Medical milestones, landmark publications, and notable births and deaths associated with March 6.

Events

1886 – The Nightingale, the first nursing journal, aimed at professionalizing nursing under the influence of Florence Nightingale, is published in New York. Ran from 1886 to 1891 before being absorbed by The Trained nurse and hospital review

1899 – German pharmaceutical company Bayer registered “Aspirin” as a trademark at the Kaiserliches Patentamt (Imperial Patent Office) in Berlin. Developed from acetylsalicylic acid by chemist Arthur Eichengrün (1867-1949) in 1897, to be more palatable than traditional willow-bark extracts.

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Births

1885 – William Norman Pickles (1885–1969), English general practitioner; described Bornholm Disease in Wensleydale (1933) and published the influential Epidemiology in country practice (1939)

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Deaths

1902 – Moritz ‘Kohn’ Kaposi (1837-1902), Hungarian physician; described Kaposi sarcoma (1872), Kaposi Varicelliform Eruption (1873), and Kaposi dermatosis (1874)

1971 – Edwin Allen Locke (1874-1971), American Physician; described the Cabot-Locke murmur (1903)

1974 – Philip Rowland Allison (1907-1974), English thoracic surgeon; distinguished reflux oesophagitis from true gastric-type ulcers within the oesophagus, and suggested the term “Barrett’s ulcer” for clarity. Performed the first successful British operation for cyanotic congenital heart disease

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Further reading

• Aspirin. German Patent and Trademark Office
• Eichengrün A. 50 Jahre Aspirin. Pharmazie 1949; 4: 582-584.
• Pearce JMS. The discoverers of aspirin. 2021
• Sneader W. The discovery of aspirin: a reappraisal. BMJ. 2000 Dec 23-30;321(7276):1591-4.