Alves da Silva (Dr António)
Original title: Alves da Silva (Dr. Antonio)
Biography of Dr António Alves da Silva (1822–1854), a Funchal-born physician trained in Coimbra and Paris who taught at the Escola Médico-Cirúrgica do Funchal and gave celebrated public lectures before dying young of tuberculosis.
Life, training and career
Dr António Alves da Silva was a distinguished Madeiran whose persistent illness and premature death prevented him from revealing the full strength of his extraordinary talent.
He was born in this city on 13 September 1822 and died here on 19 January 1854, aged only 31.
He enrolled in the medical course at the University of Coimbra (Universidade de Coimbra), but broke it off in 1846, at the end of his fourth year, because of the political events then taking place in the country. He went to complete his doctorate in Paris. Both in Coimbra, where he won prizes every year, and in the French capital, he gave proof of a brilliant intellect and a remarkable capacity for work, which earned him the admiration and esteem of all his professors and fellow students.
Inocêncio Francisco da Silva says ‘that in Paris he obtained the degree of doctor free of charge, on 29 December 1848, as a token of the esteem due to the great talent he had shown there’.
By decree of 11 March 1850 he was appointed professor at the Funchal Medical-Surgical School (Escola Médico-Cirúrgica), a post he filled with notable distinction.
In Funchal he gave two public lectures on medicine and hygiene, which Dr Álvaro Rodrigues de Azevedo describes as most remarkable, both for the way he treated the subject and for the beauty of his language. At that time the most distinguished men of our land, such as Marceliano Ribeiro and others, gave public lectures for the instruction of the people of Funchal, and these were extremely popular.
Alves da Silva was a member of the Instituto de Coimbra, a corresponding member of the Academia Real das Ciências (Royal Academy of Sciences) and of other literary and scientific bodies.
The terrible tuberculosis that had long been undermining his life did not allow him to devote himself to great exertions and intellectual labours. Even so, he was a most distinguished physician in his practice, and in the cultivation of letters he showed enviable gifts, which death did not allow him to display more brilliantly.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 05-
Dr António Alves da Silva was born in Funchal.
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The Maria da Fonte popular revolt broke out in the Minho, sparking a revolutionary movement in Portugal; Justino António de Freitas joined its provisional government and António Alves da Silva interrupted his Coimbra studies.
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Dr António Alves da Silva received his doctorate in Paris free of charge in recognition of his talent.
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Dr António Alves da Silva was appointed professor at the Escola Médico-Cirúrgica do Funchal by decree.
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Dr António Alves da Silva died in Funchal aged 31.
Place
Places mentioned · 03
Abroad
- Coimbra
Portugal. Where he studied medicine at the university.
Portuguese mainland university city where many Madeirans studied law or medicine, and where Padre Luís Gonçalves da Câmara taught and was rector of the Jesuit college. It hosted the 1921 academic table-tennis championship, and its dormancy and rainfall data are compared with Funchal's.
- Funchal
Birthplace and place of death of Alves da Silva, where he taught and lectured.
The capital of the archipelago and seat of the principal captaincy, where settlement began; it was made a vila c.1451–52. Its bay, the widest in the archipelago, lies between Ponta do Garajau and Ponta da Cruz and offers sheltered anchorage, though its harbour had never been studied oceanographically. The Elucidário discusses it as a health resort with climate data and records the January 1906 disturbances, the Danish prince's visit in May 1846 and recent volcanic cones in the area.
- Paris
France. Where he completed his doctorate in 1848.
The French capital, where Franco de Sousa settled and painted 'Ar livre', and where Juvenal Honório de Ornelas took his medical doctorate in 1834. Padre Luiz Gonçalves da Câmara studied there and met Loyola, and the Barão de Ornelas graduated, practised and died there.
People
People mentioned · 04- António Alves da Silva1822–1854
Funchal-born physician and professor at the Escola Médico-Cirúrgica do Funchal, subject of this entry.
- Álvaro Rodrigues de Azevedo1825–1898
Madeiran scholar who praised Alves da Silva's public lectures on medicine and hygiene.
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Portuguese bibliographer quoted on Alves da Silva's free Paris doctorate.
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Distinguished Madeiran cited as another giver of public lectures in Funchal at the time.