Abstract

The beginning of natural sciences came to predominate in medicine with the emergence of natural scientific thinking in the first half of the 19th century. Philosophical approaches became less relevant. Research concentrated on the biological, physiological and chemical foundations of life. Therefore, the creation of laboratories of experimental physiology, histology, toxicology and pathological anatomy was the result of the reorganization of the medicine faculty at Coimbra university between 1866 - 1872, according to the following paradigm replacement: The superficial look at disease was replaced by the study of the inner body, an attempt to understand the symptoms, giving rise to a new paradigm of medicine practice – evidence-based-medicine (EBM). However, in spite of the good conditions of space and light provided by the Colégio de Jesus in Coimbra to accommodate the laboratory of physiology and histology, an important “ingredient” was missing: the experimental instruments to design experimental works to provide - good teaching and research model for the Coimbra faculty of medicine. In peripheral countries, as Portugal, some professors played a central role in this development, bringing in new ideas, new instruments, and new techniques and producing scientific and didactic texts in native languages. In this process, the creation and equipment of laboratories was fundamental to assure the modernization of the University and the development of scientific research. In this article we intend to sketch an overview of this process with particular focus in the scientific trips undertaken by Costa Simões in 1865, by establishing contacts and attending practical lectures and courses with the most influential personalities of the world of medicine of the 19th century, namely; the physiologist Emil Du Bois-Reymond (1818 - 1896), the pathologist Rudolf Virchow (1821 - 1902) and the inventor of the ophthalmoscope and physiologist Hermann von Helmholtz (1821 - 1894), from the famous “Berlin School” of medicine in the 1840’s, today the Humboldt university. Here, we will emphasized that in Portugal, as probably in other countries, some university professors had a main role in the process of transfer of scientific knowledge and also, how the study of scientists, as well as laboratories, instruments and texts that were relevant for the implementation of new ideas and practices in teaching and research during the nineteenth century.

Key words: Scientific instruments, history of medicine, history of science, Coimbra university.