ORDINARY ASPIRIN IS TRULY A WONDER DRUG

Aspirin Drug

                                       
Americans this year will swallow, or take, 15,000 tons of aspirin, one of the safest and most effective drugs invented by man. Aspirin is the most popular medicine in the world today. It is an effective pain reliever and it is cheap. Moreover, its bad effects are relatively mild. I i.e., they are not strong. For millions of people suffering from arthritis, a disorder in the joints of the body, it is the only thing that works. Aspirin, in short, is truly the 20th-century wonder drug.

Although aspirin was first sold by a German company in 1899, it has been around much longer than that. Hippocrates, in ancient Greece, understood the medical value of the leaves and tree bark which today are known to contain salicylates, the chemical in aspirin. During the 2 19th century, scientists in Europe did a lot of experiments with this chemical, and these led to the introduction of aspirin. By 1915, aspirin tablets were available in the United States. A small quantity of aspirin (two five-grain tablets) relieves pain. It also reduces fever. Specifically, aspirin seems to slow down the formation of the acids involved in pain and the complex chemical reactions that cause an increase in the body temperature, which we call 3 fever. The chemistry of these acids is not fully understood, but the slowing effect of aspirin is well-known. Aspirin is very irritating to the stomach lining, and many aspirin takers complain about an upset stomach. There is a right way and a wrong way to take aspirin. The best way is to chew the tablets before swallowing them with water, but few people can stand the bitter taste. Some people crush the tablets in milk or orange juice. That is, they press and break the tablets. They claim that the medicine does not upset their stomach when they take it this way.