[The triumph of China China]

Malaria and its various remedies were frequently debated by Italian scientists in the 17th and 18th centuries. Physicians of the period discussed the probable origin of the disease, making use of the humoral theory, whilst upholding the efficacy of a new remedy, the bark of the cinchona tree. Knowledge of malaria, the various pathogenetic theories and some quite bizarre therapeutic attempts are amply documented in the medical literature of the age.