REVISTA ESPAÑOLA
DE HISTORIA DE LAS CIENCIAS DE LA NATURALEZA
Y DE LA TECNOLOGÍA
SPANISH JOURNAL OF HISTORY OF NATURAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY
Historia de la Biología.
Facultad de Biología.
Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
DL: M-34954-1995. ISSN:
1136-2049.
1995. Vol. I. Article Nº 1.
Dr. Silvia F. de M. Figueirôa
Assistant-professor
Institute of Geosciences/Univ. of Campinas
P.O. box 6152 13081-970 Campinas-SP, BRAZIL
Engineering Schools as institucional "loci" for Geological Sciences in Brazil during 19th century. (1)
1. First moment: the Royal Military Academy
'Geologists' strictly speaking exist in Brazil only since the end of the fifties of the present century, when geology schools started to be founded. Nevertheless, geological sciences were institutionally supported since the end of the 18th century, when the Portuguese government decided to send 2 Brazilians and 1 Portuguese around Europe, to update mining knowledge and technology. The transfer of the Royal family and the court from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro in 1808 - a peculiar fact in history, and totally different from what happened in other empires - implicated the creation of several institutions, scientific ones included, to provide the infra-structure to the new center of the Portuguese kingdom.
A key person during this initial moment, the Minister of War and Foreign Affairs D. Rodrigo de Sousa Coutinho, tried to put together a program to build up an American Empire (2). His acts were concentrated on two central and connected points, namely the defense and the organization of the country. For him, a fundamental action was the creation of a military school, for he believed that enlightened leaderships were the core of collective actions (3). In December 1810, the Academia Real Militar was founded (Royal Military Academy - RMA) with a
"regular course on exact sciences and 'sciences of observation', as well as all others that are applications to military and practical studies (...) to form through the same courses capable artillery and engineering officials, moreover geographer- and topographer-engineers, who could also conduct the administration of mines, roads, channels and public works" (4).
Several authors (5) have already pointed out that this institutional model got its inspiration in the French Polytechnique School, where the engineers received also a military formation. It is well known that the School's vocation was to provide technical staff of high quality to the Army, a meritocracy based upon first level teaching. However, the structure involving applied or especial schools, like the Ecole des Mines or the Ponts & Chaussées - where the polytechnicians went to specialize their professional formation in a particular branch -, was absent in Brazil. Due to the precarious material conditions of the country that did not allow to a sophisticated teaching structure, the efforts were directed to concentrate in the same professional several different qualifications.
Another sign of a link with the French model was the rules based upon those of the Polytechnique, and the emphasis on basic sciences, courses of mathematics and practical teaching. In Portugal, as well as in Spain and in Spanish American colonies (6), several branches of the public services, like mining, were traditionally under the supervision of military officials (7). In this sense, the model fit well, in one hand, into the needs of Brazilian situation, and in the other hand, into the Portuguese tradition.
The law was very precise regarding the contents that should be taught, establishing "a complete course on mathematics, chemistry, physics, mineralogy, metallurgy and natural history (comprehending the animal and vegetal kingdoms), as well as on military sciences, including artillery, tactics and fortifications". The complete course was organized in 7 years.
For all courses, the law indicated the books to be adopted, and French authors were the majority. It also encouraged the teachers to write their own books, and this happened in some cases (8). Considering mineralogy specifically, the law stated that the teacher
"should use Werner's method [for mineral classification] and demonstrate [the mineral cabinet] (9) ... taking into account also Haüy, Brochant and other famous mineralogists".
Mineralogy then consisted mainly in determination and classification of minerals using chemistry and geometrical crystallography. In this last field, the name of René- Just Haüy (1743-1822) is mandatory, for he was the first to introduce in 1784 the regularity of crystals' geometrical forms to identify minerals. Teacher of crystallography at the Ecole des Mines de Paris since 1794(10), his book Traité de Minéralogie was first published in 1801 and knew a worldwide reputation. The adoption of the book at the Royal Academy in 1810 shows the efforts of local scientists to be updated to the contemporary science.
It is also important to point out that despite the fact Werner and Haüy belonged to different conceptual schools of mineralogy, they were both included in the teaching instructions with no remarks, showing the Portuguese, and Brazilian eclectic and pragmatic attitude towards external models and knowledge. All long our history, ideas, concepts and institutions considered to be the bests were selectively imported, followed by processes of adaptation and "amalgamation" (11).
Despite the changes in the political situation, due to Brazilian independence in 1822, and the difficulties to rule the country counting on a numerically very reduced élite (12), it is possible to identify a continuity in the scientific projects and institutions in general. Up to 1832, almost nothing changed in the Academia Real Militar since its establishment two decades earlier. However, the abdication of the first emperor started a turbulent period, and almost all institutions were affected. An old and apparently controlled conflict between the military and the civil branches within the RMA. led to a reformation in 1833 that established two courses: one for the Army Officials and the other for engineering officials (13). Nevertheless, in 1839 a reform in the RMA changed deeply the orientation, privileging the military approach and reflecting the new political changes, known as the conservative turn. This reform was conducted by the Minister of War, Sebastião do Rego Chaves, and changed the institution's name to Escola Militar (14) (Military School). The new internal rules were explicitly based upon those of the French Polytechnic, again, and of the Ecole d' Application de Metz (15).
It is possible to say that, anyhow, this double role led to positive results for Brazilian sciences, because the Academia Militar formed several professionals who dedicated themselves also to a scientific career, forming the staff of other institutions existing at that time. Leopoldo Cesar Burlamaqui (1803-1866) and Guilherme Schüch de Capanema (1824- 1906) taught at the Military, further Central School, and were active in the Section of Mineralogy and Geology of the National Museum at Rio de Janeiro. Burlamaqui even directed the Museum for several years (1847 to 1866). Both were also prominent members of the Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro (Historical and Geographical Institute of Brazil) as well as of the Sociedade Vellosiana (Vellosian Society). The Major João da Silva Coutinho (1830-1889) taught for a short period at the Escola Central (Central School), and then moved to the Amazonian region, working in railroad construction.
2. Second moment: from the Military School to the Central School.
The conflict between both branches was not solved at all. In 1842 the rules and the curriculum changed again, the new reform being stimulated by a civil Minister of War (José Clemente Pereira) and conducted by some of the teachers. The idea was to go back to the beginnings of the Academy, dividing very sharply the school years devoted to mathematics from those dedicated to military sciences (16). But part of the teachers remained upset, and by the end of the 1840's criticism increased.
At about the same time, coffee economy started to acquire its importance, that up to the first decades of the 20th century would be responsible for a strong modernization process lived by the country. In this process, the need for engineers became progressively more evident reinforcing the positions of those who proposed a complete independence between military and civil education. In 1855, the military courses and exercises moved to a new place, and finally in 1858 (17) the Escola militar and the Escola Central were created.
For geological sciences, the reflects of the new economical conditions can be seen in the increasing number of courses, consequence of the unfolding of the ancient chair of Mineralogy into Geology (18) and Mining, and the creation of the course of Metallurgy, all in 1845. The programs made clear references to economic topics, like the "mineralogical composition of the veins" or the genesis of "important coal and gold formations". From 1847 onwards, more books on geological sciences were bought for the library (19), and 14 works by the Frenchman Nerée Boubée (1806-1863), an important teacher of geology in Paris, were the majority. Among the titles one may quote Manuel Elémentaire de Géologie, Agende du géologue en voyage, La Géologie dans ses rapports avec l'archicteture et les travaux des carrières, des ponts et chaussées, des canaux, des routes - avec la recherche, l'exploitation des mines et les operations metallurgiques; that indicates an approach towards the application of geological knowledge. Since 1845, Boubée's Géologie élémentaire appliquée à l'agriculture et à l'industrie published in Paris in 1833, was already adopted. However, not the original version, but a translation into Portuguese to which were added as appendixes texts on Brazilian geology by José Bonifácio d'Andrada e Silva, Martim Francisco Ribeiro de Andrada, Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege, Charles van Lede and George Gardner (20). Some teachers, like Frederico Burlamaqui and Guilherme de Capanema, wrote their own books, too. This shows, in my opinion, the intention to provide knowledge not only updated, but also connected to local reality.
3. Third moment: the Polytechnic School and the Ouro Preto School of Mines.
The period after 1870 was seen, even by its contemporaries, as a landmark for scientific activities in Brazil (21). Indeed, from the last quarter of the 19th century onwards the country testified a series of cultural and scientific initiatives involving both the creation of new institutional 'loci' and the reformation of the pre-existing ones. The strong influences of Comte's, Spencer's and Haeckel's ideas, among some others, were responsible for a widespread scientism, typical of that century, not only at an ideological level, but materialized in the application of science to the solution of concrete questions.
Engineering and engineers were increasingly necessary, so that the number of schools and professional specialties multiplied. In 1874, the Escola Central was transformed into the Escola Politécnica (22). Despite the adoption of the same name, it was a Brazilian solution regarding the needs of the country's development, and had almost nothing else to do with the French institution, besides the emphasis on mathematics. As already pointed out, the military formation got an especial school in 1858; however, the basic courses on mathematics and natural sciences continued to be taught by the Escola Central. In 1874 they were definitely divided. The Polytechnic's structure was based on a general course for all students, followed by 6 special ones: physical and natural sciences, physical and mathematical sciences, geographic engineering, civil engineering, mining engineering and arts & manufactures (23).
Geological sciences, spread throughout different courses, were studied in the general course as well as in 5 of the especial courses (except for arts & manufactures). French books were still the majority, but their presence was increasingly shared with North American, British and German authors (24). The progressive importance of geological sciences can also be testified by the defense in 1880 of the first thesis on this subject, namely Plutonic rocks of Brazil by the ancient student and then teacher, Oscar Nerval de Gouvea (25).
Despite the variety of professional qualifications offered by the School, civil engineering was undoubtedly the most attractive - what finally led to the closing of some courses by the beginning of the 20th century. As shown by Telles (26)
"during the first 50 years [1874-1924] the Polytechnic School gave diplomas to 1.565 civil engineers, 1.267 to geographer engineers, 41 to industrial engineers, 8 to mining engineers and 3 to agronomic engineers".
Already 10 years after the transformation of the Escola Central into the Politécnica, it was possible to read the Director, Inácio da Cunha Galvão, complaining about the unbalanced situation:
"shouldn't one conclude that the creation of certain chairs ... was premature? (...) 8 years of experience are not enough to demonstrate that the soil and environmental conditions still do not support such cultures? (...) The utility and importance of these especial courses are undoubtful. (...) The real reason is that these courses don't offer a lucrative profession. ... the students who come out do not find appropriate jobs for their specialties" (27).
This problem, so clearly put, would interfere, too, in the life of another contemporary institution, the Ouro Preto School of Mines.
About seven decades after the suggestion to found a mining school in Brazil, made by Manoel Ferreira da Câmara in 1803, a decree of November 1875 turned it into reality (28). It is admitted that during a trip to Europe in 1871-72 the Emperor, D. Pedro II, had the opportunity to talk to Auguste Daubrée, who would very soon become the Director of the Ecole des Mines de Paris. Asked about which was the best way to promote the exploration of Brazilian mineral resources, Daubrée suggested the establishment of a school of mines (29). Daubrée was invited to be responsible for this task, but regarding his position in France he did not accept. Nevertheless, he offered his help to find an appropriate person to fit in the position. After several efforts, he finally announced he had gotten the right man: Claude-Henri Gorceix, born in France in 1842, and an ancient student at the Ecole Normale Supérieure. At this time, Gorceix was working in Greece as a teacher at the French School in Athens as well as following his researches on volcanism (30).
Gorceix arrived in Rio de Janeiro in July 1874, and by the end of this year he went to Minas Gerais. In February 1875 he presented his proposal for the mining school (31), suggesting the town of Ouro Preto as the ideal location, because it lay on a traditional mining region, as Freiberg (in Saxony) and St. Etienne (in France). About the school's structure, for him its main purpose should be
"to provide directors for mining and metallurgical establishments, and engineers to be employed by the State ... in geological explorations as well as in the supervision of mining activities" (32).
On the basis of his conviction about the Brazilian need of practical personnel rapidly qualified, his option was for the model of the Ecole de Mineurs de St. Etienne (founded in 1816), and not of the Ecole des Mines de Paris. As the name expresses, it had a strongly technical, applied orientation, and within the French organization, "Paris was the school for theoretical teaching, while St. Etienne was for the practice" (33). This division corresponded to different positions to be held by the engineers in the Corps des mines.
Gorceix change almost nothing in his model (34): same name for the school - Ouro Preto Miner's School; a 2-years course with 10 months each one, plus practical works in the field during the rest of the time; a longer study trip after the end of the course, with a written report to be presented; a trip to a foreign country as an award to the best students; and even the limitation of age - students should not be younger than 18 nor older than 25.
This plan was submitted to the analysis of a commission from the Escola Politécnica, which expressed strong criticism (35) regarding the differences between the teachers' salaries proposed by Gorceix, the limitation of age, and of maximum number of students, the State's obligation to employ all graduates from Ouro Preto, among other points. Anyhow, Gorceix "won" and his plan had its main points approved, thanks to his reputation and friendship with the Emperor (36). But the name changed to Escola de Minas de Ouro Preto (Ouro Preto School of Mines).
Classes started in October 1876, but the difficulties to find students were so enormous that Gorceix asked for the intervention of the Minister of the Empire and of the Emperor himself, arguing authoritatively that
"in some cases it is justifiable that the State forces the young people to follow a career that their interests and the State's should lead them automatically" (37).
This problem lasted all the time Gorceix directed the school (until 1891), and it was never necessary to use the rules to limit the number of students.
Together with the reduced group of students, another problem was the difficulty to find jobs. According to Telles (38),
"in 1884, from a total amount of 17 graduates, only 3 were employed at the School and another was the director of the Ipanema iron mining company, in São Paulo".
Gorceix accepted to increase the complete course in one year through the introduction of some chairs related to civil engineering, like materials resistance, railroads construction, etc., to open more opportunities of job for his students. And a real course of civil engineering started in 1885, after the direct financial intervention of the government of Minas Gerais (39).
These questions point out relevant aspects of the local reality, and of the transfer of institutional models. Analyzing the creation and the continuity of the School, Carvalho (40) remarks, first, that
"one could hardly state that there was an effective demand for geologists and mining engineers from the Brazilian economy of 1876, based upon slavery and structured towards coffee exportation. The creation of the School was, first of all, an act of political will, oriented by ideological more than economical reasons".
Even the mainly English mining companies working in Minas Gerais were not poles of attraction of the School's graduates, for these companies brought their own engineers from abroad.
I think it is important to reinforce, as already pointed out by several authors, that the creation of institutions, in Brazil as well as in other non-central countries, were not only, or necessarily, attached to or direct answers to economical demands. In Brazil, the presence of an élite who had Europe as the model of Civilization and Progress encouraged the adoption of European models, that in several moments even tried to precede reality to shape it and, who knows, the future. However, this local reality, in its historical richness and complexity, implied adaptations and deep changes in the projects that led to Brazilian solutions in almost all the cases. Brazil, differently from other countries, despite its remarkable mineral situation always privileged agriculture instead of mining, and so geological sciences developed subordinated to agricultural or engineering activities. In this process, fundamental loci were the engineering schools.
Notes
1. This paper, entitled differently, deserved an oral presentation during the XIXth International Congress of History of Science, (Zaragoza, España), 22-29 August 1993; Symp. 51), and was nerver published.
2. Pedro O. C. da Cunha. "A fundação de um império liberal". In: Sérgio B. de Holanda, O Brasil monárquico, (São Paulo, Difel, 6.e., 1985), p.135-178. (Coleção História Geral da Civilização Brasileira, t.2, v.1)
3. Jeovah Motta, A formação do oficial do exército (currículos e regimes na Academia Militar, 1810-1944), (Rio de Janeiro, Ed. Cia. Bras. de Artes Gráficas, 1976), p.12-13.
4. Coleção de Leis e Decretos do Brasil de 1810, (Rio de Janeiro, Imprensa Nacional, 1891).
5. Cf. Antonio de P. Freitas, Memoria historica relativa ao anno de 1901, (Rio de Janeiro, Imp. Nacional, 1902); Mário Barata, Escola Politécnica do Largo de São Francisco: berço da engenharia brasileira, (Rio de Janeiro, Assoc. Antigos Alunos da Politécnica e Clube de Engenharia, 1973), 112p.; Pedro de S. Telles, História da engenharia no Brasil, (Rio de Janeiro, Livros Téc. Cient. Ed., 1984), 510p.
6. Martim Portugal V. Ferreira. "José Bonifácio d'Andrada e Silva: mineralogista, acadêmico, mineiro do início do século XIX". Memórias e Not. da Univ. de Coimbra, 106 (1988), p. 1932.
7. José Omar Moncada M.. "Una aproximación al estudio del Cuerpo de Ingenieros Militares en la Nueva España". Quipu, 3(1) (1986), p.55-66.
8. Jeovah Motta, A formação do oficial do exército op. cit. p.41-42.
9. Antonio A. B. Andrade, O Museu Nacional e suas coleções mineralógicas, (Rio de Janeiro, Museu Nacional, (mimeo), 1988).
10. L. Aguillon, L'École des Mines de Paris: notice historique, (Paris, Vve. Ch. Dunod (Ed.), 1889), p.51.
11. Francisco J. C. Falcon, A época pombalina (política econômica e monarquia ilustrada), (São Paulo, Ed. Ática, 1982), 532p. (Coleção Ensaios, v.83)
12. Ilmar R. de Mattos, O tempo saquarema: a formação do Estado Imperial, (São Paulo, Hucitec, 2.e., 1990), 300p. (Coleção Estudos Históricos, v.9)
13. Primitivo Moacyr, A instrução e o império (subsídios para a história da educação no Brasil, 1823-1853), (São Paulo, Cia. Ed. Nacional, v.1, 1936), p.542, (Coleção Brasiliana, v.66)
14. Jeovah Motta, A formação do oficial do exército op. cit. p.75.
15. Jeovah Motta, A formação do oficial do exército op. cit. p.73.
16. Jeovah Motta, A formação do oficial do exército op. cit. p.77.
17. Decreto nro. 2.116 del 1 de março de 1858.
18. Hubo un desdoblamiento similar en la École des Mines de Paris, en 1835 (cf. L. Aguillon, L'École des Mines de Paris: notice historique op. cit. p.231).
19. Correspondencia oficial de Firmino Herculano M Ancora, Director de la Escola Militar, a João Paulo dos Santos Barreto, Ministro de Guerra (?). Ass. Escola Militar, 16/04/1847. Arquivo Nacional, Correspondências oficiais da Escola Militar (1847-50), IG3 17.
20. Alpheu D. Gonsalves, Bibliographia da geologia, mineralogia e paleontologia do Brasil, (Rio de Janeiro, DNPM, 1928), p.23.
21. Orville A. Derby, "The present state of science in Brazil". Science, 1(8) (1883), p.211- 214.
22. Decreto nro. 5.600 del 25 de abril de 1874.
23. Escola Politécnica, Relatório da Directoria da Escola Polytechnica apresentado ao governo Imperial em 31/10/1876, (Rio de Janeiro, Typ. Nacional, 1876), 25p. + tabs.
24. Escola Politécnica, Catálogo da biblioteca da Escola Politechnica, (Rio de Janeiro, Typ. Nacional, 1882).
25. Oscar N. de Gouvêa, Rochas plutonicas do Brazil (These de concurso a uma das vagas da primeira secção do Curso de sciencias physicas e naturaes apresentada à Congregação da Escola Polytechnica), (Rio de Janeiro, Typ. Universal de E. & H. Laemmert, 1880). 67p.
26. Pedro da S. Telles, História da engenharia no Brasil op. cit. p.383.
27. Correspondencia oficial de Ignácio da Cunha Galvão, Director de la Escola Politécnica, al Cons. Senador Felipe Franco de Sá, Ministro del Imperio. Rio de Janeiro, 18/06/1884. ass. Arquivo Nacional, IE3 86.
28. José M. de Carvalho, A escola de Minas de Ouro Preto: o peso da glória, (São Paulo, Ed. Nacional y Rio de Janeiro, FINEP, 1978), 177p. (Coleção Estudos em Ciência e Tecnologia, v.1)
29. José M. de Carvalho, A escola de minas de Ouro Preto: o peso da glória op.cit. p.24.
30. Margarida R. de Lima, D. Pedro II e Gorceix: a fundação da Escola de Minas de Ouro Preto, (Belo Horizonte, Fund. Gorceix, 1977), p.23-26.
31. Carta de Claude-Henri Gorceix al Ministro del Imperio. Ouro Preto, 08/02/1875. ass. Arquivo Nacional, IE3 177.
32. José M. de Carvalho, A escola de Minas de Ouro Preto: o peso da glória op. cit. p.29.
33. Gabriel Arlet, D'Héphaistos à Sophia Antipolis: mineurs et forgerons, (Paris, Gédim, t.I, 1991), p.149.
34. This comparation is based in Gabriel Arlet, D'Héphaistos à Sophia Antipolis: mineurs et forgerons op. cit. 35. "Parecer ao projeto de criação de uma Escola de Mineiros", de Francisco Pereira Passos. ass. Rio de Janeiro, 09/08/1876. Arquivo Nacional, IE3 177.
36. José M. de Carvalho, A escola de minas de Ouro Preto: o peso da glória op. cit. p.34.
37. Apud José M. de Carvalho, A escola de minas de Ouro Preto: o peso da glória op. cit. p.35.
38. Pedro da S. Telles, História da engenharia no Brasil op. cit. p.420.
39. Pedro da S. Telles, História da engenharia no Brasil op. cit. p.421.
40. José M. de Carvalho, A escola de minas de Ouro Preto: o peso da glória op. cit. p. 2 and 21.