The Institute Oswaldo Cruz

Abstract

FOR many years past I had been receiving the Memorias do Institute Oswaldo Cruz, published at Rio de Janeiro, and sent with the utmost liberality to students and libraries in many countries. I had wondered at the variety and excellence of the papers, and the beautiful illustrations. I had seen some of the scientific results received as of fundamental importance, and incorporated in text-books. Accepting all this with due gratitude and appreciation, it was natural to feel puzzled to know how it all came about. Brazil is a great country, of enormous but largely undeveloped resources. Talk to any one who has been there, or who lived there, and the conversation is certain to drift toward a criticism of Brazilian politics and politicians. To be sure the same sort of thing happens in the United States, but we know something of the virtues of the northern continent and can weigh one thing against another. The foreigner approaching Brazil is sure to feel that “every prospect pleases,” but more than likely to add that “only man is vile.” I myself at one time could only suppose, in a vague manner, that the Institute Oswaldo Cruz must have been founded and endowed by some multimillionaire, whose munificence had created an organisation essentially alien to the general spirit of the country. This supposition was entirely wrong.