Alkaloids in Portugal in XIX th century
(Sandra Lopes)
Some substances became more and more important, along the time, almost everywhere, not only because of their therapeutic properties, but also because different cultures used them sometimes in very different ways. The alkaloids are an example of a large variety of substances which characteristics largely influenced the course of the history of mankind. For such, it contributed the work developed by the Portuguese scientific community, being distinguished over all the physician Bernardino António Gomes and the chemist António Joaquim Ferreira da Silva. In the beginning of the 19th century, Bernardino Gomes made a discovery that printed a new encouragement to the study of alkaloids from the bark of cinchona trees: he got the so polemic cinchonino. By the end of the same century, the toxicological investigations regarding the famous case Urbino de Freitas, propitiated the enrichment of analytical chemistry through the work developed by Ferreira da Silva. In spite of the relevance of such adjuvants for the current way of life of our society, only very rarely is made any reference to these subjects. Thus, one of the main goals of this work was to rediscover those episodes of the History of Portuguese Chemistry in the area of alkaloids. It was intended to know the circumstances that had motivated and conditioned the work of the scientists, the raised polemics and the found answers. The complexity and contemporaneity of this period of the history of science turn legitimate its use as education strategy. With this purpose, two proposals of work had been elaborated to be applied in Secondary Teaching Level in the discipline of Physics and Chemistry A. Appeals to historical episodes of the alkaloids’ chemistry to situate some contents of the curricular programs and also to promote the reflection on the problematic relation of the individuals with these substances. This way, it intends to divulge the Portuguese chemists’ work and also to raise the interest and the active participation of the pupils in the preservation and renewal of the national scientific patrimony.
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