“Hypnotics” in the metropolis: Africans in the Colonial Hospital of Lisbon during the early twentieth century

Abstract At the start of the twentieth century, some Portuguese physicians traveled to Africa to study sleeping sickness (African trypanosomiasis). One was Ayres Kopke, a member of the first medical mission to Portuguese West Africa and professor at the School of Tropical Medicine. After returning to Lisbon, Kopke continued his research, which included observation of patients brought to the metropolis. Starting in 1903, health departments in the colonies were responsible for sending patients with certain exotic diseases to the Colonial Hospital of Lisbon. Based on documents from this hospital including photographs of patients (who at that time were called “hypnotics”), this article discusses the importance of human experiments in Lisbon for advances in tropical medicine during the colonial period.

摘要：二十世纪初，部分葡萄牙医师赴非洲开展昏睡病（African trypanosomiasis）的研究工作。其中一位学者为艾雷斯·科普克（Ayres Kopke），他既是首批赴葡属西非的医疗使团成员，同时任教于热带医学院。返回里斯本后，科普克继续开展研究，其后续工作涵盖对转运至首都里斯本的患者开展临床观察。自1903年起，各殖民地卫生部门需将罹患特定外来传染病的患者移送至里斯本殖民医院。本文依托该医院留存的相关文献资料（包括彼时被称为"嗜睡者"的患者影像），探讨了殖民时期里斯本开展的人体实验对热带医学发展的重要价值。