Natural product to modern discovery of their active ingredients and eventually to the development of new drugs. A large number of currently prescribed drugs have been either directly derived from or inspired by natural products. A few representative examples are listed below. Some of the oldest natural product based drugs are analgesics. The bark of the willow tree has been known from antiquity to have pain relieving properties. This is due to presence of the natural product salicin which in turn may be hydrolyzed into salicylic acid. A synthetic derivative acetylsalicylic acid better known as aspirin is a widely used pain reliever.
Asa C. Matthews as collector of the United States Internal Revenue. In 1889, President Benjamin Harrison appointed Matthews comptroller of the United States Treasury. In 1893, Matthews wrote a vignette for the World's Fair predicting what life in the U.S. would be like 100 years in the future. His predictions were grandiose, predicting the U.S. having 60 states and controlling all of North America. Matthews died suddenly at his home in Pittsfield, Illinois. Asa C. Matthews Asa Carrington Matthews (March 22, 1833 – June 14, 1908) was an American lawyer, judge, and politician. Born in Pike County, Illinois, Matthews went to the public