According to the passage, aspirin……………. .

Aspirin is officially 100 years old, and yet the medicinal powers of the little white tablets are still astonishing scientists. Aspirin is the nearest thing the world possesses to a wonder drug. Swallowing an aspirin is the smartest thing anyone with the onset of a heart attack can do to improve their chances, after dialling the number for an ambulance. It is used to lower the risk of heart disease and stroke in some people; it is thought to prevent some cancers and helps rheumatoid arthritis - all this from the bark of the willow tree. Aspirin began as a herbal medicine and was patented in 1899, but Hippocrates, the Greek father of medicine, was giving women a brew made from willow to ease the pains of childbirth in the fifth century BC.