. Going back to 1640's it was used to lower fevers and treat the effects of malaria.  It was also used to relieve rheumatic aches and pains.  An English clergyman,  Edward Stone, presented this to the British Royal Society, but could not determine what in the bark was the effective ingredient.  Until, Brugantelli and Fontana, two Italians chemists identified the property in 1826. The was determined to be the active chemical, salicin. The same active ingredient used today in the manufacture of the common drug.

The Bayer Company based out of Germany began to manufacture and package the drug in 1899. It has been sold ever since. Helping with pain and reducing fevers. The wonders of the drug did not stop there. It is now taken by millions in the treatment and prevention of heart attacks. The common drug has become a God send for many who experience near heart attacks by acting as a blood thinner. Allowing the blood to circulate easier and faster to the heart muscle. Taken everyday it can and does reduce heart attacks and strokes.  The danger of side effects almost non existent if taken in the proper dose. A mere 5 milligrams per day will do the trick.