History of Latin American Dermatology

ROBERTO RAMPOLDI BESTARDOn April 24, 1793, Dr. Antonio Lamella, a resident of Montevideo, was awarded a pensionto devote himself to botanical studies, “because of the many medicinal plants existingin the region” 37 .The expedition of the naturalist Malaspina (1779) recorded over 500 plants in thesoutheast of our country, 50 of which were unknown to Europeans 38 .Dom Pernetty — known as “the curious abbot” — traveled with Captain Bougainville(1767) and gave a minute description of the medicinal plants cultivated in a garden belongingto the residence of a Spanish official (mio-mio, blackberry, amaranth, paico carqueja,guaycurú, charrúa, higuerita, kalawalla). In his chronicles he refers to a MedicalTreatise on American flora published by Nicolás Monardes in the sixteenth century, inwhich there was a report on “a ground mixture of armadillo caparison in a concoctionof sage, which cures venereal diseases and makes thorns stuck anywhere emerge” 39 .Biogeography is the science that establishes and studies the diverse ecological areaspossessing specific features, which has allowed worldwide territorial classifications to becarried out 40 . These so-called phytogeographical areas do not coincide with the politicalborders of the Americas; they are called phytogeographical provinces 41 . TheUruguayense province extends toward Argentina’s Mesopotamia and toward Río Grandedo Sul; it does not correspond to the Paranaense area. Our zone is subsidiary to a humidsubtropical area, with scarce forests in comparison with the areas further north(Paranaense province). Our plants share characteristics with those of neighboring countriesin the same phytogeographical area. Many plants, with great powers of adaptation,are shared by several of these zones.During his exile in Paraguay Artigas, as narrated by A. Ribeiro, cured the ulcers on hislegs with spiny-bur (Acanthospermum australe), known in our territory as agarrabicho oryerba de la oveja. The same author mentions Artigas’ knowledge of medicinal plants 42 .Caula, for his part, quotes the Paraguayan writer Roa Bastos in reference to the requestwhich Dictator Gaspar de Francia made to “old Artigas, who cures with herbs,” tosend him a herb preparation from Caraguatay, to alleviate his ailments; Artigas had acquiredthis and further knowledge through his close links with the customs of the Charrúa42 .During the battles for Independence our Founding Father must doubtlessly haveturned, an infinite number of times, along with his Indians, to those “roadside pharmacies”mentioned by Abella in his work 6 .ROADSIDE PHARMACIESMost of the chronicles agree in stressing the good health of the Charrúa. “A bodilyconstitution and solid health such as most Europeans would envy,” states Dobrizhoffer34 . Azara (1786) wrote, “I have not noticed their suffering either a particular nor theGallic disease and I believe they live longer years than we do” (38).The Charrúa reached extreme old age with less physical deterioration than Europeans;their hair never turned entirely white. Their skin was of a dark color, olive brownas described by D’Orbigny in 1829. In 1833, Dr. Fleurens did an anatomical study of theskin of the Charrúa taken to Paris, stating that it was similar to that of blacks; he madeclear that he referred to identity in histological structure and not in color, and added,“The hair bulb is normal, slightly smaller than that of Europeans; in its upper part it exhibitsa strong accumulation of pigment, the lower part being less pigmented... The stalkis thinner than that of Europeans” 11, 22 .They rubbed their skin with animal fat and “then went out into the sun so it wouldsink in,” wrote Colonel Díaz (1812) in the History of the Republics of the Plate. Tiger(jaguar) fat was employed to cure many of the diseases of the skin: “It was a medicationthat did not fail against worms” since, it was believed, the latter abandoned their cavities398