An eighteenth century travelling theodolite / Um teodolito viajante do século XVIII

Abstract An old topographic compass displayed in a showroom of the Museu de Astronomia e Ciências Afins (MAST), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, took our curiosity namely because of its resemblance to a theodolite, described by J.H. de Magellan. Not many things were known about its previous history. From the different documents studied, and the characteristics of this singular theodolite, it must have belonged to the collections of instruments acquired for the Brazilian border demarcations undertaken after the Santo Ildefonso Treaty, agreed to by the Portuguese and Spanish courts in 1777. Several instruments were bought in London, and supervised and chosen by Magellan, the Portuguese instruments expert. We present arguments in favour of this conclusion.

Resumo Um antigo compasso topográfico em exibição no Museu de Astronomia e Ciências Afins (Mast), no Rio de Janeiro, chamou-nos a atenção por sua semelhança com um teodolito descrito por João Jacinto de Magalhães. Pouco era conhecido sobre sua história prévia. De acordo com os diversos documentos estudados e as caracteríticas desse único teodolito, ele deve ter pertencido às coleções de instrumentos adquiridos para a demarcação das fronteiras brasileiras realizadas após o Tratato de Santo Ildefonso, acordado entre as cortes portuguesa e espanhola em 1777. Vários instrumentos foram comprados em Londres, supervisionados e escolhidos por Magalhães, o perito português em instrumentos. Apresentamos argumentos que corroboram essa conclusão.

A licao de abertura do curso de historia e geografia da Faculdade de Nancy, de Paul Vidal de la Blache: reflexoes de um historiador recem-tornado geografo / The opening lesson in the course on history and geography given by Paul Vidal de la Blache at the Faculty of Nancy: reflections of a historian newly turned geographer

Tem como finalidade divulgar a tradução para o português da aula inaugural do geógrafo francês Paul Vidal de la Blache, na Faculdade de Nancy, proferida e publicada em 1873. Essa lição de abertura já revela os princípios gerais propostos pelo mestre incontestável da escola francesa de geografia, que nortearam a geografia francesa por longas décadas. Espera-se, ademais, esboçar o contexto político e institucional que envolve a institucionalização da geografia moderna em finais do século XIX, bem como a tessitura das alianças e trocas com os historiadores, configurando uma herança que Vidal de la Blache não se furtaria a incorporar e transformar.

The aim of this presentation is to divulge the translation into Portuguese of the inaugural lesson given by French geographer Paul Vidal de la Blache at the Faculty of Nancy, given and published in 1873. This inaugural lesson already reveals the general principles proposed by the undisputed master of the French school of geography, which oriented French geography for many decades. A description is also given of the political and institutional context involving the institutionalization of modern geography in the last nineteenth century and the web of alliances and exchanges with historians, configuring an inheritance that Vidal de la Blache readily incorporated and transformed.

A medicina no Brasil Imperial: clima, parasitas e patologia tropical / História e saúde / The medicine in Imperial Brazil: climate, parasites and tropical pathology

O livro guia o leitor pelos caminhos do pensamento médico brasileiro no século XIX e as origens da medicina tropical no país. Mais especificamente, fala da gênese da parasitologia helmintológica (estudo de vermes parasitas) e mostra como esse novo saber se legitimou e foi incorporado às práticas de diagnóstico, tratamento e profilaxia de doenças. Analisa as disputas em torno dessa legitimação, onde a helmintologia médica se confrontava com a climatologia - que associava as doenças às peculiaridades do clima e às características naturais do Brasil. Mostra como a helmintologia médica contribuiu para a corrosão da climatologia, embora esse processo tenha sido marcado tanto por rupturas como por continuidades, na medida em que, a princípio, não se tratava de saberes incomensuráveis. Como se lê desde o prefácio, "os inovadores não queriam vencer, mas convencer".

Do clima e das doenças do Brasil: ou estatística médica deste Império / Climate and disease in Brazil: Empire of medical or statistical

Instalado nos trópicos, Sigaud elaborou o que pode ser considerado o primeiro compêndio de Higiene sobre o Brasil, utilizando para tal uma volumosa documentação que inclui textos dos viajantes, especialmente de naturalistas, que registraram suas experiências no país desde o início da colonização, relatórios oficiais e sua própria vivência de clínico no Rio de Janeiro. Seu papel foi fundamental na atualização da medicina brasileira, segundo as balizas do neo-hipocratismo forjado na modernidade clássica, analisando os fatos à luz dos novos conhecimentos científicos produzidos na Europa e reclamando, não sem razão, o papel pioneiro no contexto nacional na elaboração da primeira estatística médica.

Sobre la aclimatación: Boudin y la geografía médica / On acclimatization: Boudin and medical geography

Para comprender los estudios de geografía médica realizados por Boudin, analizamos las diferencias que lo separan de las teorías aclimatacionistas defendidas en ese mismo período histórico por Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. Ambos representan dos posiciones paradigmáticas referidas al problema de la aclimatación. Para entender la diferencia entre esos modelos analizamos el concepto de clima (heredero de Humboldt) que ambos toman como punto de partida para sus estudios y consideramos de qué modo piensan la variabilidad o flexibilidad de los organismos para plegarse a las exigencias climáticas. Esto nos conduce a un estudio sobre el modo como Boudin pensó la aclimatación de hombres y razas y, consecuentemente, el problema de la colonización.

In order to understand the medical geography studies by Boudin, we analyze the differences that set him apart from the acclimatization theories defended during that same historical period by Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. Each one of them represents a paradigmatic position in relation to the problem of acclimatization. To understand the difference between these models, we analyze the concept of climate (from Humboldt) undertaken by both as a starting point for their studies, and consider their thoughts on organism variability or flexibility to respond to climatic requirements. This leads us to a study on Boudin's thoughts on the acclimatization of humans and races, and consequently, his thoughts on the colonization issue.

Ciência e história no Relatório da Comissão Exploradora do Planalto Central na Primeira República / Science and history in the report by the First Republic's Comissão Exploradora do Planalto Central

No início da República ressurgiu a idéia de mudar a capital do país para o Planalto Central. Essa idéia já havia sido defendida, no século anterior, pelo Visconde de Porto Seguro. Assim, em 1892 foi organizada uma comissão chefiada por Luiz Cruls, diretor do Observatório Nacional, para demarcar a superfície a ser ocupada pela nova capital. Em 1896 foi publicado o relatório dessa expedição, que circulou pelos principais espaços da opinião pública do Brasil, na forma de resenhas em jornais e em artigos na Revista do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro - IHGB. No texto do Relatório há uma interpenetração de várias questões que estavam afligindo determinados setores da sociedade brasileira da época, como a salubridade do clima brasileiro para o imigrante europeu, a definição das fronteiras e a integração do território.

The idea of moving Brazil's capital to the Central Plateau reappeared in the early days of the Republic, having been defended one century earlier by the Viscount of Porto Seguro. Headed by Luiz Cruls, director of Brazil's National Observatory, a commission was formed in 1892 to stake out the area where the new capital would stand. The expedition's 1896 report found space in Brazil's main vehicles of public opinion; it was reviewed in newspapers and also in articles published in Revista do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro, the Brazilian Institute for History and Geography's journal. A number of issues then of concern to certain sectors of Brazilian society converge in the body of the report, including the healthiness of Brazil's climate for European immigrants, the definition of the country's borders, and territorial integration.

Prehistoric human colonization of India.

Human colonization in India encompasses a span of at least half-a-million years and is divided into two broad periods, namely the prehistoric (before the emergence of writing) and the historic (after writing). The prehistoric period is divided into stone, bronze and iron ages. The stone age is further divided into palaeolithic, mesolithic and neolithic periods. As the name suggests, the technology in these periods was primarily based on stone. Economically, the palaeolithic and mesolithic periods represented a nomadic, hunting-gathering way of life, while the neolithic period represented a settled, food-producing way of life. Subsequently copper was introduced as a new material and this period was designated as the chalcolithic period. The invention of agriculture, which took place about 8000 years ago, brought about dramatic changes in the economy, technology and demography of human societies. Human habitat in the hunting-gathering stage was essentially on hilly, rocky and forested regions, which had ample wild plant and animal food resources. The introduction of agriculture saw it shifting to the alluvial plains which had fertile soil and perennial availability of water. Hills and forests, which had so far been areas of attraction, now turned into areas of isolation. Agriculture led to the emergence of villages and towns and brought with it the division of society into occupational groups. The first urbanization took place during the bronze age in the arid and semi-arid region of northwest India in the valleys of the Indus and the Saraswati rivers, the latter represented by the now dry Ghaggar-Hakra bed. This urbanization is known as the Indus or Harappan civilization which flourished during 3500-1500 B.C. The rest of India during this period was inhabited by neolithic and chalcolithic farmers and mesolithic hunter-gatherers. With the introduction of iron technology about 3000 years ago, the focus of development shifted eastward into the Indo-Gangetic divide and the Ganga valley. The location of the Mahabharata epic, which is set in the beginning of the first millennium B.C., is the Indo-Gangetic divide and the upper Ganga-Yamuna doab (land between two rivers). Iron technology enabled pioneering farmers to clear the dense and tangled forests of the middle and lower Ganga plains. The focus of development now shifted further eastward to eastern Uttar Pradesh and western Bihar which witnessed the events of the Ramayana epic and rise of the first political entities known as Mahajanapadas as also of Buddhism and Jainism. The second phase of urbanization of India, marked by trade, coinage, script and birth of the first Indian empire, namely Magadha, with its capital at Pataliputra (modern Patna) also took place in this region in the sixth century B.C. The imposition by Brahmin priests of the concepts of racial and ritual purity, pollution, restrictions on sharing of food, endogamy, anuloma (male of upper caste eligible to marry a female of lower caste) and pratiloma (female of upper caste ineligible to marry a male of lower caste) forms of marriage, karma (reaping the fruits of the actions of previous life in the present life), rebirth, varnashrama dharma (four stages of the expected hundred-year life span) and the sixteen sanskaras (ceremonies) on traditional occupational groups led to the birth of the caste system - a unique Indian phenomenon. As a consequence of the expansion of agriculture and loss of forests and wildlife, stone age hunter-gatherers were forced to assimilate themselves into larger agriculture-based rural and urban societies. However, some of them resisted this new economic mode. To this day they have persisted with their atavistic lifestyle, but have had to supplement their resources by producing craft items or providing entertainment to the rural population.

La enseñanza de la Geografía Médica en Cuba hasta fines del siglo XXI / The teaching of Medical Geography in Cuba until the end of the XXI century

Se exponen brevemente los orígenes de la Universidad de La Habana. Se analiza el tema de la Geografía Médica como materia de estudio en el curriculum universitario de la carrera de medicina, desde la reforma universitaria de 1842 hasta el final del siglo XIX. Con el desarrollo de los estudios de Topografía Médica en Cuba a mediados del siglo XIX, se inició la enseñanza de la disciplina en los diversos planes de estudios de la Escuela de Medicina, unas veces de forma independiente, otras unida a las asignaturas de Higiene, tanto pública como privada, o a los estudios históricos y la evolución de distintas enfermedades

The origins of the University of Havana are briefly explained. The topic of Medical Geographyis analyzed as a subject included in the curriculum of the medical career since the university reform of 1842 to the end of the XIX century . With the development of the studies of Medical Topography in Cuba in the middle of the XIX century, the discipline started to be taught as part of the different curricula of the Medical School, sometimes in an independent way and others together with the subjects of Hygiene, both public and private, or with the historical studies and the evolution of diverse diseases

The geographical data of the Kāśyapa Samhitā.

One of the parameters in ascertaining the date of the Kashyapa Samhita is the data of geography referred to there in. Geography abounds various spheres like country, province, city, river, mountain and sea. The whole geographical material is mentioned in the chapter "Bhojana Kalpa" of the Kalpasthana, 22nd and 25th chapters of the Khilasthana.