Ensino de anatomia na educação médica do século XIX: da Escola de Cirurgia à Faculdade de Medicina da Bahia (1808-1861)

Abstract

Medical education in Brazil officially began in 1808 with the arrival of the Portuguese royal family and the creation, in the city of Salvador, of the Bahia School of Surgery on February 18, 1808, installed at the Royal Military Hospital. The School was created by Royal Charter following a request made by Dr. Joze Correa Picanço, surgeon at the Royal Chamber. In the following decades, the surgery course installed in Bahia underwent significant structural changes, having experienced six academic architectures throughout the 19th century, acquiring new names: Academia Médico-Cirúrgica da Bahia (or Colégio Médico-Cirúrgico), later Faculty of Medicine of Bahia, but with the teaching of anatomy present since the beginning of the medical course. In this sense, the research had the general objective of understanding, through the analysis of institutional documentation, the process of teaching anatomy knowledge in the medical course in Bahia. To this end, a time frame was defined between 1808 and 1861, covering from the creation of the course to the retirement of Jonathas Abbott, who held the chair of Descriptive Anatomy at the FMB for 36 years. As a methodology, documentary research was used, using 34 primary sources, including institutional documents and individual records produced by teachers and students. The theoretical framework of the study was based on the work of García (1972), from which we established categories for the analysis of sources: a) structure of the teaching-learning process; b) agents of teaching practices; c) teachinglearning process; d) purpose of the teaching-learning process. The results and their analysis point to a French influence in the teaching of anatomy at the Faculty of Medicine of Bahia in this period through the work of Jonathas Abbott who, despite coming from the Colégio MédicoCirúrgico da Bahia, specialized in Europe, notably in France, and was responsible for systematizing and implementing a study/teaching methodology based on the dissection of cadavers as the main means of obtaining anatomical knowledge. This training directly influenced Abbott in the definition of specific content and the choice of methods used in anatomy classes, as well as in the teaching purpose sought by him within the scope of the chair. The results also highlight the dynamics of activities aimed at teaching and learning anatomy, such as appointing staff (full professors, substitutes and trainers), acquiring teaching instruments and establishing and maintaining spaces for practical and theoretical classes.