[Nonnius and the Spa cure]

The 12th of July 1635, Jan van Beverwyck wrote a letter from Dordrecht to his esteemed friend Luis Nunez, in Antwerp. He asked him for indications about the cure of kidney stones of which he was suffering. He had just passed two calculi very painfully. Nunez answered on July 31. His letter summarized his own experience with this disease. In such cases, temperate diuretics and emollients are well indicated: ingestion of light decoctions of Malva and Viola, Caerefolium and Parieteria as well as Marshmallow syrup. No purge and no 'chemicals'. However, the best remedy was drinking Spa water. Usually the best way to absorb it is to come to the springs, in the Ardennes, part of the independent Principality of Liège. However, considering the horrors of the war (the Thirty Years War) endangering the country, van Beverwyck would be wise to drink imported water during 40 or 50 days, while staying home quietly, in Dordrecht. The letter points out the importance of provoked diuresis in the treatment of kidney stones. On the other hand the letter is an illustration of the continuing contacts between the United Provinces and the Spanish territories and of the commercial traffic between Antwerp, Dordrecht and Spa. The exported water was bottled from many 'pouhons'. It was acid, ferruginous, sulfurous and saturated with carbon dioxide; no pathogen germs, at least at the spring. Nunez quoted the large number of his patients cured with Spa water in Antwerp. This is an illustration of its commercial expansion even during this critical period.