João Baptista de Lacerda

Who was João Baptista de Lacerda?

João Batista de Lacerda, was a physician and one of the pioneer Brazilian biomedical scientists in the fields of experimental physiology and pharmacology.

He graduated in medicine in the medical school of Rio de Janeiro and returned to Campos to open a private practice. Soon after, he was invited by the Minister of Agriculture of the Second Empire to be the associate director of the section of anthropology, zoology and paleontology of the recently created National Museum of Natural History of Rio de Janeiro, by Emperor D. Pedro II. Later, he assumed also the associate directorship of the Laboratory of Experimental Physiology, under the French physiologist Louis Couty, who had been invited to the post. In this position, Lacerda carried out successfully a number of experimental investigations on curare and the poisons of Brazilian snakes, frogs and lizards. One of his important discoveries was the helpful effect of potassium permanganate to treat snake bites. In anthropology he was one of the first to study human fossil remains in Brazil and was awarded the bronze medal of the Anthropological Exhibit of Paris in 1978.