Elevated to the position of protagonist of the celebrations of the bicentennial of the Independence of Brazil, the heart of Dom Pedro 1º, currently in restricted exhibition in Brasília, has also been generating comments for its swollen and rounded aspect: very different from a “fresh” organ.
As it is a material preserved for almost 188 years, alterations are considered normal, but the swelling of the organ intrigues Brazilian scientists who have dedicated themselves for more than a decade to the study of the remains of the former emperor.
Professor at the pathology department at the USP School of Medicine, doctor Carlos Augusto Gonçalves Pasqualucci says he suspects that the increase in volume may be related to the substances used to preserve the relic.
Dom Pedro I died of tuberculosis in September 1834: more than two decades before the discovery of formaldehyde. It is believed that the Portuguese initially used a substance known as spirit of wine, produced from the drink.
“There is no specific information about what liquid the heart is soaked in”, says Pasqualucci, noting that some conservative substances can end up promoting a little dilation of the organs.
“Formaldehyde doesn’t usually do that. It does the fixing, but it usually doesn’t increase. We have a lot of experience here. [na USP]with several organs conditioned in formaldehyde for more than 70 or 80 years, and the pieces do not change in size”, he adds.
The most likely scenario is that the heart was already removed during the autopsy performed on the monarch, when the organ was separated for preservation.
In 2015, the professor traveled to the city of Porto with his doctoral student, forensic anthropologist Valdirene Ambiel, to propose an in-depth scientific analysis of the heart and the liquid in which it is immersed. The idea was to carry out a study led by Portuguese researchers, with the participation of Brazilians. The project, however, was not approved.
“Our first interest was to collect an aliquot of the fluid where the heart is preserved. The second was to do a tomography of that organ and, the third, if all went well, was to do a needle biopsy, removing a truly tiny fragment of the heart to analyze from a microscopic point of view”, details Pasqualucci.
The exact composition of the liquid in which the material is immersed, as well as the documentation of any changes made over the years, was not disclosed by the guardians of the organ. The researchers even searched the historical archives of the Torre o Tombo, in Lisbon, but they also did not find this information.
The first scientist to study the remains of Dom Pedro and his wives, Amélia and Leopoldina, anthropologist Valdirene Ambiel says she is willing to carry out a study of the real heart, always together with the Portuguese.
“It would also be important to bring the aspect of the Portuguese perspective to Brazil, because many researches are carried out separately. And we have here an agency that has a whole historical symbology for both countries”, he says, stressing that the idea was never to bring relic to São Paulo, but to study it in Portugal.
Ambiel’s work in 2012 — which involved a detailed analysis of the emperor’s bones — helped quell speculation that the heart was, in fact, that of some animal. The rumors arose precisely because of the more dilated appearance of the organ.
The researcher identified that the ribs on the left side of the monarch’s body had been sawed off, quite possibly for the removal of the heart.
Due to its fragility, the organ has been kept under very restricted access in the church of Lapa, normally kept under lock and key. Because of the temporary loan to Brazil, the Porto City Council (equivalent to the city hall) organized an unprecedented exhibition of the heart of d. Pedro 1º last weekend.
After the 20-day season in Brazil, the heart will again be exposed to the public on September 10 and 11. Porto Mayor Rui Moreira declared this week that he intends to expose the monarch’s heart every five years.
A forensic expert from Portugal, doctor Carlos Durão highlights the importance of thinking about all the components of organ preservation.
“Exposure to heat and light damage pieces, for the same reason that paintings, among other museum pieces, should not be exposed to the sun or heat. The image we have of a pharmaceutical or science laboratory is of a room full of of flasks with dark glasses, precisely to avoid chemical processes induced by heat by exposure to strong natural light, which favor chemical reactions”, he says.
Although the remains of Dom Pedro 1º, known in Portugal as Dom Pedro 4º, are in Brazil, his heart was kept in Porto at the request of the monarch himself. The decision was an acknowledgment of the city’s importance in the fight he waged against the absolutist troops of his younger brother, d. Miguel, for the throne of Portugal. Under an intense siege for more than a year, the city resisted and was crucial to the victory of Pedro 1º. He would die of tuberculosis months after the end of the conflict, in September 1834, at the age of 35, in the same room in the Queluz palace where he was born.
