The topics mentioned previously show very clearly the quality of the education Alfredo da Silva received when he was a student at the Industrial and Commercial Institute of Lisbon, and in a certain manner, the influence of the chemists. In our view its exceptional character was also proven; not even the previous alterations in the organization of commercial education, nor even the subsequent reform in 1891 (allowed such impressive extension of the physical-natural scientific component and their applications , to that included in the study plans of the reform of Emidio Navarro of 1886/88, in particular that of the Higher Education Course of Commerce. The inclusion of the Chemistry subjects, the 9th - Mineral and Organic Chemistry; Chemical Analysis; and the 10th subject - Chemical Technology in the curriculum of this course (the 10th rather fleeting, just like the course itself; in fact, the new "superior" commercial course reform of João Franco, 8th of October 1891 did not include Chemical Technology), is in our view the corollary of this character of exception. But, not only, also extraordinary was the approximation between commercial and industrial education, which made the transition between the job of a business man and that of Chemical factory director easier ( particularly notable in the case of Alfredo da Silva who conciliated both careers with visible success), an aspect enhanced by the fact that the physical-natural subjects and their applications were "democratically" taught , that is no distinction made between the various professional orientations possible.
Other aspects that reinforce this unique, singular education of Alfredo da Silva are linked to the characteristics of the Portuguese chemical community of the time. Indeed as previously mentioned, never before had so much talent (and so diversified) been so active together on the question of Chemistry in our country, and also involved in showing to the fundamental economic sectors of Portuguese society the advantages of scientific development. However the efficiency of the Portuguese chemists was contradicted by a more or less hybrid character, a sort of impoverishment in relation to the "pure" state, an alleged dispersion of activities that made up the predominant matrix. Professionals with «miserable salaries, that made it impossible for them to dedicate their time exclusively to teaching or scientific work, are chemists only when they teaching the subject, in truth they are doctors, engineers, military officers» and «even amongst the chemistry professors of university level, few are those that can call themselves, ortho-chemists», the other name for them was «analysis machines ». These are some of the affirmations made by the German Hugo Mastbaum in The Chemical Industry and Chemists in Portugal, a short article published in 1904, and a brief description of a foreigner's opinion of a chemist's career in Portugal . The defense of the class was undertaken by the agronomist Luís António Rebelo da Silva and his reply to Mastbaum's article consisted in a very competent testimony on the importance at national level of the activities carried out by Portuguese chemists between the end of the XIX century and the beginning of the XX century.
Some of these chemists, and some of the most notable ones, belonged to the group of lecturers that was responsible for developing science teaching in the Industrial and Commercial Institute of Lisbon. Names already mentioned, such as António Augusto de Aguiar, José Júlio Bettencourt Rodrigues and Virgílio Machado certainly not "ortho-chemists", but who nevertheless did project the value and the image of science well beyond its internal limits. We are also convinced that Alfredo da Silva totally adhered to this call for progressive Science and that the improvement of the individual and his search for dignity would be his line of action and posture whilst he was an industrialist.
Another aspect to add to the list of "notorieties" in the education of Alfredo da Silva is that of the omnipresence of the practical classes. Indeed, and as we already mentioned, the students of the Higher Education Course of Commerce were the ones in the Institute who carried more weight in the practical component, between scientific subjects and the commercial specialty. This applies equally to the Chemistry subjects, which used its own laboratory space (the case of the 9th and 10th subjects), apart from other "eccentricities", never seen before, such as the existence of a teacher specifically to teach French (for the 10th subject - Chemical Technology) and even an assistant (German) to work with the professor in the practical classes of the 9th subject.
Alfredo da Silva was therefore very privileged to be part of a situation that was particularly favourable towards the teaching of the sciences in the context of "technical-professional training", to use modern phraseology. And with a considerable variety of theoretical and practical Chemical subjects in his curriculum, but above all a private subject on industries and chemical processes, ( desideratum never achieved in any other scientific teaching institution, not even in the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Coimbra,) which distinguished him from any other Chemistry student in any other establishment throughout the country, with direct contacts with chemists who obtained their degree in foreign universities (France and Germany) due to the presence of foreigners in the laboratories of the Institute, not to mention the lecturers of the chairs in question, experimenting with Chemistry in a way completely different from those of the "old school" which many respected chemists defended themselves in their classes, he is also a notable case of Chemistry teaching in Portugal during the second half of the 1800's, a notoriety that becomes even more evident the more we begin to perceive the profound effect of his action on the technical management of the chemical industries of the Companhia União Fabril. |
