RICHARD C. RAMER Special List 161 MEDICINE

special list 161 63
other shows a black man with the skin disease known as “bouba.” Both plates are signed
by Julien Pallière in Rio de Janeiro as artist and by J.J. van den Berghe, Paris, as engraver.
Immediately following the plates is an unnumbered leaf explaining the illustrations.
Gomes (1768-1823) wrote this work in 1817 while travelling from Livorno to Rio de
Janeiro as personal physician to D. Carolina Josepha Leopoldina, princess of Portugal.
He was a naval surgeon in Brazil from 1798 to 1801, during which time he wrote Memoria
sobre a canella do Rio de Janeiro. When finally published, at Rio de Janeiro, 1809, it became
the earliest monograph on medicine printed in Brazil. Gomes also wrote on tapeworm,
elephantiasis, quinine, fevers and botany. Much of what he wrote was based on his
observations while residing in Brazil.
j Borba de Moraes (1983) I, 356-7. Innocêncio I, 360. Lisbon, Faculdade de Medicina,
Catálogo da colecção portuguesa I, 135. Pires de Lima, Catalogo da Bibliotheca da Escola Medico-
Cirurgica do Porto 1833, not mentioning the plates. See also Guerra, Bibliografia medica
brasileira 2 and Garrison and Morton (1983) 1840. Ferreira de Mira, História da medicina
portuguesa pp. 209, 282, 288, 300, 304, 315, 322, 323, 488. Not in JCB, Portuguese and Brazilian
Books. Not in Wellcome. NUC: MBCo, PPAmP. RLIN: DNLM, MnU.
First Separate Medical Work Published in Brazil
89. [GOMES, Bernardino Antonio (the elder)]. Memoria sobre a canella
do Rio de Janeiro, offerecida ao Principe do Brazil Nosso Senhor pelo Senado da
Camara da mesma cidade no anno de 1798. Rio de Janeiro: Impressão Regia,
1809. Large 8°, stapled. Printed on wove paper. Staple rusted. Some
browning, minor stains and soiling. Overall a very good copy. 51 pp.
$2,800.00
FIRST EDITION. This work by a Portuguese naval surgeon is the first separate
medical work published in Brazil. In it Gomes describes the climate and soil necessary for
cultivation of cinnamon, its collection and its uses. Among the latter are as an ingredient
in an elixir or ointment to counter rheumatism and paralysis (pp. 46-50).
The author’s name appears on the third leaf (a second title page) with the modified
title Observações sobre a canella do Rio de Janeiro escritas a rogo do Senado da Camara da
mesma cidade em 8 de Maio de 1798, e ulteriormente ratificadas, addiccionadas, e offerecidas
ao mesmo Senado.
Gomes (1768-1823) was a naval surgeon in Brazil from 1798 to 1801, and later served
as personal physician to D. Carolina Josepha Leopoldina, princess of Portugal. He also
wrote the first work in Portuguese on dermatology, Lisbon 1820, which set the terminology
for skin diseases in Portugal, and composed works on tapeworm, elephantiasis, quinine,
fevers and botany.
j Valle Cabral 66. Almeida Camargo and Borba de Moraes, Bibliografia da Impressão
Régia do Rio de Janeiro I, no. 72. Borba de Moraes (1983) I, 356. Guerra, Bibliografia medica
brasileira 2: calling for 55 pp. (without comment; most probably in error); item no. 1 is
the Gazeta do Rio de Janeiro, which included notes on the history of Brazilian medicine,
1808 to 1822. Ferreira de Mira, História da medicina portuguesa pp. 288-9, 328. Santos Filho,
História geral da medicina brasileira p. 378. Not in Pires de Lima, Catalogo da Bibliotheca da
Escola Medico-Cirurgica do Porto. Not in Lisbon, Faculdade de Medicina, Catálogo da colecção
portuguesa. Innocêncio VIII, 380. Bosch 277. Not in Rodrigues.