Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
It’s 125 years old! “Useful Drugs” was published in 1921 by the American Medical Association. What an amazing little volume it is! It is fascinating to peruse this little book to see what were considered to be useful drugs back then. Morphine for pain, digitalis for heart failure, quinine for malaria, colchicine for gout, barbital for sleep, ether and chloroform as anesthetics, cocaine for local anesthesia, iron for anemia, epinephrine (adrenalin) to raise blood pressure, iodine for an underactive thyroid, atropine to increase heart rate, senna as a laxative, aspirin for fever were all effective and are found in modern pharmacopeias. Cantharidin extracted from beetles known as “Spanish fly” was used to treat warts and occasionally still is.
On the other hand, mercury compounds are no longer used for syphilis, strychnine isn’t used as a stimulant, arsenic compounds have fallen by the wayside as a treatment for skin conditions and aconite extracted from monkshood is not used to reduce blood pressure. A room would not be fumigated today with formaldehyde even though it would kill all pests. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen. It is interesting that in Useful Drugs, instructions are given about how to fill a room with formaldehyde by adding potassium permanganate to a formaldehyde solution. The permanganate oxidizes formaldehyde to formic acid in a reaction that is so exothermic that it volatilizes the unreacted formaldehyde. Wisely, the instructions state that the operator should leave the room immediately after mixing the chemicals.
Looking through the book, my eye was drawn to theophylline, a compound originally extracted for tea leaves. I have a familiarity with theophylline because as a child I had asthma and back then treatment was with theophylline. I have mixed memories about this drug because it did alleviate the asthma, but you were left with a feeling of having been run over by a steamroller. I wasn’t surprised to find theophylline there because I knew it had been synthesized in 1895 by German chemist Emil Fischer but I was surprised that no mention was made of it being used for asthma. The only use indicated was as a diuretic.
A quick bit of research revealed that theophylline was only introduced as an asthma medicine in 1922, a year after “Useful Drugs” was published, although there had been reports starting in the mid 1800s that strong tea could help during an asthmatic attack but of course it was not known that the active ingredient was theophylline. For asthma, Useful Drugs recommended belladonna extract (atropine) that did work but came with the side effects of dry mouth, rapid heartbeat and blurred vision. Neither theophylline or atropine is used for asthma today.
It’s 125 years old! “Useful Drugs” was published in 1921 by the American Medical Association. What an amazing little volume it is! It is fascinating to peruse this little book to see what were considered to be useful drugs back then. Morphine for pain, digitalis for heart failure, quinine for malaria, colchicine for gout, barbital for sleep, ether and chloroform as anesthetics, cocaine for local anesthesia, iron for anemia, epinephrine (adrenalin) to raise blood pressure, iodine for an underactive thyroid, atropine to increase heart rate, senna as a laxative, aspirin for fever were all effective and are found in modern pharmacopeias. Cantharidin extracted from beetles known as “Spanish fly” was used to treat warts and occasionally still is.
On the other hand, mercury compounds are no longer used for syphilis, strychnine isn’t used as a stimulant, arsenic compounds have fallen by the wayside as a treatment for skin conditions and aconite extracted from monkshood is not used to reduce blood pressure. A room would not be fumigated today with formaldehyde even though it would kill all pests. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen. It is interesting that in Useful Drugs, instructions are given about how to fill a room with formaldehyde by adding potassium permanganate to a formaldehyde solution. The permanganate oxidizes formaldehyde to formic acid in a reaction that is so exothermic that it volatilizes the unreacted formaldehyde. Wisely, the instructions state that the operator should leave the room immediately after mixing the chemicals.
Looking through the book, my eye was drawn to theophylline, a compound originally extracted for tea leaves. I have a familiarity with theophylline because as a child I had asthma and back then treatment was with theophylline. I have mixed memories about this drug because it did alleviate the asthma, but you were left with a feeling of having been run over by a steamroller. I wasn’t surprised to find theophylline there because I knew it had been synthesized in 1895 by German chemist Emil Fischer but I was surprised that no mention was made of it being used for asthma. The only use indicated was as a diuretic.
A quick bit of research revealed that theophylline was only introduced as an asthma medicine in 1922, a year after “Useful Drugs” was published, although there had been reports starting in the mid 1800s that strong tea could help during an asthmatic attack but of course it was not known that the active ingredient was theophylline. For asthma, Useful Drugs recommended belladonna extract (atropine) that did work but came with the side effects of dry mouth, rapid heartbeat and blurred vision. Neither theophylline or atropine is used for asthma today.
