DID YOU KNOW?... Chicken soup really can relieve the miseries of the common cold. Chicken contains a natural amino acid, which is chemically similar to a drug often used to treat respiratory infections. In 1747, citrus fruit was recognized as a cure for scurvy, but vitamin C wasn't officially named as a curative ingredient until 1932. For better cholesterol levels, sip one glass of dry red wine a day. A chemical compound found in grape skins helps boost the good cholesterol HDL. For more than 3,000 years, Chinese healers have employed herbs, acupuncture, special diets, exercise and massage to promote good health--an approach back in vogue today. Between the sixth century B.C. and the second century A.D., Greek and Roman physicians developed a system that became the cornerstone of medical thought and practice in the Western world for the next 15 centuries. Those ideas are still crucial elements of Western medicine today. It takes an average of 12 years for a medicine to travel from initial trial through FDA approval to a patient's bedside. The average expense per product is $231 million. In 1628, William Harvey, an English physician, was the first to demonstrate that the heart is a pump and explain how blood circulates through the body. In 1951, tranquilizers revolutionized treatment for the mentally ill. Previously, mentally ill patients were placed in mental asylums or restrained in straitjackets. Now, outpatient treatment with psychotherapeutic medicines has become the norm, and straitjackets are used by magicians to demonstrate escape artistry. Aspirin was first sold in 1899 and is now the most commonly used over-the-counter medicine. In the 1880s and 90s, the average life expectancy in the United States was 44 years. In 1996, it is 76 years. Medicinal whiskey and wine were available during Prohibition (1919-33)--but only with the signature of a doctor on a special prescription form.