[Escola Tropicalista Baiana (Bahia Tropical School): the mystical origin of tropical medicine in Brazil].

This article aims at presenting the polemic current views on the genesis of tropical medicine in Brazil, by analyzing medical agents, concepts and procedures during the 18th century, which are generally understood as opposed to the institutionalization of this field of studies. It is our objective to revise the rigid boundaries between the pre-scientific and the scientific periods medical practice underwent during the Empire.