Starting with Baldassare Pisanelli's book Trattato della natura de' cibi et del bere, published in Venice in 1586, the controversies that have kept physicians busy over the centuries regarding the relative importance of water in human health are traced. These controversies were of considerable importance as the Latin word for water 'aqua' is derived from the phrase 'a qua vinimus' (from whence we come). However, until the studies of Nicolas Lemery, one of the most important pharmacologists of the 18th century, the controversies were debated using more theoretical, philosophical arguments. Lemery's studies shifted the debates from those based on philosophical arguments to more physiologically and scientifically based arguments.