[A giant field of death: medical and scientific controversies about the cholera morbus epidemic of 1855].

The article examines the cholera morbus epidemic that afflicted the province of Pernambuco, Brazil, in 1855, focusing on the medical and scientific controversies about how the disease spread, which split medical opinion into two camps: contagion and infection. Documents and reports produced by the Society of Medicine of Pernambuco and the General Public Health Board were analyzed, based on which it was possible to describe the official medical and sanitation program, involving engineers, scientists, and physicians, designed to plan a salubrious city - a model of civilization that combined redeveloping the urban space and disseminating new habits amongst the local people. It is essentially an exercise in observing a science and a society as they take shape.