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Brief history of the Portuguese anatomical collections
The Marquês de Pombal reform in Portugal, in the 18th century, had a great impact at Universidade de Coimbra. Throughout this century until the beginning of the 19th, several disciplines were modernised including Medicine, becoming more practical (Rasteiro, 1999). Also at this time there the anatomical theatre, a new teaching hospital, and the pharmaceutical dispensary were created (Pitta, 1996).
But with the death of Marquês de Pombal in 1782, the reform lost grounds and medicine saw a long period of decadence both in theoretical and practical studies. Nonetheless, during this time, the anatomy professor Carlos José Pinheiro (?-1844) was keeping the anatomical collecting practices alive and around 1829 published the Scientific Inventory of Objects and Preparations of the University of Coimbra Anatomical Theatre. With this, the Medicine Studies underwent a new reform period and continued to be modernised without losing the practical training until at least 1892.
Anatomical studies and human body dissection was and still is one of the most important practices in medical training. Text books and models provide only one example of how organs look like (identify the average condition) and where they locate in the body, but it’s through the real dissection of a human body that the student understands the appreciation of human variability (old and young, men and women, person to person).
Leitura complementar | Further reading
Bastos, Cristiana & Matos, António. (2013). Arte, Clínica, Ciência e Património: uma colecção de moldagens de um antigo hospital de dermatologia e Sífilis em Lisboa. Amazônia Revista de Antropologia. 5. 258-287
Bennett, J. (2005). Museums and the History of Science: Practitioner’s Postscript. Isis, 96(4), 602-608.
Delicado, Ana. (2014). The Past and Present of Medical Museums in Portugal. Museum History Journal. 7. 18-35.
Delicado, Ana. (2008). Produção e reprodução da ciência nos museus portugueses. Análise Social. XLIII. 55-77
Delicado, A., Bastos, C. (2014) O Corpo Medicalizado nos Museus. in António Fernando Cascais (org.), Olhares sobre a Cultura Visual da Medicina em Portugal. Alfragide: UnyLeya/CECL, ISBN 9789899850330
Diogo, M. P., Carneiro, A., & Simões, A. (2008). Perspectives on contemporary History of Science in Portugal, Nuncius, 23(2), 237-263.
Felismino, D. (2015). Saberes, Natureza e Poder. Colecções científicas da antiga Casa Real portuguesa. Museus da Universidade de Lisboa / Caleidoscópio
Fiolhais, C.; Martins, D. (2010) Breve história da Ciência em Portugal, Coimbra, Gradiva, p. 128
Fiolhais, C., Simões, Carlota; Martins, (2017) Décio – História da ciência na Universidade de Coimbra: 1772-1933. Coimbra: [s.n.]. p. 246
José Manuel Vasconcelos, (2014) Antecedentes da Escola Médico-Cirúrgica do Porto. A caminho da fusão da Medicina com a Cirurgia, Etapas da afirmação institucional de uma profissão, História, Revista da FLUP Porto, IV Série, vol. 4, pp 241-269
Lourenço, M. (2013) Preserving and studying scientific heritage at the University of Lisbon: Recent developments and perspectives, Revista Electrónica de Fuentes y Archivos Centro de Estudios Históricos “Prof. Carlos S. A. Segreti” Córdoba (Argentina), año 4, número 4, 2013, pp. 95-109
Lourenço, Marta & Sousa-Dias, José Pedro. (2017). “Time Capsules” of Science: Museums, Collections, and Scientific Heritage in Portugal. Isis. 108. 390-398.
Pilão C., Tacão S. (2013) Lisboa, colina de Sant’Ana: monges, monárquicos e republicanos, 500 anos a tratar da saúde do povo. Amazónia Revista de Antropologia 5 (2): 288-306
Silva, João Alcindo Martins (2002) Anotações sobre a história do ensino da Medicina em Lisboa, desde a criação da Universidade Portuguesa até 1911, História da Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa. Faculdade de Medicina http://hdl.handle.net/10451/985
Souza, E. S. (2010). ” The Catholic Enlightenment In Portugal”. In A Companion to the Catholic Enlightenment in Europe. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.
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