The naturalist profile of the Enlightened José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva has been few explored by historiography. He had an active part in the Portuguese Enlightenment, actuating in many Research and Teaching Institutions. At the Lisbon Royal Academy of Science he was one of the distinctive members, publishing innumerable scientific memoir. In the field of Chemistry, is relevant the document about the method for disinfecting the letters came from foreign countries (1815), elaborated by a Committee of three members: José Bonifácio, Francisco Elias Rodrigues da Silveira e Luiz de Siqueira Oliva. In this paper, they defended the using of oxymuriatic gas (archaic name of the chlorine gas) as the most efficient antiseptic against "the miasmas of the plague and yellow fever" instead of vinegar.
José Bonifácio; history of science; history of chemistry; Portuguese history; Lisbon Royal Academy of Science