author
William Salant
A pioneering pharmacologist, he helped shape early American research on drug effects and is best remembered for careful experimental studies of caffeine. His work also helped establish pharmacology as a research-focused discipline at Georgetown in the early 1910s.
1 Audiobook
The Toxicity of Caffein: An experimental study on different species of animals
by William Salant, J. B. (John Benjamin) Rieger
About the author
Born in Courland, in what is now Latvia, William Salant became an important early pharmacologist in the United States. Sources available online describe him as a physiologist and pharmacologist, and link him with major experimental work on the action and toxicity of drugs, especially caffeine.
Salant worked in federal drug research in the early 20th century and is identified in historical accounts as director of the Pharmacological Laboratory after the 1908 reorganization of the U.S. Bureau of Chemistry's drug work. Georgetown University’s departmental history also credits him with serving as Professor of Experimental Pharmacology in 1911, when the school began teaching pharmacology by name and building the field as a research-oriented discipline.
His surviving books and papers reflect a strongly experimental approach, including studies such as The Toxicity of Caffein and related work on how caffeine acts in animals. He died in 1943.