The Medical and Surgical Classes at the Hospital of Misericórdia of Funchal (1812-1836)

Abstract

The creation of the Medical and Surgical School of Funchal, in 1837, was not an absolute novelty, nor did it occur in a vacuum of medical-surgical and pharmaceutical training practices, nor in a vacuum of teaching and curricular formalisation. The two Medical and Surgical Classes usually referred to by historiography, that of Bishop Meneses e Ataíde and that of the physician João Francisco de Oliveira, are not isolated cases and should be seen in a continuum whose diachrony lacks, however, studies. Despite the great ignorance about the training of surgeons and apothecaries at the Hospital da Misericórdia do Funchal during the 18th century and the troubled historical context of the first three decades of the 19th century, both in mainland Portugal and Madeira, this article aims to provide a more integrative view of the efforts and vicissitudes of the implementation of medical, surgical and pharmaceutical studies in Funchal, as well as the training dimension in real context that characterized the practices within the Hospital de Santa Isabel. To this end, a critical analysis will be made of the Madeiran historiography on the subject and an attempt will be made to cross-reference documents that have not been sufficiently explored and other unpublished documents. The temporal boundaries of this article refer to the first record found of an attempt to formally organize the teaching of surgery and the last documented record of a practitioner of the hospital before the creation of the Medical and Surgical School.

Keywords

Funchal; Hospital of Misericórdia; Medical and Surgical School; Medicine; Surgery; Pharmacy.