Page:Henrique Dumont - how a traumatic brain injury contributed to the development of the airplane.pdf/1

HISTORICAL NOTE https://doi.org/10.1590/0004-282X20180149

ABSTRACT The life and death of Henrique Dumont (1832-1892) is little known, being usually remembered as Alberto Santos-Dumont's father. This report describes the history of this Brazilian engineer, also known as the King of Coffee, who achieved enormous business success and fortune in the late nineteenth century. In 1890, during the inspection of his farm, the world's largest coffee plantation at that time, he fell from a carriage, which left him a hemiplegic. This forced him to sell the farm and move to France for treatment. Before his death two years later, he gave his 18-year-old son bits of advice, and distributed his inheritance, which allowed Alberto to study in Paris and finance his experiments that would culminate in the development of the airplane. The diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities are also discussed.

Keywords: History; medical history taking; craniocerebral trauma; brain injuries, traumatic; trauma, nervous system

RESUMO

A vida e especialmente a morte do brasileiro Henrique Dumont (1832-1892) são pouco conhecidas, sendo geralmente lembrado como pai de Alberto Santos Dumont. Relatamos a história deste engenheiro que obteve enorme sucesso empresarial no final do século XIX, sendo denominado Rei do Café. Em 1890, durante a inspeção da sua fazenda, maior cafeicultura do mundo na época, caiu da charrete e ficou hemiplégico. Isso o fez vender a fazenda e buscar tratamento na França, trazendo o primeiro automóvel do Brasil ao retornar. Antes de morrer dois anos após o acidente, deu valorosos conselhos e distribuiu sua herança ao filho Alberto, então com dezoito anos de idade, que pôde assim estudar em Paris e financiar seus experimentos que culminariam no desenvolvimento do avião. São discutidas e contemporizadas as possibilidades diagnósticas e terapêuticas relacionadas ao déficit neurológico.

Palavras-chave: História; anamnese; traumatismos craniocerebrais; lesões encefálicas traumáticas; traumatismos do sistema nervoso

While the story of Alberto Santos-Dumont and his inventions are relatively well studied, the life — and especially the death — of his father, Henrique Dumont, is little known. This report describes the latter's successful trajectory, which gave stability to his son, enabling him to study and develop the airplane.

Biography Henrique Honoré Dumont was born on July 20, 1832, the second of three children, in the current city of Diamantina, Minas Gerais, Brazil—the world's largest diamond producer at that time. He was the son of Eufhrazie Françoise Honorée and François Honoré Felix Dumont, who were married in France, and moved to Brazil in 1828, looking for precious stones for family jewelry. With the discovery of diamonds in South Africa, prices fell, hurting the business, and François, possibly shaken emotionally, got sick and died young in 1842. Henrique's godfather sent him to the School of Arts and Crafts in Paris, the equivalent of the Faculty of Engineering, where he graduated at age 21 (Figure 1).

Returning to Brazil, Henrique worked in Ouro Preto and on September 6, 1856, married Francisca de Paula Santos, the daughter of a famous nobleman. On June 25, Zeferino Demartini Jr. ORCID - SuperTinyIcons.svg https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0683-5418 Correspondence: Zeferino Demartini Jr.; Hospital Universitário Cajuru – PUCPR, Departamento de Neurocirurgia; Avenida São José, 300; 80050-350 Curitiba PR, Brasil; E-mail: demartiniz@gmail.com Conflict of interest: There is no conflict of interest to declare. Received 24 June 2018; Accepted 29 August 2018. 60