Noronha (Adolfo César de)

He was born in Funchal on 9 September 1873, the son of Augusto de Nóbrega Noronha and Dona Adelaide da Silva de Noronha. He attended the lyceum (state secondary school) of Funchal and took some courses at the former Polytechnic School (Escola Politécnica) of Lisbon and Polytechnic Academy of Porto. On 11 December 1914 he was appointed librarian of the Funchal Municipal Library (Biblioteca Municipal do Funchal).

He made meteorological observations on the island of Porto Santo (‘holy harbour’) from 1900 to 1902, and at that time and later he also carried out various studies of natural history there.

In 1904 he sent Dr Openheim, a German palaeontologist, various fossil corals from the archipelago, and shortly afterwards he sent Dr Bohm the fossil shells of the Savage Islands (Selvagens). These collections were duly studied, to the great benefit of science. The Serbian palaeontologist Joksimowitsch also received a fine collection of fossils gathered on Porto Santo; in an excellent study he published on it, he recorded 106 distinct forms, counting species and varieties.

Adolfo de Noronha has also devoted himself to the study of the ichthyology, ornithology, malacology and carcinology of the archipelago. We also owe him various observations on the geology of Porto Santo and Selvagem Grande (‘great wild island’), which Dr Gagel made use of in his works on those islands. The interesting Merlia Normani, to which we have already referred on p. 413 of vol. I of this Elucidário, was collected by him in the seas off Porto Santo. From there, too, came many of the bryozoans he sent to Dr Norman, who recorded them in a work published in the Journal of the Linnean Society.

He wrote a pamphlet entitled Carta aberta ao Ex.m° Sr. Governador Civil do Funchal (Lisbon, 1911) and is the author of the interesting articles entitled ‘Braguinha’, ‘Canais de lava’, ‘Carcinologia’, ‘Charamba’ and ‘Conchas’, published in the 1st volume of this Elucidário, as well as of the great majority of the entries on the fishes and birds of the archipelago found up to p. 341 of the same volume.

The following species and varieties commemorate the name of Adolfo de Noronha: Schizoporella Noronhai, an abyssal bryozoan; Pecten Noronhai and Spondylus Noronhai, fossil shells; and Echium candicans var. Noronhae, a plant of the borage family from the interior of Madeira. When it was thought to be a coral, Merlia Normani bore the name Noronha scalariformis.

Adolfo de Noronha was appointed director of the Funchal Municipal Library in 1928 and at once began to campaign for the creation of a Natural History Museum (Museu de Ciências Naturais). He was its most strenuous and persevering champion, both in the press and among those who could lend their prestige and influence to the project. He always linked this idea with that of acquiring a suitable building to house the Municipal Library and the attached science museum, with sections for art, archaeology, ethnology, etc. With the authorisation of the Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal), he spent some months in Lisbon arranging the issue of a postage stamp to pay for these planned premises. The scheme succeeded in full, and that public department is now housed in a fine, spacious building known as the São Pedro Palace (‘St Peter’), the former manor house of the Counts of Carvalhal (‘oak grove’). It is beyond dispute that the realisation of this important improvement is due chiefly to Adolfo de Noronha. When he retired from his public duties, the Council paid him a well-deserved tribute, in which various official bodies joined, by unveiling a stone inscription placed in one of the rooms of the Museum.

It is only right to reproduce the words that we set down in the columns of the Funchal daily press on the occasion of this well-merited mark of esteem and high regard.

‘Despite the undeniable merits that so notably distinguish him, Mr Adolfo César de Noronha is still unknown to many Madeirans, because of the retiring modesty behind which he has sought to hide, and which a persistent illness has made more marked in recent years. Were it not so, he would have produced an important and highly regarded body of work, especially on various branches of Madeiran zoology. For this he has in abundance the most thorough knowledge of the subject, a deep love of study and scientific research, and an easy, elegant style in presenting whatever matters he might treat.

Mr Adolfo de Noronha has published several pamphlets and some dozens of articles, which excel above all in the clarity with which the subject is presented and the depth of knowledge they reveal. At the same time they show a remarkable gift for the most accessible popularisation of science.

Those who know closely the studies to which Mr Noronha has devoted himself, and who have appreciated his valuable writings, are unanimous in affirming the refined scientific integrity that marks all his work, into which he always puts the most exacting scruple and the most conscientious application.

It is no wonder that we heard a distinguished university professor, one of our most eminent men of science, say of Mr Adolfo C. de Noronha in particular these well-deserved words: “he has every qualification to hold a chair with distinction at any university in the country.

It is much to be regretted that the pressing circumstances of life did not allow this distinguished man of science to display, in fruitful and profitable work, the full breadth of his learning and the exquisite gifts of his exceptional intellect.

And gilding these priceless gifts of mind and deep scientific culture, there stand out above all the truest qualities of character, so abundantly known in Madeiran society.’