China officinalis
Made from Peruvian bark — the tree whose quinine conquered malaria, taught medicine the word cinchonism, and the classical remedy of weakness after loss of fluids.
The whole picture, in one breath
Think of the drained, bloated invalid: weakness out of all proportion after blood loss, vomiting or long fevers; a belly swollen with gas that rumbles and will not pass; ringing ears and a pale, sallow look; and everything better from hard pressure and from lying perfectly still. Weakness with bloating after loss: that is China.
The substance, in plain words
Peruvian bark is the tree whose quinine — isolated in 1820 — was the first specific drug in medical history: the cure for malaria that changed empires. Its overdose taught medicine 'cinchonism' — tinnitus, headache, flushing — and the proving gave the classical post-drainage portrait of weakness and gas.
The traditional picture Classical sources
The inner state
- Irritability and sensitivity. Cross, oversensitive to noise and smells, worse in the evening.
- Anxious despondency. Fear of losing the little strength left; gloom after the draining illness.
- Indifference. A flat, don't-care state in the convalescence.
The body
- Weakness after loss of fluids. The keynote: prostration after haemorrhage, vomiting, diarrhoea, lactation or long fever — the books' great debility remedy.
- Bloating with rumbling gas. The belly swells with wind that rumbles and can't escape — painless distension after every loss.
- Better from hard pressure. And from lying still — the books' characteristic amelioration of the gas and the weakness.
- Ringing ears, sallow face. Tinnitus with the debility; the skin turns sallow, yellow-grey.
- Periodic fevers. Fevers returning on schedule — the quinine legacy in the portrait.
- Worse least touch and draft. The skin is touchy, the body draft-sensitive — the least touch of clothing disturbs.
Modalities (worse and better factors)
| Worse from ⬇ | Better from ⬇ |
|---|---|
| least touch; cold air and drafts; exertion; loss of fluids; at night | hard pressure; lying still; warmth. |
Where it acts (organ affinities)
Blood and vitality after loss, digestion (gas and bloating), spleen and periodicity, ears.
Where the classical picture comes from
The bark's story wrote the remedy: quinine's malaria cures, cinchonism's ringing ears, and the clinical observation that drained, bloated convalescents matched the drug's overdose picture. China became the classical portrait of the after-state of every draining illness.
The substance in real medicine Pharmacology
What this section is: the pharmacology and toxicology of the source substance. It is not clinical evidence that a homeopathic preparation of it treats any condition. What controlled trials do and do not show is set out on the Evidence page.
Quinine and its successors — chloroquine, artemisinins — have saved more lives than almost any drug family in history: malaria's conquest began with this tree. Cinchonism is still textbook toxicology, and the tinnitus it causes is the identical ringing the proving recorded. The bark founded chemotherapy — the very idea that a specific chemical cures a specific disease.
Look-alikes (how the classical authors told it apart)
| Remedy | Looks similar because… | Tells it apart because… |
|---|---|---|
| Ferrum metallicum | Weakness, flush | Ferrum is the flushed, easily-exhausted blood weakness; China the bloated, drained one after loss. |
| Arsenicum album | Prostration, anxiety | Arsenicum is anxious, chilly and burning; China is bloated and pressure-better. |
| Carbo vegetabilis | Gas, debility | Carbo is cold, fanned and collapsed; China is rumbling and still-better. |
| Eupatorium perfoliatum | Periodic fevers, bone pains | Eupatorium breaks the bones before it sweats; China drains and bloats after. |