Teixeira (Dr Nuno Silvestre)
Original title: Teixeira (Dr. Nuno Silvestre)
Biography of Dr Nuno Silvestre Teixeira (1847–1928), a physician from Ponta do Sol who was a brilliant Coimbra medical student and later held teaching, health and administrative posts in Funchal. He was also known for decades of popular science articles on medicine and hygiene in the Diário de Notícias.
Life and career of Dr Nuno Teixeira
He was born in the town (vila) of Ponta do Sol (‘point of the sun’) on 31 December 1847, the son of Feliciano João Teixeira and Dona Joaquina Júlia dos Passos. In a piece of writing before us, one of his contemporaries at Coimbra, referring to 1877, when Dr Nuno Teixeira was a fifth-year student of medicine, says: ‘He was then held to be one of the most talented students of that academic generation: he was the top student in the Faculty of Medicine. Everyone supposed that, after the distinction awarded to him in the 5th year, as in earlier years, he would defend theses and join the university.’
It did not turn out that way. Dr Nuno Teixeira did indeed consider an academic career, and it seems he even prepared some scientific work with that aim. However, reasons unknown to us dissuaded him from this first intention, and he gave up a post that would have been a great honour for him and of considerable benefit to the University.
Here in Madeira Dr Nuno Teixeira has held the posts of teacher and rector of the Lyceum (Liceu), professor at the now defunct Medical School, health officer (delegado de saúde) of the district, municipal doctor (médico do partido da Câmara) of the Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal) of this municipality (concelho), clinical director of the medical wards of the Holy House of Mercy (Misericórdia) of Funchal, municipal administrator (administrador do concelho, the government's representative), etc.
He has contributed extensively and most valuably to several newspapers in this city, notably the Diário de Notícias (‘Daily News’), where for decades he has published popular science articles on Sundays, dealing with many points of medicine and hygiene in terms accessible to the general public. These articles stand out for their remarkably correct style and extraordinary clarity, which make them essential reading for a large proportion of that newspaper’s subscribers (1921).
In 1899 Dr Nuno Teixeira brought out a volume of 240 pages entitled O Alcoolismo, and he also published several pamphlets containing some of his reports as rector of the lyceum and as health officer (1921).
He died in Funchal on 28 February 1928.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 04Place
Places mentioned · 03
Abroad
- Coimbra
Portugal. City 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
City where he worked and died.
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.
- Ponta do Sol
Birthplace of Dr Nuno Teixeira.
South-coast parish and municipality, settled from about 1440 by Rodrigo Enes 'o Coxo'. Its parish church of Nossa Senhora da Luz holds a triptych. The Elucidário also records its quay of 1848, paid for by the council, and the royal visit of 1858.
People
People mentioned · 03- Dr. Nuno Silvestre Teixeira1847–1928
Madeiran physician, rector of the Funchal Liceu and public health officer, who is the subject of this entry.
- Feliciano João Teixeira1843–1896
Father of Dr Nuno Silvestre Teixeira.
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Mother of Dr Nuno Silvestre Teixeira.