The influence of chemistry on XVIIIth century academic and practical medical knowledge in Portugal and Brazil

At the dawn of the eighteenth century chemistry was establishing itself as a physical science on its own right, after a long ancillary relationship with medicine and pharmacy, which had began two centuries before. This association, and the many changes that came along the scientific revolution spread into many walks of life. The Luso-Brazilian world, apparently so removed from the new developments, could not help to be touched by them, as this study shows, in which two contemporary medical authors are analysed. Bath were Portuguese who had long lived in Brazil; both practised and wrote extensively on Medicine; both felt the influence of the new times, albeit in quite different ways.