Um exemplo centenário de educação e popularização da ciência no Brasil: os Postos Anti-Ophidicos de Vital Brazil na Bahia

Abstract

Health education on venomous animals was started in by Brazil by Vital Brazil Mineiro da Campanha, in the early 20th century, with his “Plano de Vulgarização das Descobertas” aimed for specialists and non-specialists in the state of São Paulo. His objective was to spread the new discovered, the specific serum therapy (1901), the only treatment that truly worked against snakebite, as well as the ways of knowing the snakes and prevent the accidents. With that in mind, he created a series of educative activities planned to communicate biological, medial and cultural aspects about the snakes. However, his field of action was limited to the state of São Paulo, where he created a system for trading snakes for antivenom serum or syringes, plus the shipping copies of the book Defesa Contra o Ofidismo (1911), all of that to receive the necessary venom for serum production. Understanding that snakebite was a public health problem that affects specifically the countryside, in 1918 Vital Brazil set on track his project of installing Antiophidic Centers in many brazillian states, between them. Our hypothesis is that these Centers, as well as the serum producing institutes founded by, the Butantan Institute – 1899 (São Paulo) and the Vital Brazil Institute – 1919 (Niterói), acted as pioneers museums for science and health education in Brazil. This is a qualitatve research that combines History and Teaching of Sciences, based on the gathering and discussion of historical material through the lenses of Museum Education and Museology. Our objective is to discuss the role of those Antiophidic Centers from Bahia, Salvador (1921), Senhor do Bonfim (1926) and Vitória da Conquista (1929), as singular museum spaces for the teaching of science to the snakebite vulnerable populations during the decade of 1920. It’s a hybrid research that works directly with the Teaching and History of Sciences. It was conducted via Literature Review and Document Research, between 1860 and 1932, including primary and secondary sources from 17 different archives, 12 brick and mortar and 5 digital. The Antiophidic Centers of Bahia were part of a complex structure that included the installation of snake terrariums, shipping of venom and snakes to Butantan and Vital Brazil Institutes, collaborating on the production of venom, necessary for the production of antivenom serum. They involve characters and institutions, among them the notorious scientist Manoel Augusto Pirajá da Silva (1873- 1961), director of the Butantan’s Antiophidic Center in Salvador (1921-1925), in the Medicine College of Bahia; and the couple Francisco Borges (1875-) and Esmeralda Borges, responsible for the Vital Brazil’s Institute Antiophidic Centers of Senhor do Bonfim (1926-1932) and Vitória da Conquista (1929-1932). These Centers actions represented an important leap to the Herpetology in Brazil, resulting in the description of two new endemic species of lanceheads in Brazil’s Northeast, Bothrops erythromelas (Amaral, 1923) e Bothrops pirajai (Amaral, 1923), through the letters exchanged between Pirajá da Silva and Afrânio do Amaral (1894-1982), herpetologist from Butantan. Finally, these Centers worked as spaces of education, elaborating lectures, handing out flyers, organizing visits to the snakes open terrariums and public venom extraction sections, capable of mobilizing the local communities to deal with their fear of snakes and stimulate them to capture, identify and exchange those animals for antivenom serum, registered at first in Salvador on 1915, in the “Hospital Santa Izabel”. We consider that the Antiophidic Centers were consolidated as spaces of non formal science education, production of scientific knowledge and free access for the snakebite treatment in the most remote regions of Bahia, working in favor of the most vulnerable communities.