Froilano de Mello
Encyclopedia
Froilano de Mello was an Indo
-Portuguese
microbiologist
, medical scientist, professor, author and an independent MP
in the Portuguese parliament
.
Throughout the course of his scientific career, de Mello was responsible for the discovery of thousands of protozoa
, parasites
and microbes which today bear the Latin
names given by him, followed by his own surname. He served as mayor of Panjim from 1938–45. During his tenure as an MP from 1945–49, he represented the constituency of Portuguese India
, namely its colonies of Goa
, Daman and Diu in the National Assembly at Lisbon
.
, Salcette
to Goan Catholic
parents. He was the eldest son of the lawyer Constâncio Francisco de Mello, and Delfina Rodrigues and the daughter of Dr. Raimundo Venâncio Rodrigues. Rodrigues was the mayor of Coimbra
, member of the Cortes Gerais in Portugal
and one of the first directors of Goa Medical College
(then known as the Escola Medico–Cirurgica de Goa).
Constâncio passed away when he was twelve, adversely affected the de Mello family's fortunes, and brought about difficult times for the entire family. The income generated from the family properties managed by the caretaker was insufficient to meet the family's needs and consequently, the young Froilano had to work while he studied. He graduated in Panjim as a medical doctor, and later repeated the course at Porto
, Portugal
. In 1910, he returned to Goa
with an additional diploma in Tropical medicine
of the University of Lisbon.
. From 1913–14, he served as an assistant professor at the University of Paris
in Sorbonne
, and was a visiting Professor at the University of Porto
in 1921. de Mello was promoted to the post of director of the Goa Medical College
's Bacteriological
institute, a small shed in Campal
which would serve as the center of his scientific research from 1914–1945. His achievements in microbiology
and parasitology
made the institute world-famous largely because he ensured that all his works were simultaneously published in English
, Portuguese
and French
. de Mello would later go on to become the college's dean.
During the same period, he also served as Chief of Public Health for Portuguese India. He undertook a postgraduate course in parasitology
in Kaiser Willhelm Institute fuer Biologie, Berlin
, and at the Max Planck Institute, Potsdam
, Germany
from 1922–23. In 1922, at the age of 35, de Mello became a Colonel
in the Portuguese Army
Medical Corps, achieving the highest rank in the medical military hierarchy of that time, exclusively through merits in the medical campaigns on Public Health which he carried out in Goa, Daman, Diu, and in Angola
. de Mello was the head of a Portuguese delegation to the World Leprosy Conference in Cuba
and is known to have attended at least 40 World Conferences, including the All India Sanitary Conference in Lucknow
(1914) and the Third Entomological Meeting in Lucknow (1914) where, at the invitation of the Governor-General of India
, he lectured on medical mycology
. His researches in tropical medicine brought him international fame and recognition as a world renowned expert on the subject. de Mello published more than 200 research papers on bacteriology
in Portuguese
, French
and English
journals. He founded the following medical journals in Goa, Boletim Geral de Medicina, Arquivos Indo-Portugueses de Medicina e Historia Natural, and Arquivos da Escola Medico–Cirurgica de Nova Goa. His work in French entitled, A la veille du Centenaire (On the eve of the Centenary) elaborated in great detail the contributions of Goa Medical College during the first hundred years of its establishment. Separate from his medical career, de Mello also authored a book in 1946 on the Bengali
poet, Rabindranath Tagore
entitled O Cantico da Vida na Poesia Tagoreana (The song of life in the poetry of Tagore).
de Mello was a member of the Royal Asiatic Society
of Bengal
; the Indian Academy of Sciences
; Societie de Pathologie Exotique and Societie de Biologie de Paris in Paris; Sociedade de Ciencias Medicas, Sociedade de Etnologia & Antropologia and Sociedade de Geografia in Lisbon. He was the recipient of medals of honour from Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
in 1938, Pope Pius XII
on the occasion of the canonisation of St. John de Brito
in 1947, President Ramón Grau
of Cuba in 1949, and from President Eurico Gaspar Dutra
of Brazil
in 1950. He also held the following Portuguese honours: Grande Official da Ordem de Aviz, Comendador da Ordem de Sao Tiago and Comendador da Ordem de Benemerencia.
in Goa and malaria
from Velha Goa. His efforts towards this end, led to the establishment of two important institutions, namely the first leprosarium in Asia
at Macasẚna in Salcette in 1934, today known as Leprosaria Froilano de Mello and Dispensario Virgem Peregrina at St. Inez
, Panjim. He also established the TB sanitarium
in Margao
in 1928 and opened a ward for those suffering from leprosy
in Daman. In 1926, de Mello with the help of one of his pupils, Dr. Luís Bras de Sa, carefully mapped the site of Old Goa and recognized more than 4,800 wells in the area, which were breeding grounds of anopheles mosquitoes
. This led to the closure of these wells, and in turn, led to the reduction of the mosquito breeding sites. This factor played a significant role in curbing the Malaria epidemic
in Goa in the 1920s.
de Mello also undertook new measures to improve urban sanitation
, which included the introduction of Sanitary Police in Panjim. Faced with the task of dealing with the city's rabies
epidemic during his term as mayor, he ordered the elimination of all stray dogs
, offering a reward per stray dog. This resulted in a dramatic reduction in the number of cases of rabies. A similar reward was offered for the capture or destruction of venomous snake
s, which led to the reduction of snakebites.
of Panjim from 1938-45. During his tenure as mayor, he cleansed its stables of mismanagement and fiscal deficits, and his mayorship is widely noted for the city's urbanisation.
In 1940, de Mello devised a plan for the beautification of the city, particularly the church square, the present 18th June road and the Campal Zone. The latter still bears the imprint of the program carried out by him. He organised the ballustrade on the Mandovi River, from the centre of town up to Campal, lining the riverside avenue. He also planted trees in many of the streets of Panjim, with seeds of tropical trees from Cuba
. These jacaranda
and acacia trees
, whose seedlings were planted in 1940, now provide shade to the streets which were originally lined only with coconut
and ficus trees
.
's União Nacional
party. However, de Mello's independent status brought him into disfavour with Salazar, and his speeches in the National Assembly were censored. Initially, de Mello was staunchly pro-Portuguese and believed that Goa should remain under the Portuguese Empire
. In November 1946, at a National Assembly
meeting at Lisbon
, he denounced the unrest in Goa as the handiwork of a few "Fifth Column
ists and Nazis, and intellectuals educated in central Europe and fanatics who had failed in life, who preach the absorption of Goa and foment hatred of the Portuguese nation."
He worked tirelessly for the repeal of the discriminatory Portuguese Colonial Act of 1930
, which had previously relegated non-Portuguese citizens to second-class status in the Empire. The repeal of this discriminatory act was unanimously approved by the National Assembly in 1950. With the repeal of the act granted, de Mello now began to advocate independence for the Portuguese Indian colonies of Goa, Daman and Diu, which would govern itself as a separate national entity, but within the Portuguese Commonwealth
. This put him at further odds with the ruling Estado Novo regime, which considered their Indian colonies to be an integral part of Portugal and dismissed any ideas of independence.
, Brazil, de Mello who had expected to be nominated as the delegate of Portugal, found out to his surprise that Salazar had instead appointed another delegation without him. When this came to be known, the Brazilian Government invited him, providing for his travel and stay.
Finding himself under increased political persecution by Salazar's government in Goa, de Mello emigrated with his wife to Brazil in 1951, where three of their children were already settled. He settled down in Sao Paulo
, where he continued his research in the field of Protozoa, in the intestines of termites. He discovered various new species there which he dedicated to his new country. He gave lectures and conferences in Rio de Janeiro
and Sao Paulo and was invited to organise the section of protozoology
at the Instituto Ezequiel Dias in Belo Horizonte
. de Mello died in Sao Paulo of lung cancer
on 9 January 1955, aged 67. His last scientific paper, Memorias do Instituto Ezequiel Dias (Memoirs of the Ezequiel Dias Institute) was published in February 1955, a month after his death.
, who after marriage moved with him to Panjim. Eugenie was the first person to translate the works of Rabindranath Tagore into French. She died in 1921 from complications brought on by the Spanish flu
virus in Porto. The couple did not have any children.
On 15 September 1923, de Mello married his second wife Hedwig Bachmann, a young Swiss school teacher from Diessenhofen
. They had six children: Alfredo, Eugeήia, Victor, Fransisco Paulo, Cristina and Margarida.
Hedwig authored a book entitled Von der Seele der Indischen Frau (Tipografia Rangel, Goa, 1941) published also in translation, On the soul of the Indian women. The book is a psycho-sociological study of Hindu
traditions as interpreted from proverbs and the impact of Aryan
and Dravidian
civilizations. One of his sons, Alfredo Bachmann de Mello (1924–2010) was a well-known travel writer
and memoirist who authored an auto-biography, From Goa to Patagonia: memoirs spanning times and spaces. Another son, Victor Froilano Bachmann de Mello (1927–2009) was a world-renowned geotechnical engineer
.
Indian people
Indian people or Indisians constitute the Asian nation and pan-ethnic group native to India, which forms the south of Asia, containing 17.31% of the world's population. The Indian nationality is in essence made up of regional nationalities, reflecting the rich and complex history of India...
-Portuguese
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
microbiologist
Microbiologist
A microbiologist is a scientist who works in the field of microbiology. Microbiologists study organisms called microbes. Microbes can take the form of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protists...
, medical scientist, professor, author and an independent MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
in the Portuguese parliament
Assembly of the Republic
The Assembly of the Republic is the Portuguese parliament. It is located in a historical building in Lisbon, referred to as Palácio de São Bento, the site of an old Benedictine monastery...
.
Throughout the course of his scientific career, de Mello was responsible for the discovery of thousands of protozoa
Protozoa
Protozoa are a diverse group of single-cells eukaryotic organisms, many of which are motile. Throughout history, protozoa have been defined as single-cell protists with animal-like behavior, e.g., movement...
, parasites
Parasitism
Parasitism is a type of symbiotic relationship between organisms of different species where one organism, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host. Traditionally parasite referred to organisms with lifestages that needed more than one host . These are now called macroparasites...
and microbes which today bear the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
names given by him, followed by his own surname. He served as mayor of Panjim from 1938–45. During his tenure as an MP from 1945–49, he represented the constituency of Portuguese India
Portuguese India
The Portuguese Viceroyalty of India , later the Portuguese State of India , was the aggregate of Portugal's colonial holdings in India.The government started in 1505, six years after the discovery of a sea route to India by Vasco da Gama, with the nomination of the first Viceroy Francisco de...
, namely its colonies of Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
, Daman and Diu in the National Assembly at 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...
.
Early life
Froilano de Mello was born in BenaulimBenaulim
Benaulim also known as Banavali , is a census town in South Goa district in the state of Goa, India. It is a beach town a little south of Margao in Goa, India....
, Salcette
Salcette
Salcette , is a taluka of South Goa District in the Indian state of Goa. Its administrative and economic headquarters is Margao. It is largely coterminous with a region called Sashti , which comprised, by local tradition, sixty-six villages, hence the name. However, it also includes the taluka of...
to Goan Catholic
Goan Catholics
The Goan Catholics are an ethno-religious community of Roman Catholics and their descendants from the state of Goa, located on the west coast of India. They are Konkani people and speak the Konkani language...
parents. He was the eldest son of the lawyer Constâncio Francisco de Mello, and Delfina Rodrigues and the daughter of Dr. Raimundo Venâncio Rodrigues. Rodrigues was the mayor of 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...
, member of the Cortes Gerais in Portugal
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...
and one of the first directors of Goa Medical College
Goa Medical College
Goa Medical College is a medical college and hospital in Goa, India. It was built by the Portuguese in 1842 as the Escola Médico-Cirúrgica de Goa . It is the oldest Medical College in Asia...
(then known as the Escola Medico–Cirurgica de Goa).
Constâncio passed away when he was twelve, adversely affected the de Mello family's fortunes, and brought about difficult times for the entire family. The income generated from the family properties managed by the caretaker was insufficient to meet the family's needs and consequently, the young Froilano had to work while he studied. He graduated in Panjim as a medical doctor, and later repeated the course at Porto
Porto
Porto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...
, Portugal
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...
. In 1910, he returned to Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
with an additional diploma in Tropical medicine
Tropical medicine
Tropical medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with health problems that occur uniquely, are more widespread, or prove more difficult to control in tropical and subtropical regions....
of the University of Lisbon.
Academic and scientific career
de Mello's academic career got a start in 1910, at the age of 23, when he was appointed as a professor at the prestigious Goa Medical CollegeGoa Medical College
Goa Medical College is a medical college and hospital in Goa, India. It was built by the Portuguese in 1842 as the Escola Médico-Cirúrgica de Goa . It is the oldest Medical College in Asia...
. From 1913–14, he served as an assistant professor at the University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
in Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
, and was a visiting Professor at the University of Porto
University of Porto
The University of Porto is a Portuguese public university located in Porto, and founded 22 March 1911. It is the largest Portuguese university by number of enrolled students and has one of the most noted research outputs in Portugal...
in 1921. de Mello was promoted to the post of director of the Goa Medical College
Goa Medical College
Goa Medical College is a medical college and hospital in Goa, India. It was built by the Portuguese in 1842 as the Escola Médico-Cirúrgica de Goa . It is the oldest Medical College in Asia...
's Bacteriological
Bacteriology
Bacteriology is the study of bacteria. This subdivision of microbiology involves the identification, classification, and characterization of bacterial species...
institute, a small shed in Campal
Campal
In the year 1830 the "Father of Panjim", Dom Manual de Portugal e Castro developed a place by making it commercial from urban. This beautiful place situated approximately at a distance of 4 km from Panjim came to be known as "Campal" named after 'Campal de Dom Manual'...
which would serve as the center of his scientific research from 1914–1945. His achievements in microbiology
Microbiology
Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, which are defined as any microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters or no cell at all . This includes eukaryotes, such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes...
and parasitology
Parasitology
Parasitology is the study of parasites, their hosts, and the relationship between them. As a biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in question, but by their way of life...
made the institute world-famous largely because he ensured that all his works were simultaneously published in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. de Mello would later go on to become the college's dean.
During the same period, he also served as Chief of Public Health for Portuguese India. He undertook a postgraduate course in parasitology
Parasitology
Parasitology is the study of parasites, their hosts, and the relationship between them. As a biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in question, but by their way of life...
in Kaiser Willhelm Institute fuer Biologie, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, and at the Max Planck Institute, Potsdam
Potsdam
Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
from 1922–23. In 1922, at the age of 35, de Mello became a Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
in the Portuguese Army
Portuguese Army
The Portuguese Army is the ground branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in co-operation with other branches of the Portuguese military, is charged with the defence of Portugal...
Medical Corps, achieving the highest rank in the medical military hierarchy of that time, exclusively through merits in the medical campaigns on Public Health which he carried out in Goa, Daman, Diu, and in Angola
Angola (Portugal)
Angola is the common name by which the Portuguese colony in southwestern Africa was known across different periods of time...
. de Mello was the head of a Portuguese delegation to the World Leprosy Conference in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
and is known to have attended at least 40 World Conferences, including the All India Sanitary Conference in Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
(1914) and the Third Entomological Meeting in Lucknow (1914) where, at the invitation of the Governor-General of India
Governor-General of India
The Governor-General of India was the head of the British administration in India, and later, after Indian independence, the representative of the monarch and de facto head of state. The office was created in 1773, with the title of Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William...
, he lectured on medical mycology
Medical Mycology
Medical Mycology is a scientific journal published by the International Society of Human and Animal Mycology in eight issues per year. The journal was established in 1962 as Sabouraudia, honoring the French dermatologist/medical mycologist, Raimond Sabouraud and publishing 3 to 4 issues per year...
. His researches in tropical medicine brought him international fame and recognition as a world renowned expert on the subject. de Mello published more than 200 research papers on bacteriology
Bacteriology
Bacteriology is the study of bacteria. This subdivision of microbiology involves the identification, classification, and characterization of bacterial species...
in Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
journals. He founded the following medical journals in Goa, Boletim Geral de Medicina, Arquivos Indo-Portugueses de Medicina e Historia Natural, and Arquivos da Escola Medico–Cirurgica de Nova Goa. His work in French entitled, A la veille du Centenaire (On the eve of the Centenary) elaborated in great detail the contributions of Goa Medical College during the first hundred years of its establishment. Separate from his medical career, de Mello also authored a book in 1946 on the Bengali
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
poet, Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
entitled O Cantico da Vida na Poesia Tagoreana (The song of life in the poetry of Tagore).
de Mello was a member of the Royal Asiatic Society
Royal Asiatic Society
The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland was established, according to its Royal Charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science, literature and the arts in relation to Asia." From its incorporation the Society...
of Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
; the Indian Academy of Sciences
Indian Academy of Sciences
The Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore was founded by Sir C. V. Raman, and was registered as a Society on 24 April 1934. Inaugurated on 31 July 1934, it began with 65 founding fellows. The first general meeting of Fellows, held on the same day, elected Professor Raman as President, and adopted...
; Societie de Pathologie Exotique and Societie de Biologie de Paris in Paris; Sociedade de Ciencias Medicas, Sociedade de Etnologia & Antropologia and Sociedade de Geografia in Lisbon. He was the recipient of medals of honour from Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
Wilhelmina was Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1890 to 1948. She ruled the Netherlands for fifty-eight years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw World War I and World War II, the economic crisis of 1933, and the decline of the Netherlands as a major colonial...
in 1938, Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
on the occasion of the canonisation of St. John de Brito
John de Brito
Saint John de Brito was a Portuguese Jesuit missionary and martyr, often called "the Portuguese St...
in 1947, President Ramón Grau
Ramón Grau
Dr. Ramón Grau San Martín was a Cuban physician and the President of Cuba .-Youth:...
of Cuba in 1949, and from President Eurico Gaspar Dutra
Eurico Gaspar Dutra
Eurico Gaspar Dutra , was a Brazilian marshal, politician and president of Brazil from 1946–1951.He was born in Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, and like many other Brazilians, was from Azorean-Portuguese origin...
of Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
in 1950. He also held the following Portuguese honours: Grande Official da Ordem de Aviz, Comendador da Ordem de Sao Tiago and Comendador da Ordem de Benemerencia.
Medical campaigns
de Mello worked passionately to eradicate tuberculosisTuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
in Goa and malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
from Velha Goa. His efforts towards this end, led to the establishment of two important institutions, namely the first leprosarium in Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
at Macasẚna in Salcette in 1934, today known as Leprosaria Froilano de Mello and Dispensario Virgem Peregrina at St. Inez
St Inez Creek
St Inez creek is a creek in Panjim, in the Indian state of Goa. The creek opens up into the Mandovi River. The creek is in length, with a surface area...
, Panjim. He also established the TB sanitarium
Sanatorium
A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...
in Margao
Margao
Margao and commercial capital of the Indian state of Goa. It is the administrative headquarters of South Goa district and of the Salcete taluka.- Etymology :...
in 1928 and opened a ward for those suffering from leprosy
Leprosy
Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
in Daman. In 1926, de Mello with the help of one of his pupils, Dr. Luís Bras de Sa, carefully mapped the site of Old Goa and recognized more than 4,800 wells in the area, which were breeding grounds of anopheles mosquitoes
Anopheles
Anopheles is a genus of mosquito. There are approximately 460 recognized species: while over 100 can transmit human malaria, only 30–40 commonly transmit parasites of the genus Plasmodium, which cause malaria in humans in endemic areas...
. This led to the closure of these wells, and in turn, led to the reduction of the mosquito breeding sites. This factor played a significant role in curbing the Malaria epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
in Goa in the 1920s.
de Mello also undertook new measures to improve urban sanitation
Sanitation
Sanitation is the hygienic means of promoting health through prevention of human contact with the hazards of wastes. Hazards can be either physical, microbiological, biological or chemical agents of disease. Wastes that can cause health problems are human and animal feces, solid wastes, domestic...
, which included the introduction of Sanitary Police in Panjim. Faced with the task of dealing with the city's rabies
Rabies
Rabies is a viral disease that causes acute encephalitis in warm-blooded animals. It is zoonotic , most commonly by a bite from an infected animal. For a human, rabies is almost invariably fatal if post-exposure prophylaxis is not administered prior to the onset of severe symptoms...
epidemic during his term as mayor, he ordered the elimination of all stray dogs
Pariah dog
The term pariah dog originally referred to Chinese/Indian feral dogs of a particular type, but it is now used by the United Kennel Club to refer to a purebred dog category.- Feral dogs of India :...
, offering a reward per stray dog. This resulted in a dramatic reduction in the number of cases of rabies. A similar reward was offered for the capture or destruction of venomous snake
Venomous snake
"Poisonous snake" redirects here. For true poisonous snakes, see Rhabdophis.Venomous snakes are snakes which have venom glands and specialized teeth for the injection of venom...
s, which led to the reduction of snakebites.
Mayor of Panjim (1938–45)
In 1926, de Mello was elected as a Member of Parliament to represent Portuguese India in Lisbon. However, after the 28 May 1926 coup d'état, the elections were nullified and not held again for the next nineteen years. de Mello served as the mayorMayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Panjim from 1938-45. During his tenure as mayor, he cleansed its stables of mismanagement and fiscal deficits, and his mayorship is widely noted for the city's urbanisation.
In 1940, de Mello devised a plan for the beautification of the city, particularly the church square, the present 18th June road and the Campal Zone. The latter still bears the imprint of the program carried out by him. He organised the ballustrade on the Mandovi River, from the centre of town up to Campal, lining the riverside avenue. He also planted trees in many of the streets of Panjim, with seeds of tropical trees from Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. These jacaranda
Jacaranda
Jacaranda is a genus of 49 species of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of South America , Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. It is also found in Asia, especially in Nepal...
and acacia trees
Acacia
Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...
, whose seedlings were planted in 1940, now provide shade to the streets which were originally lined only with coconut
Coconut
The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...
and ficus trees
Ficus
Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes, and hemiepiphyte in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The Common Fig Ficus is a genus of...
.
Member of Parliament (1945–49)
In 1945, when the Portuguese parliament was re-opened, de Mello was elected for the second time as MP to represent Portuguese India. He was the only independent MP to serve in the Portuguese parliament for the period 1945–49; all the others being members of dictator, António de Oliveira SalazarAntónio de Oliveira Salazar
António de Oliveira Salazar, GColIH, GCTE, GCSE served as the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1932 to 1968. He also served as acting President of the Republic briefly in 1951. He founded and led the Estado Novo , the authoritarian, right-wing government that presided over and controlled Portugal...
's União Nacional
National Union (Portugal)
The National Union was the only legal political party in Portugal for most of the period of the Estado Novo, a right-wing dictatorship dominated by António de Oliveira Salazar....
party. However, de Mello's independent status brought him into disfavour with Salazar, and his speeches in the National Assembly were censored. Initially, de Mello was staunchly pro-Portuguese and believed that Goa should remain under the Portuguese Empire
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...
. In November 1946, at a National Assembly
Assembly of the Republic
The Assembly of the Republic is the Portuguese parliament. It is located in a historical building in Lisbon, referred to as Palácio de São Bento, the site of an old Benedictine monastery...
meeting at 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...
, he denounced the unrest in Goa as the handiwork of a few "Fifth Column
Fifth Column
Fifth Column was a Canadian all-women experimental post-punk band from Toronto, which came about during the early 1980s. They took the name Fifth Column after a military manoeuvre by Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War, in which nationalist insurrectionists within besieged Republican...
ists and Nazis, and intellectuals educated in central Europe and fanatics who had failed in life, who preach the absorption of Goa and foment hatred of the Portuguese nation."
He worked tirelessly for the repeal of the discriminatory Portuguese Colonial Act of 1930
Portuguese Colonial Act
In 1930 Dr. António de Oliveira Salazar became a dictator of Portugal. He was the architect of the first highly racist Portuguese Colonial Act, which discriminated against Portuguese India, differentiating them from the metropolitan Portuguese people. Because of this act the Portuguese Indians...
, which had previously relegated non-Portuguese citizens to second-class status in the Empire. The repeal of this discriminatory act was unanimously approved by the National Assembly in 1950. With the repeal of the act granted, de Mello now began to advocate independence for the Portuguese Indian colonies of Goa, Daman and Diu, which would govern itself as a separate national entity, but within the Portuguese Commonwealth
Commonwealth
Commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has sometimes been synonymous with "republic."More recently it has been used for fraternal associations of some sovereign nations...
. This put him at further odds with the ruling Estado Novo regime, which considered their Indian colonies to be an integral part of Portugal and dismissed any ideas of independence.
Last years
After retiring to Goa, de Mello was not put up as candidate for re-election through a political manoeuvre of the Salazar's single party regime. In 1950, when the Fifth International Congress of Microbiology was to take place in PetropolisPetrópolis
Petrópolis , also known as The Imperial City of Brazil, is a town in the state of Rio de Janeiro, about 65 km from the city of Rio de Janeiro....
, Brazil, de Mello who had expected to be nominated as the delegate of Portugal, found out to his surprise that Salazar had instead appointed another delegation without him. When this came to be known, the Brazilian Government invited him, providing for his travel and stay.
Finding himself under increased political persecution by Salazar's government in Goa, de Mello emigrated with his wife to Brazil in 1951, where three of their children were already settled. He settled down in Sao Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
, where he continued his research in the field of Protozoa, in the intestines of termites. He discovered various new species there which he dedicated to his new country. He gave lectures and conferences in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
and Sao Paulo and was invited to organise the section of protozoology
Protozoology
Protozoology is the study of protozoa, the "animal-like" protists. This term has become dated as our understanding of the evolutionary relationships of the eukaryota has improved....
at the Instituto Ezequiel Dias in Belo Horizonte
Belo Horizonte
Belo Horizonte is the capital of and largest city in the state of Minas Gerais, located in the southeastern region of Brazil. It is the third largest metropolitan area in the country...
. de Mello died in Sao Paulo of lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
on 9 January 1955, aged 67. His last scientific paper, Memorias do Instituto Ezequiel Dias (Memoirs of the Ezequiel Dias Institute) was published in February 1955, a month after his death.
Personal life
de Mello was married twice. His first wife was Marie Eugenie Caillat, an aristocratic Swiss from GenevaGeneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, who after marriage moved with him to Panjim. Eugenie was the first person to translate the works of Rabindranath Tagore into French. She died in 1921 from complications brought on by the Spanish flu
Spanish flu
The 1918 flu pandemic was an influenza pandemic, and the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus . It was an unusually severe and deadly pandemic that spread across the world. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin...
virus in Porto. The couple did not have any children.
On 15 September 1923, de Mello married his second wife Hedwig Bachmann, a young Swiss school teacher from Diessenhofen
Diessenhofen
Diessenhofen is a municipality in Frauenfeld District in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland.-History:Diessenhofen is first mentioned in 757 as Deozincova. In 2000, the village of Willisdorf was incorporated into the municipality...
. They had six children: Alfredo, Eugeήia, Victor, Fransisco Paulo, Cristina and Margarida.
Hedwig authored a book entitled Von der Seele der Indischen Frau (Tipografia Rangel, Goa, 1941) published also in translation, On the soul of the Indian women. The book is a psycho-sociological study of Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
traditions as interpreted from proverbs and the impact of Aryan
Aryan
Aryan is an English language loanword derived from Sanskrit ārya and denoting variously*In scholarly usage:**Indo-Iranian languages *in dated usage:**the Indo-European languages more generally and their speakers...
and Dravidian
Dravidian peoples
Dravidian peoples is a term used to refer to the diverse groups of people who natively speak languages belonging to the Dravidian language family. Populations of speakers of around 220 million are found mostly in Southern India. Other Dravidian people are found in parts of central India, Sri Lanka,...
civilizations. One of his sons, Alfredo Bachmann de Mello (1924–2010) was a well-known travel writer
Travel writing
Travel writing is a genre that has, as its focus, accounts of real or imaginary places. The genre encompasses a number of styles that may range from the documentary to the evocative, from literary to journalistic, and from the humorous to the serious....
and memoirist who authored an auto-biography, From Goa to Patagonia: memoirs spanning times and spaces. Another son, Victor Froilano Bachmann de Mello (1927–2009) was a world-renowned geotechnical engineer
Geotechnical engineering
Geotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering behavior of earth materials. Geotechnical engineering is important in civil engineering, but is also used by military, mining, petroleum, or any other engineering concerned with construction on or in the ground...
.
Malaria
- Contribution to the study of Malaria in Goa, All India Sanitary Conference, Lucknow, 1914.
- Profilaxia malrica nas povoacoes rurais das Novas Conquistas, Primeira Conferencia Sanitaria de Goa, Panjim, 1914. Also in Boletim Geral de Medecina e Farmacia, Nova Goa, 1914.
- Alguns problemas sobre a malaria em Goa, Ibid., 1914.
- Rapport sur les resultats du traitement des divers etats du paludisme par la Smalarina du Prof. Cremonese, "Transactions of the VII Congress of the Far East Association of Tropical Medicine", Calcutta, 1928.
- Indicacoes do emprego da plasmoquina na terapeutica e profilaxia da malaria, Boletim Geral de Medecina e Farmacia, Panjim, 1929.
- Sur l'emploi de la plasmoquine dans le traitement du paludisme, Presse Medicale, Paris, September, 1929.
- Sur une mthode pour delimiter l'tendue des splenomegalies et enregistrer d'une faon prcise leurs oscillations ulterieures, Bulletin Soc. Pathologie Exotique, Paris, 1929.
- O Fomento das Novas Conquistas e suas relaoes com os problemas de assitencia e saneamento, Terciero Congresso Colonial Nacional, Lisbon 1930. Also in Boletim Geral de Medecina e Farmacia, Nova Goa 1930.
- La plasmoquination en masse des localits malariennes et ses resultats prophylactiques, Bulletin Soc. Pathologie Exotique Paris, June 1931.
- A scheme for malarial sanitation in rural areas, The Antiseptic, Madras, September 1933.
- Premiere Campagne Antimalarienne active E0 Goa, Arquivo da Escola Medico Cirugica, Nova Goa, Seria B, 1934.
- Nota final sobre a presente campana anti-palustre. - Ibid, 1934.
- On the mass chimiprophylaxy of malarial areas and its practical results, Medicina, Lisbon, 1935.
- Sobre a Chimiprofilaxia das localidades malricas e seus resultados praticos aps dois anos de experiencia pessoal, Jornadas Medicas Galaico-Portuguesas, Orense, 1935. Also in Portugal Medico, Poro, May 1936.
- Experimental studies on the treatment of malarial splenomgalies by the method of Ascoli, South Africa Medical Journal, November 1938. Also in the Compt Rendues du Congres de 1st South Africa Medical Association, Lourenco Marques, 1939.
- Experiences cliniques sur le traitement des splenomgalies palustres par la mthode d'Ascoli, A Medecina Contemporanea, Lisbon, November 1938.
- La campagne antimalarienne dans les regions rurales de e Portugaise, Rivista Malariologia, Rome, 1938.
- O problema da endemia malarica na India Portuguesa, Clinica, Higiene e Hidrologia, Lisbon, 1936.
- Treatment of malaria with special reference to the chemoprophylaxis of malaria in Portuguese India, South African Medical Journal, December 1938. Also in O Medico, Nova Goa, 1939.
- Resultats de 5 ans d'experience personelle sur la prophylaxie quinosynthtique des regions a haute endmicit palustre, Acta Conventius Tertii de Tropicis ut que Malaria Morbis (Congress of Amsterdam, 1938).
- A orientaao da campanha antimalE1rica nas Novas Conquistas , seus resultados practicos e a liao que delas deriva para a nossa conducta futura, A Medecina Contemporanea, Lisbon, August 1937, Also in Boletim Geral de Medecina e Farmacia, Nova Goa, 1938.
Tuberculosis
- Estado Actual da Ciencia sobre a tuberculose pulmonar, Boletim Geral de Medecina e Farmacia, Nova Goa, 1912.
- Une nouvelle conception sur le mode d'action des tuberculines, Ibid, 1913.
- Um caso de antracose pulmonar simulando a tuberculose, Ibid, 1917.
- Un programe a suivre dans la declaration obligatoire de la tuberculose a l'Inde Portugaise, Revue d'hygiene et police Sanitaire, Paris, 1914.
- Conferencia Provincial sobre a Tuberculose, Boletim Geral de Medecina e Farmacia, Nova Goa, 1934.
Leprosy
- Traitement de la lepre, Presse Medicale, Paris, 1921.
- Estado actual de Quimiterapia antileprosa, A Medecina Ibera, Madrid, 1925.
- Breves consideraoes sobre o estado actul da Quimioterapia anti-leprosa (com impressoes clinicas pessoais sobre algumas das medicaoes preconizadas)-- communicated to the Congreso Luso Espanhol meeting in Coimbra, Boletim Geral de Medecina e Farmacia, Nova Goa, 1925.
- Etat actuel de chimiotherapie antilepreuse, Presse Medicale, Paris, 1925.
- Primeira Conferencia da Lepra na India Portuguesa, Arquivos Indo Portugueses de Medicina e Historia Natural, Vol IV, 1927.
- Wie soll die Lepra bekampft werden, Die Medizin Welt, Berlin, October 1928.
- Une croisade internationale, combattant la Lepre, simultanement dans tous les pays, pourrait eteindre ce fleau en quelques decades, Cogres de Medicine Tropicale du Caire, 1928.
- Le probleme de la lepre dans l'Inde Portugaise, Revue D'hygeine et de Medicine Preventive NBA V, Paris, 1931
- Treatment of Leprosy by intravenous injections of pure Chaulmogra oil, Medical Digest, Bombay, August 1935.
- A campanha anti leprosa na India Portuguesa, Arquivo da Escola Medico Cirugica, Nova Goa, Serie B, 1915.
- Traitement de la lepre d'apres 3 ans d'experience personelle, XI Congres International de Dermatologie de Budapest, 1935
- Como eu trato os meus leprosos(conclusoes baseadas em 3 anos de experiencias na Leprosaria Central de Macasana), Jornadas Medicas Galaico-Portuguesas, Orense, 1935. Also in Portugal Medico, Porto, 1936.
- Leprosaria Central de Goa (Relatorio), Arquivo da Escola Medico Cirugica, Nova Goa, Serie B, 1937
- Traitement et guerison de la Lepre, II Semaine Medicale Internationale, Montreux, 1935.
- O problema da Lepra. Como se deve agir e como eu agi na nossa India - Lecture in the Liga da Profilaxia Social, Porto, Volume das Conferencias, 1939. Also in Boletim Geral de Medecina e Farmacia, Nova Goa, 1938.