Theriac found? Nitric oxide-aspirin and the search for the universal cure.

n the second century of this era, a consul of Rome ntroduced his doctor, Claudius Galenus of Pergamum, to mperor Marcus Aurelius. They got along famously, and alen became the court physician. Renowned for his public ivisections, which allowed startling advances in the fields of natomy and physiology, Galen joined a band of both otable and notorious doctors on a 4,000-year-old quest for he universal cure. Galen’s theriac (loosely from the Greek or animal flesh), or antidote, was a grand version of the ompounded drug of the day. It was the antidote to othing, but presaging Jenner’s invention of immunotherpy by prior exposure to a related antigen, and among its 70 r more ingredients, it contained snake meat for protection gainst snakebite. Its active ingredients were opium and the nest of white Falernian wines from the central slopes north f Naples (1). No cure-all, but after brewing for 40 days, it as imbibed with gusto.