The objective of this study is to describe the relationship between the educational proposals of an important intellectual, Manoel Bonfim, and the thought of hygienists. The hypothesis is that the analysis of the Brazilian people, built by Bonfim, was similar to the ideals of sanitarians. To conduct the study a historical research was carried out, delimited by Manoel Bonfim's books. It was concluded that the mentality of this intellectual, as the hygienists', advocated a state intervention in the field of Health and Education. According to Bonfim, popular education was fundamental to the development of the country, a common argument in his time, which was later consolidated in the Brazilian social thought after the 1930's.
History; Education; Health; Brazil