Q 01/05

Powdered bark from which tree, praised for curing fevers in 1763, later led chemists toward aspirin?

A) Birch

B) Willow

C) Hazel

D) Hawthorn

Answer · why

B) Willow

Willow bark holds salicin, which Johann Buchner crystallised in 1828. Bayer settled on the name Aspirin for its related synthetic drug in 1899.

Q 02/05

Which US president died in 1799 after doctors treating a throat infection drained several pints of blood?

A) William Henry Harrison

B) Thomas Jefferson

C) Andrew Jackson

D) George Washington

Answer · why

D) George Washington

George Washington believed in bleeding and had his overseer open a vein before any doctor arrived. His physicians then bled him several more times, an...

Q 03/05

Which ancient remains, ground to powder, did chemist Robert Boyle praise as a useful medicine for falls and bruises?

A) Mummies

B) Mammoth tusks

C) Fossil shells

D) Bog bodies

Answer · why

A) Mummies

Mummies were ground into a drug called mummia that European apothecaries sold from the 12th century. After exports were banned in the 16th century, so...

Q 04/05

Which animal most often supplied the unicorn horn that apothecaries sold as a universal antidote until the 18th century?

A) Rhinoceros

B) Walrus

C) Narwhal

D) Antelope

Answer · why

C) Narwhal

Narwhal tusks, which are really overgrown teeth, were traded as unicorn horn for centuries. Danish kings even had a throne made from them.

Q 05/05

In 1916 US chemists found that Clark Stanley's famous liniment contained none of which ingredient named on its label?

A) Bear grease

B) Snake oil

C) Goose fat

D) Whale oil

Answer · why

B) Snake oil

Snake oil was missing entirely: the liniment was mostly mineral oil with chili pepper extract and turpentine. Stanley's $20 fine helped turn the name ...