Jacob de Castro Sarmento
Encyclopedia
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
—1761, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
) was a Portuguese physician, naturalist, poet and Deist.
At the age of seventeen he entered the University of Évora
University of Évora
The University of Évora is a public university in Évora, Portugal.-History:The University of Évora, the second oldest in Portugal, was founded in the 16th century by Cardinal Infante Dom Henrique , and by the Pope Paul IV, and it was delivered to the Society of Jesus.The Jesuit college...
to study philosophy, and later studied medicine at Coimbra
Coimbra
Coimbra is a city in the municipality of Coimbra in Portugal. Although it served as the nation's capital during the High Middle Ages, it is better-known for its university, the University of Coimbra, which is one of the oldest in Europe and the oldest academic institution in the...
, receiving his baccalaureate in 1717. In order to escape the persecutions of the Inquisition
Inquisition
The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
, Henriquez — so-called as a Marrano
Marrano
Marranos were Jews living in the Iberian peninsula who converted to Christianity rather than be expelled but continued to observe rabbinic Judaism in secret...
— went into voluntary exile in London in 1720. There he continued his studies in medicine, physics, and chemistry, and passed his examinations in the theory and practice of medicine. He became a member of the Royal College of Physicians
Royal College of Physicians
The Royal College of Physicians of London was founded in 1518 as the College of Physicians by royal charter of King Henry VIII in 1518 - the first medical institution in England to receive a royal charter...
and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
of London about 1725, in recognition of his having introduced a new medicine for curing fevers.
In 1731 he elaborated a plan for a botanical garden in Coimbra
Coimbra
Coimbra is a city in the municipality of Coimbra in Portugal. Although it served as the nation's capital during the High Middle Ages, it is better-known for its university, the University of Coimbra, which is one of the oldest in Europe and the oldest academic institution in the...
. Castro Sarmento corresponded with many scholars, among others with Prof. Mendes Sanchetto Barbosa of Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, who reported to him the terrible earthquake that destroyed the capital of Portugal in 1755, and with the Jesuit B. Suarez, who communicated to him his astronomical observations made in Brazil. He was a strong proponent of Newtonianism
Newtonianism
Newtonianism is a doctrine that involves following the principles and using the methods of natural philosopher Isaac Newton. While Newton's influential contributions were primarily in physics and mathematics, his broad conception of the universe as being governed by rational and understandable laws...
and made efforts to integrate it with Jewish theology. He published Theorica verdadeira das marés, conforme à philosophia do incomparavel cavalhero Isaac Newton (Treatise on the true theory of tides, according to the philosophy of the incomparable gentleman Isaac Newton), the first book in Portuguese to advocate Newton ideas (London, 1737).
The literary activity of Castro Sarmento began with a treatise on vaccination, Dissertatio in Novam, Tutam, ac Utilem Methodum Inoculationis seu Transplantationis Variolorum (London, 1721; German translation, Hamburg, 1722; Supplement, London, 1731; anonymously, Leyden). Other works are: Historia Medica Physico-Hist.-Mechanica, part i, London, 1731; part ii, London 1735; Syderohydrologia ó Discurso das Aguas Mineraes Espadañas ou Chalibeadas, London, 1736, identical with Da Uso, e Abuso das Minhas Agoas da Inglaterra, London, 1756; and a Portuguese translation of the treatise of the surgeon Samuel Sharp
Samuel Sharp (surgeon)
Samuel Sharp FRS was an English surgeon and author, son of Henry Sharp of Jamaica.-Development:He was born about 1700. He was bound apprentice for seven years to William Cheselden, surgeon at St. Thomas's Hospital, on 2 March 1724. He paid £300. when his indentures were signed, the money being...
: Surgical Operations, with Plates and Descriptions of the Instruments Used (London, 1744).
In recognition of his services to medicine the University of Aberdeen
University of Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen, an ancient university founded in 1495, in Aberdeen, Scotland, is a British university. It is the third oldest university in Scotland, and the fifth oldest in the United Kingdom and wider English-speaking world...
awarded him a medical degree in July 1739. Castro Sarmento was also a poet and a preacher. He published Exemplar de Penitencia, Dividido en Tres Discursos Para ó dia Santo de Kipur (London, 1724); "Sermão Funebre as Memorias do . . . Haham Morenu a R. e Doutor David Neto" (London, 1728); and in Spanish, Extraordinaria Providencia Que el Gran Dios de Ysrael Uso con su Escogido Pueblo en Tiempo de su Mayor Afflicion por Medio de Mordehay y Ester Contra los Protervos Intentos del Tyrano Aman, Deducida de la Sagrada Escritura en el Sequinte Romance (London, 1728).