Abstract
In this work, we investigate the way Psychiatry and the Legal Medicine of the beginning of 20th Century in Brazil employed the psychoanalitical theory, combining it to hygiene and eugenic principles, and binding it firmly to an educational and civilizatory project for the nation. We examine the works of two men – Afrânio Peixoto e Julio Pires Porto-Carrero – who took part on the debate over a project for the Brazilian nation in the beginning of the century who were, at once, enthusiasts of the Freudian theory and of the need of spreading the Psychoanalytical knowledge.