[Supply of medicines for the Dutch whaling and salt trade in de seventeenth century].

During the seventeenth century the small Dutch nation with a population of no more than 1.5 million people played a prominent role in the whale oil and salt trade. Two reports discovered in the Archives in The Hague and Delft are dealing with the provision of medical and pharmaceutical services during their extensive maritime commerce. Surgeon chests destinated for whaling explicitly contained medicines to treat scurvy, respiratory illnessses and musculoskeletal diseases. The workers exploiting the saltpans in Arguin, near the northwestern coast of Afrika, were in need for drugs to cure gastrointestinal complaints and inflammatory conditions of the mouth.