Medical science books in the National Library: The collection on nervous diseases (1860-1880)

Abstract

The opening of Asylum Pedro II in the city of Rio de Janeiro, in 1852, was an important mark in the history of mental medicine in Brazil. This was the first hospital dedicated to the treatment of madness in Latin America and continued to be the main reference in the continent until the end of the century. However, in spite of such importance, there were many obstacles faced by doctors who would act in this specialty until the 1880s. In the absence of specialized teaching in the Rio de Janeiro Faculty of Medicine, the main means of instruction of physi cians who were dedicated to the treatment of neuroses would be imported books and specialized journals, mainly European ones. Access to them could be made by buying books in many bookstores in the city, or even by means of consulting public collections. In absolute terms, the National Library had the most significant collections. Thus, focusing on the theme of nervous diseases, we aimed to answer these questions in this paper: What works were available at the National Library? Were they mostly French or English? Were acquisitions updated? What is the numerical importance of the mental science collection in this institution during the period? Were these works consulted frequently? Were the works present in medical theses? Were they present in the memories and papers published in the Annaes Brasilienses de Medicina? How appropriate were these readings?

Keywords: History of madness, History of books and reading, National Library.