Introduction - Uppsala Monitoring Centre

Filipendula ulmaria or Spiraea ulmaria (meadowsweet). The name
Spiraea was incorporated into the trade name of acetylsalicylic acid by
Bayer–Aspirin.
Gaultheria procumbens (wintergreen)
Populus balsamifera (balsam poplar)
Populus nigra (black poplar)
Populus candicans (balm of Gilead)
Salix alba (white willow)
Viburnum prunifolium (black haw)
The resulting drugs, obtained from these herbs, were:
Salicin C 13 H 18 O 7 . Used for acute rheumatism, typhus, typhoid, cerebro-spinal
fever (i.e. meningitis), scarlet fever, diphtheria and pneumonia.
Salol (phenyl salicylate) C 13 H 10 O 3 . Used as an antipyretic and for: duodenal
catarrh, catarrh of the bile ducts, catarrhal jaundice, gonorrhoea, infective
diarrhoea and typhus.
Sodium salicylate NaC 7 H 5 O 3 . Used for acute and chronic rheumatism,
headaches, phlegmasia 5 alba, osteoarthritis, gout and back pain,
Methyl salicylate CH 3 C 7 H 5 O 3 . Used as ointment, but it is absorbed and
therefore also has systemic effects.
Salicylic acid C 7 H 5 O 3 . Used for acute rheumatism, typhus, typhoid, cerebrospinal
fever, scarlet fever, diphtheria, pneumonia, dyspepsia, worms, aphthae,
thrush, lumbago, neuralgia, diabetes and hectic fever.
Acetylsalicylic acid C 9 H 8 O 4 . Aspirin, whose uses are too many to number.
All of these salicylates were in the 1914 British Pharmacopoeia.
6. Streptomycin
Molecular Formula: C 21 H 39 N 7 O 12
Description: an antimicrobial organic base produced by the growth of certain strains
of the Actinomycete Streptomyces griseus, or by any other means. Discovered in
January 1944 by Schatz, Bugie and Waksman and used for many different types of
infection. Its place here is justified by its use for tuberculosis in the first randomised
controlled clinical trial in 1946 when the first supplies of streptomycin became
available in the UK. It had been available in limited amounts for studies in the USA
since its discovery.
Each of the literature sources has been searched for references to these marker
drugs.
Discussion
The axiom that there is no such thing as a safe drug means that if a substance has
5 Phlegmasia = phlegmasia alba = inflammation of the femoral vein causing a white swollen leg