Named after his father, also a physician, João Baptista de Lacerda was born on July 12, 1846, in the city of Campos dos Goytacazes in the State of Rio de Janeiro. His mother was Maria d’Assumpção Coni de Lacerda.
The young man enrolled at the now defunct Rio de Janeiro College of Medicine (the current Federal University of Rio de Janeiro – UFRJ) to pursue medical studies and graduated in 1870, after defending a thesis titled “On Indications and Contraindications for using Digitalis in the Treatment of Diseases Affecting the Circulatory and Respiratory System.”
He became an official Full Member of the Imperial Academy of Medicine on April 21, 1885, and throughout his time there, held several positions at the board of the institution, later serving as its President from 1893 to 1895. On October 3, 1963, he was honored with the title of Patron of Chair Number 87.
In the city of Rio de Janeiro, Dr. Baptista de Lacerda held several positions at the Department of Anthropology, Zoology and Paleontology of the National Museum, in addition to working at a ward in the Santa Casa da Misericórdia General Hospital. He was appointed as Associate Dean of the department he worked in by the country’s Minister of Agriculture; however, he was unable to relinquish his growing interest for conducting studies and experimental research, thus ultimately deciding to abandon his clinical practice.
The physician and scholar was designated as Associate Dean of the Laboratory of Experimental Physiology, which, for several years, was Brazil’s sole facility of that kind), and later on, led the National Museum for a number of years.
Dr. Baptista de Lacerda split his time between these positions and working as an editor for the Jornal do Commercio newspaper as well as serving as the Editor-in-Chief for the Revista Lux publication. Moreover, he was granted several distinguished titles in recognition of his brilliant work, such as Honorary Professor at the University of Chile in Santiago; Correspondent Member of the Berlin Society for Anthropology; Member of the Society of Anthropology of Paris, France; and the Italian Florence Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology, in addition to Member of the Portuguese Lisbon Geography Society and the Argentina Medical Association.
Dr. Baptista de Lacerda saw Dr. Pasteur as his role model and avidly followed an experimental approach towards medicine, which led him to become one of the first Brazilian bio anthropologists. For his remarkable scientific studies and papers that earned him great accolades from major European and Latin American institutions, he was awarded a bronze model both at the 1878 Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1878, and at the Chicago Expo.
The physician and intellectual was one of the country’s first herpetologists and conducted research studies on venoms from native Brazilian amphibians and reptiles, in addition to curare, a toxic substance long used by the nation’s indigenous peoples.
Furthermore, Dr. Baptista de Lacerda discovered the use of potassium permanganate as an antidote for snake venoms and showcased this finding to Emperor Dom Pedro II himself, as well as to the Minister of Agriculture and a host of scientists and professors. This discovery allowed for millions of lives to be saved long before the advent of antivenoms.
Additionally, he served as Vice-President of the Pan-American Medical Congress in Washington, D.C. in 1893 and as President at that same body’s Department of Physiology. Other honorary roles he was bestowed include Honorary President of the Latin-American Medical Congress in Buenos Aires and Member of a committee established by said congress for the purpose of drawing up the pillars of an International Medical Code.
One of the main advocates of the “racial whitening” ideology, João Baptista de Lacerda was the head scientist appointed by Brazil to represent the country at the First Universal Races Congress in London, England, in 1911. This meeting brought together intellectuals from around the globe to discuss the subject of racialism and the relationship between race and the progress of societies. As the only Latin-American nation invited to the event, Brazil served as a prime example of a melting pot of races, and Dr. Baptista de Lacerda upheld that immigration policies would make mixed-race individuals whiter and that descendants of black Brazilians would gradually become whiter with each new generation.
He presented a paper at the gathering called “Sur les métis au Brésil” (“On Mixed-Race Individuals in Brazil”), in which he described miscegenation as something beneficial for Brazil due to the dominance of white racial traits over black and indigenous peoples’ traits. As a curious side note, a reproduction of Spanish painter Modesto Broco’s “Ham’s Redemption” painting was showcased at the event; in it, the artist uses biblical elements to defend his theory of diluting blackness in subsequent generations of black individuals, to which he added terms such as the “redemption” or “absolution” of a “cursed race.” According to him, the “darkening” of Ham’s descendants led to the black race, whose redemption could only be achieved by mixing these individuals with white Europeans.
His brother was Academy Member Álvaro de Lacerda.
Dr. João Baptista de Lacerda passed away on August 6, 1915, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, just 15 days after reading the last paper that he would ever pen, on the disease of beriberi, during a session held at the ANM.
Acad. Francisco Sampaio
Academic number: 138
Chair: 87
Chair honored: 87
Member: Titular
Section: Ciencias aplicadas à Medicina
Election: 21/04/1885
Inauguration: 21/04/1885
President: Agostinho José de Souza Lima
Death: 06/08/1915
Academic number: 138
Chair: 87
Chair honored: 87
Member: Titular
Section: Ciencias aplicadas à Medicina
Election: 21/04/1885
Inauguration: 21/04/1885
President: Agostinho José de Souza Lima
Death: 06/08/1915
Named after his father, also a physician, João Baptista de Lacerda was born on July 12, 1846, in the city of Campos dos Goytacazes in the State of Rio de Janeiro. His mother was Maria d’Assumpção Coni de Lacerda.
The young man enrolled at the now defunct Rio de Janeiro College of Medicine (the current Federal University of Rio de Janeiro – UFRJ) to pursue medical studies and graduated in 1870, after defending a thesis titled “On Indications and Contraindications for using Digitalis in the Treatment of Diseases Affecting the Circulatory and Respiratory System.”
He became an official Full Member of the Imperial Academy of Medicine on April 21, 1885, and throughout his time there, held several positions at the board of the institution, later serving as its President from 1893 to 1895. On October 3, 1963, he was honored with the title of Patron of Chair Number 87.
In the city of Rio de Janeiro, Dr. Baptista de Lacerda held several positions at the Department of Anthropology, Zoology and Paleontology of the National Museum, in addition to working at a ward in the Santa Casa da Misericórdia General Hospital. He was appointed as Associate Dean of the department he worked in by the country’s Minister of Agriculture; however, he was unable to relinquish his growing interest for conducting studies and experimental research, thus ultimately deciding to abandon his clinical practice.
The physician and scholar was designated as Associate Dean of the Laboratory of Experimental Physiology, which, for several years, was Brazil’s sole facility of that kind), and later on, led the National Museum for a number of years.
Dr. Baptista de Lacerda split his time between these positions and working as an editor for the Jornal do Commercio newspaper as well as serving as the Editor-in-Chief for the Revista Lux publication. Moreover, he was granted several distinguished titles in recognition of his brilliant work, such as Honorary Professor at the University of Chile in Santiago; Correspondent Member of the Berlin Society for Anthropology; Member of the Society of Anthropology of Paris, France; and the Italian Florence Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology, in addition to Member of the Portuguese Lisbon Geography Society and the Argentina Medical Association.
Dr. Baptista de Lacerda saw Dr. Pasteur as his role model and avidly followed an experimental approach towards medicine, which led him to become one of the first Brazilian bio anthropologists. For his remarkable scientific studies and papers that earned him great accolades from major European and Latin American institutions, he was awarded a bronze model both at the 1878 Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1878, and at the Chicago Expo.
The physician and intellectual was one of the country’s first herpetologists and conducted research studies on venoms from native Brazilian amphibians and reptiles, in addition to curare, a toxic substance long used by the nation’s indigenous peoples.
Furthermore, Dr. Baptista de Lacerda discovered the use of potassium permanganate as an antidote for snake venoms and showcased this finding to Emperor Dom Pedro II himself, as well as to the Minister of Agriculture and a host of scientists and professors. This discovery allowed for millions of lives to be saved long before the advent of antivenoms.
Additionally, he served as Vice-President of the Pan-American Medical Congress in Washington, D.C. in 1893 and as President at that same body’s Department of Physiology. Other honorary roles he was bestowed include Honorary President of the Latin-American Medical Congress in Buenos Aires and Member of a committee established by said congress for the purpose of drawing up the pillars of an International Medical Code.
One of the main advocates of the “racial whitening” ideology, João Baptista de Lacerda was the head scientist appointed by Brazil to represent the country at the First Universal Races Congress in London, England, in 1911. This meeting brought together intellectuals from around the globe to discuss the subject of racialism and the relationship between race and the progress of societies. As the only Latin-American nation invited to the event, Brazil served as a prime example of a melting pot of races, and Dr. Baptista de Lacerda upheld that immigration policies would make mixed-race individuals whiter and that descendants of black Brazilians would gradually become whiter with each new generation.
He presented a paper at the gathering called “Sur les métis au Brésil” (“On Mixed-Race Individuals in Brazil”), in which he described miscegenation as something beneficial for Brazil due to the dominance of white racial traits over black and indigenous peoples’ traits. As a curious side note, a reproduction of Spanish painter Modesto Broco’s “Ham’s Redemption” painting was showcased at the event; in it, the artist uses biblical elements to defend his theory of diluting blackness in subsequent generations of black individuals, to which he added terms such as the “redemption” or “absolution” of a “cursed race.” According to him, the “darkening” of Ham’s descendants led to the black race, whose redemption could only be achieved by mixing these individuals with white Europeans.
His brother was Academy Member Álvaro de Lacerda.
Dr. João Baptista de Lacerda passed away on August 6, 1915, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, just 15 days after reading the last paper that he would ever pen, on the disease of beriberi, during a session held at the ANM.
Acad. Francisco Sampaio