Articles Volume 20 (2000)
Purgatory, Mercy and Charity: Structural Conditions of Care in Portugal(15th to 19th Centuries)
LAURINDA ABREU
Medicine and Religion in Spanish Anti-superstition Discourse of the 16thto 18th Centuries: A Battle for Hegemony
FABIÁN ALEJANDRO CAMPAGNE
Chemistry Text Books for Spanish Students of Medicine and Surgery(1788-1845)
JOSÉ RAMÓN BERTOMEU SÁNCHEZ; ANTONIO GARCÍA BELMAR
Purgatory, Mercy and Charity: Structural Conditions of Care in Portugal (15th to 19th Centuries)
LAURINDA ABREU
Summary
1.—The ennobling of the Misericórdias. 2.— Purgatory and «Breves de Redução». 3.—The reform attempts of the Portuguese public assistance.Abstract
The aim of this article is to show how the Portuguese welfare system was organised and how it survived for several centuries. It was rebuilt by the monarchy in the late 15th century, a process that coincided with the birth of the Misericórdias under the protection of the King. After the Council of Trent, these fraternities ran the health system, which was financed by people who believed in the power of perpetual Masses to evade Purgatory. These institutions were run by the political elite, who exploited them for their own benefit. The article also analyses the main measures taken by the state in the 18th century to change the old and weak system of public care. These laws were ineffectual and unable to change the real situation: the Misericórdias were alone—the elite had run away when money was short— and they received no support from the public purse or from the faithful, who at that time had less faith in the perpetual Mass.
FABIÁN ALEJANDRO CAMPAGNE
Summary
1.—Professional physician, Christian priest: allies and rivals. 2.—Medicine and religion in modern Spanish antisuperstition discourse. 2.1.—Martín de Castañega: the autonomy of the professional medical field. 2.2.—Pedro Ciruelo: the subordination of professional medicine. 2.3.—Gaspar Navarro: the battle for hegemony. 2.4.—Thomas de Murillo: convergence between medicine and religion. 2.5.—Benito Jerónimo Feijóo: medicine becomes a lay profession.Abstract
The object of this research is the study of the different kinds of relationships between medicine and religion that appear in the Spanish anti-superstition discourse from the 16th to the 18th century. Despite the relationship of alliance and collaboration between the two professional groups proposed by the Spanish theologians in their essays, situations of conflict and mutual distrust could also arise. The professional physician could be an ally of the Christian priest but also a dangerous rival.
JOSÉ RAMÓN BERTOMEU SÁNCHEZ; ANTONIO GARCÍA BELMAR
Summary
1.—Antoine Fourcroy and the new chemistry books of the last third of the 18th century. 2.—Juan Manuel de Aréjula and the polemic on the applications of chemistry in medicine. 3.—The introduction of chemistry into the Medical Faculties: the works of Jacques Thenard and Mateu Orfila. 4.—The Schools of Medicine and Surgery. 5.—The medical study reforms of 1843 and 1845. 6.—Conclusions.Abstract
This paper is a part of a general research project on Spanish pharmacology during the 19th century. Among other issues, this project addressed the role that chemistry played in transforming materia medica into experimental pharmacology. Within this general framework, this paper deals with chemistry textbooks aimed at students of medicine and surgery during the late 18th century and the first half of the 19th century. Our purpose is to shed light on the institutional context in which these books were read, written and published during this period. The study begins in 1788, the year in which several important chemistry textbooks were published, including various French translations and the textbooks of Pedro Gutiérrez Bueno. After highlighting Fourcroy’s influence on Spanish chemistry, we study the debate on the medical applications of chemistry by analysing a substantial text written by Juan M. de Aréjula. In addition, some of the most important characteristics of medicine and surgery teaching institutions are outlined by paying special attention to the syllabus and textbooks employed in their classrooms. Our study ends in 1845 with José Pidal’s so-called educational reforms.