Scientist of the Day - Manuel de Castro Silva
Parasitic infusoia Littorina, painting by Manuel de Castro Silva, detail of plate, Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, vol. 3, plate 9, 1911 (Linda Hall Library)
Manuel de Castro Silva, a Brazilian scientific illustrator, died Mar. 12, 1934, at a relatively young age; we don’t know when he was born. He first appeared on the historical scene in 1909, when he illustrated an article by Carlos Chagas on a newly discovered trypanosome hosted by a South American bug that causes a debilitating disease in humans, now called Chagas' disease. We showed a detail of Castro Silva's painting of the vector, the Benchuca bug, in a post on Chagas; we show here the entire plate (third image).
Obituary for Manuel de Castro Silva, with portrait photo, Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, vol. 28, inse before p. 1 of no. 4, 1934 (Linda Hall Library)
Benchuca bug, painting by Manuel de Castro Silva, Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, vol. 1, plate 9, 1909 (Linda Hall Library)
Chagas's article, and Castro Silvia's painting, appeared in the first volume of a new journal published by a new laboratory, the Memorias of the Oswaldo Cruz Instituto in Rio de Janeiro. Cruz was the leading epidemiologist in Brazil, if not all of South America, and we wrote a post on him once. Cruz must have liked the artwork of Castro Silva, for the artist was soon elevated to the position of head illustrator for the Institute, and his paintings continued to adorn the Memorias for over 20 Years.
Muscle issue infected by trypanosomes, painting by Manuel de Castro Silva, Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, vol. 3, plate 14, 1909 (Linda Hall Library)
Trypanosome Echinostomium, painting by Manuel de Castro Silva, Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, vol. 1, plate 5, 1909 (Linda Hall Library)
Signature of Manuel de Castro Silva, detail of image just above, painting by Manuel de Castro Silva, Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, vol. 1, plate 5, 1909 (Linda Hall Library)
Castro Silva’s specialty seems to have been human parasites (a main interest of the Institute as well), so he was apparently comfortable with a microscope. We show here some of the plates that appealed to me as I leafed through the volumes of our set. In his first year, Castro Silva adopted a stylish signature that he later gave up, or was asked to mute, but which I like, and of which I show a detail (sixth image).
A helminth, Styphlodora, painting by Manuel de Castro Silva, Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, vol. 3, plate 1, 1909 (Linda Hall Library)
Various flies in the genera Chrysops and Esenbeckia, painting by Manuel de Castro Silva, Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, vol. 3, plate 4, 1909 (Linda Hall Library)
I probably know less about Castro Silva than any other subject in this series. There is nothing about him in the Portuguese Wikimedia, which surprised me; the only biographical info I could find was a one-page obituary that appeared in the Memorias just after his death in 1934 (second image). It did supply a portrait photo, and a death date, both of which were most welcome, but little else. His paintings, however, speak volumes about his talent.
William B. Ashworth, Jr., Consultant for the History of Science, Linda Hall Library and Associate Professor emeritus, Department of History, University of Missouri-Kansas City. Comments or corrections are welcome; please direct to ashworthw@umkc.edu.
