For the residents of Imperial Brazil's vast rural regions, Dr. Chernoviz's popular medical manuals were vital in disseminating knowledge and practices approved by official medical institutions. With most of the Brazilian population living in areas bereft of doctors, these books were a much more evident presence than contact with physicians, who for the most part lived in the country's major urban centers. The works thus contributed to the academic instruction of countless lay practitioners: slave owners, curandeiros, apothecaries, and a variety of other people that the doctors called "charlatans." Written for easy reading, the manuals provided detailed descriptions of diseases and recommended what advice and medicine should be dispensed in each case. Dr. Chernoviz indicated products that were easy to prepare and unarguably useful within the domestic economy as well.
Brazil; popular medicine; medical manuals; Dr. Chernoviz