Page 128 - Textos de Matemática Vol. 34

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JAIME CARVALHO E SILVA
In particular he will show the reason, with the Ancients, al- though they knew the Fundamental Rules of Analysis, and being endowed of such a big skill, have not extracted from it its amazing advantages, the Moderns have discovered; lacking the Instrument of Analysis, that Algebra is.
(2)
These examples show that the mathematics studies at the University of Coimbra developed the necessary tools for a progress in the mathematics studies in Portugal, furnishing a wide culture in the basis of pure mathematics and its applications to numerous areas (enough for a mathematician to be considered a “civil or military engineer”), giving the tools for an autonomous work.
5. Conclusion
The course of Mathematics had few students; most students of the Mathematics disciplines were students from the Natural Philosophy Faculty and the Medical Faculty that had to do some of the mathematics disciplines as part of their courses (immediately after 1772 also the students from Law and Theology had to do the Geometry discipline as part of their courses). One reason for this was the difficulty to find jobs that were “natural” to mathematicians, although some references to this were made in the 1772 Statutes. To try to make things clearer, the University Reform of 1836 established that mathematicians should be offered
“all the jobs and occupations in which it is required the qualifica- tion of civil or military engineer, and also for the different posts of the army or the navy, and also for all the jobs of the Treasury; and if equally prepared, mathematics graduates should have the preference.
This and other measures had not a big effect, and certainly the many political instabilities in Portugal made it difficult for the scientific studies to progress fully, but by the end of the 19th century the number of students in the Mathematics Faculty was similar to the other Faculties (except Law that traditionally had more students than the others (see [2]). Most mathematics graduates would find teaching jobs in the University and other higher education schools (like Military Schools); some became prominent in jobs related to topographical works.
From what was briefly discussed here, we can conclude that, at least in the second part of the 19th century, the mathematics studies in the University of Coimbra attained a level of a certain quality. This level would continue to grow till the explosion of mathematical activity in the 4th decade of the 20th century (see [4]).