212 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 8. 



perhaps, for the most part, unaware of the im- 

 portance and promise of the scientific activity' 

 developed in their midst by a small group of 

 earnest workers. Although Brazil has, ever 

 since the abandonment of the narrow, restric- 

 tive, colonial policj' of Portugal which pro- 

 sci'ibed foreigners, been the chosen field of 

 research of many eminent foreign naturalists, ' 

 the Brazilians have, with a few honorable excep- 

 tions, been content to receive at second hand 

 their knowledge of the natural history of their 

 own countr3-, and have seldom undertaken, on 

 their own account, to supplement and correct 

 the worlj of foreign naturalists, much of which is 

 necessaril}' incomplete and erroneous. Nor has 

 the government, until recently, granted well- 

 directed and sustained aid in favor of scien- 

 tific investigations ; although it has for manj^ 

 years maintained, at considerable expense, 

 scientific departments in all the higher insti- 

 tutions of learning, and in establishments like 

 the national observatory^ and museum, and 

 has, in a"few instanceSj organized surveys and 

 exploi'ing expeditions. Through bad organi- 

 zation or insufficient support, the scientific re- 

 sults of all these efforts have, however, been 

 of small value. While this unsatisfactory state 

 of affairs, so natural in a new countr3', has 

 been the rule, it should not be overlooked that 

 the government has, for a number of years, 

 given an annual subsidy of about five thousand 

 dollars towards the completion and publication 

 of von Martius' great Flora braziliensis ; and 

 several foreign naturalists have, like Agassiz, 

 received important ofHcial and private encour- 

 agement and aid in the prosecution of their 

 researches. 



Towards the close of the colonial period 

 a promising scientific movement was begun, 

 which received a severe check from the politi- 

 cal troubles attending and following the eman- 

 cipation of the country from Portuguese rule, 

 — a check from which science in the empire is 

 only just beginning to recover. At that time 

 the national museum was established, having 

 as a nucleus the splendid miueralogical collec- 

 tion of Werner, that, after a strange succes- 

 sion of mishaps, came to a final resting-place 

 in Rio de Janeiro. An able mineralogist and 

 geologist. Baron von Eschwege, was made 

 inspector of mines, and, for about a dozen 

 3'ears, investigated, wilh admirable proficiency', 

 the geology and mineralogy of the gold and 

 diamond regions ; while Pohl and Sellew car- 

 ried on investigations in other parts, in part 

 at least under government auspices. Two 

 Brazilian mineralogists, Andrada and Camara, 

 were drawn into politics ; and in the former an 



able scientific man was transformed into the 

 patriarch of Brazilian independence. At or 

 about the same time. Friar Velloso prepared 

 an important work on Brazilian botanj', of 

 which, unfortunately, only the plates were, 

 until recently, published. The later work of 

 Freire Allemao in the same field, being produced 

 at a time of almost complete indifference to 

 science, have for the most part been lost, or 

 remain unpublished, as has also happened to 

 that of Alves Serrao, Burlemaqui, and Capa- 

 uema, in geology and mineralogy, and of the 

 poet GouQalves Dias in ethnology. 



For a long period what passed for science 

 in Brazil was characterized bj' an almost com- 

 plete absence of investigation ; and although 

 there are many names with a local, or even 

 national, reputation as teachers or writers on 

 scientific subjects, it is difficult to find any 

 solid contributions in the field of either the 

 natural or physical sciences. Even to-day 

 there are manj' reputations that have no real 

 basis in original work of merit. The appear- 

 ance, therefore, of a group, however small, of 

 real investigators, marks the beginning of a 

 new era ; and, although this beginning is as 

 j'et a verj' modest one, its effect is already 

 being felt, and will increase from j-ear to year. 

 This awakening to a knowledge of what sci- 

 ence really is, and of the true methods of pur- 

 suing it, may be ascribed to various causes. 

 The increased facilities of communications, and 

 the constantlj' widening relations with foreign 

 countries, the new life and energy developed 

 by a great struggle like the Paraguaj-an war, 

 the visit of Professor Agassiz in 1864, and the 

 visits of the emperor to Europe and the United 

 States, — have probablj' been the most impor- 

 tant determining causes. Of these, the last is 

 by no means the least. With a stronglj' devel- 

 oped scientific taste, and with such knowledge 

 as could be obtained with the means at his 

 command and in the non-scientific environ- 

 ment in which he was placed, the emperor 

 profited to the utmost, in his travels, to asso- 

 ciate with scientific men, to visit museums and 

 schools, and to acquaint himself thoroughly 

 with the means and methods of research ; so 

 that he returned with clearer conceptions of 

 what was best to encourage and promote in his 

 own country. Within the last ten or fifteen 

 years the higher schools and scientific estab- 

 lishments have been reformed and given a 

 better organization, new departments, and 

 increased appropriations, which, although still 

 very small for their needs, are princely- in com- 

 parison with what they formerly' received ; an 

 efficient mining-school has been established ; 



