Made from the same source as quinine, the peruvian evergreen, this remedy led to the founding of homeopathy. Homeopathy's founder, Samuel Hahnemann, was translating a medical text by Dr. William Cullen, and took objection to the claim that quinine's bitter taste made it effective for treating malaria.

Hahnemann dosed himself with quinine, and found that his symptoms mirrored the symptoms presented in many malaria cases. "I took by way of experiment, twice a day, four drachms of good China. My feet, finger ends, etc., at first became quite cold; I grew languid and drowsy; then my heart began to palpitate, and my pulse grew hard and small; intolerable anxiety, trembling, prostration throughout all my limbs; then pulsation, in the head, redness of my cheeks, thirst, and, in short, all these symptoms which are ordinarily characteristic of intermittent fever, made their appearance, one after the other, yet without the peculiar chilly, shivering rigor..."

From this and further 'provings', Hahnemann declared with certainty the fundamental principle of Homeopathy, Like Cures Like - that which can cause specific symptoms in a healthy person, can cure those symptoms in the sick or suffering. He then set out to find a dilution that would 'do no harm' and when he discovered the potent dilution, he issued homeopathy's second fundamental principle, The Minimun Dose.