In an era when leaders of developing countries are asking hard questions about the cost and wisdom of transferring advanced foreign science and technology to their own situations, it is instructive to analyze past successes and failures in such countries. The Brazilian experience between 1890 and 1920—the period when western science began to become established in Brazil—offers many useful insights, and these are clearly and effectively presented by Professor Stepan in this well-written volume.
In her introduction the author states that the study of the origins of western science in Brazil “would raise many interesting questions about traditional obstacles to science, the criteria for scientific development, the role of planning and the government, and the desired balance between theoretical and applied science in a nation with limited resources” (p. 2). Chapter two summarizes the state of science in Brazil before 1900, and chapter three offers a brief account of medicine, epidemics, and public health in Brazil before the era of Oswaldo Cruz.
The chief focus of the volume (chapters four, five, and six) is on the surprising growth of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute in Rio de Janeiro, the first and for many years the only truly successful scientific institution in Brazil. From its modest beginning in 1900 as the Serum Therapy Institute of Rio de Janeiro, this Institute, led by the great Dr. Oswaldo Cruz (for whom the Institute was renamed in 1908), achieved true international recognition. The Institute and Dr. Cruz, its Director from 1900 to 1917, played major roles in such achievements as eradicating yellow fever in Rio de Janeiro, substantially upgrading medical teaching and scientific research standards in Brazil, and the discovery and description (by Dr. Carlos Chagas) of Chagas’ Disease in 1908. Chapter eight compares the work of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute with the Bacteriological Institute of São Paulo, and examines the reasons why the latter organization failed to achieve a comparable eminence and longevity. The final chapter says relatively little about Brazil but rather it explores in a more general way some of the characteristic policy issues that arise from the growth of western science in developing countries.
This is a useful and competent work that provides a concise introduction to the historical origins of science in Brazil. It is thoroughly researched in both primary and secondary sources, and it is accurate (although the Italian microbiologist Sanarelli appears as “Saranelli” on pp. 140 and 154). Persons who are interested in the problems of developing countries as well as historians of science in Latin America would find this to be an excellent contribution to a much neglected field.
