/oss/taxonomy/term/3501/all en /oss/article/did-you-know/aspirin-can-do-more-just-alleviate-pain <p>It is a common misconception that aspirin is a naturally occurring substance that was discovered in the bark of the willow tree. A related compound called salicin does indeed occur in white willow bark (not the “weeping willow,” thereby explaining the use of the bark as a medication since the time of Hippocrates. But salicin is very irritating to the stomach, a problem that prompted the Bayer company to look for an alternative. One of its chemists, Felix Hoffmann, synthesized acetylsalicylic acid in 1898 and found it to be a great improvement over salicin.</p> Thu, 08 Nov 2018 19:31:12 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 7440 at /oss