Ignacio Calvo Cárdenas

Son of one of those legendary families of Cuba, he was a worthy heir to the illustrious surnames Calvo and Herrera, Cárdenas and Montalvo: names that without great effort bring to our mind the titles of Creole nobility, linked by the history of their wealth and social representation, in the Counts of Fernandina, of San Fernando, of the Reunión of Cuba, of Casa Bayona, in the Marquises of Calderón, of Real Socorro, of the Real Proclamación, of la Gratitud, of Almendares, of Casa Calvo and Arcas, with all of whom his progenitors were related.

Born in opulence, educated from childhood in an atmosphere of legitimate pride in his distinguished lineage, surrounded continually by all those natural flatteries of a fortunate member of the aristocracy, it was surprising, but irrefutable testimony to his spiritual greatness, his true and innate nobility, that in him there developed such a simple, straightforward, charitable character, that discretion proof against all trials, naturally having those conditions of life cooperated to produce, among other virtues, that loyalty which his friends and work companions were so many times able to verify and that indisputable and evident honesty in his personal judgments and in his medical-legal opinions. Doctor Calvo was noble, then, in truth, in fact and by law.

The city of La Habana was his birthplace and there he also paid tribute to Nature, after a brief but honorable and fruitful life. His early years passed undoubtedly like those of other young contemporaries of his same social sphere, amid flattery, affection and prosperity, all things most apt to forge that sweet and peaceful character that later was the charm of friends and strangers alike; he entered the Colegio de Delgado, then one of the most renowned educational institutions, as a worthy rival of "El Salvador" which, located in the same neighborhood of the city, was the origin of so many worthy Cubans. Later at the Instituto de La Habana he continued his studies until obtaining the desired title of Bachelor, when he was scarcely 16 years of age.

A feeling of dignity that ennobled him did not allow him to bear the unjust affront of a violent and thoughtless professor, and he abandoned the Cuban university halls and went to Europe with the object of finishing his studies.

In the year 1887 Ignacio Calvo received his degree as a physician from the University of Barcelona, returning a short time later to Cuba and devoting himself fully to the always ungrateful exercise of this profession.

He struggled as a good man, first in the countryside and later in La Habana, in pursuit of other laurels and other titles that his ancestors could not bequeath to him and with success crowning his efforts from his first attempts, his colleagues soon recognized that there had come among them one who, by his personality, his scientific preparation, his most exemplary conduct, would merit the highest regard of the Cuban medical profession.

Not many years passed before his natural sympathy and the undisputed merits and prestige he enjoyed allowed him to win the heart of a beautiful and noble lady, and in 1891 Doctor Calvo and his worthy wife, Señora María Antonia Silva y Alfonso, united their destinies and constituted that home, source of all happiness and temple of all virtues. From this union there remains a daughter who, as was to be expected, inherited the beauty, virtues, intelligence and good judgment of her parents.

But Doctor Calvo's scientific life truly began in the year 1895: at that time, without doubt his devotion to truth and his natural inclination toward the study of those branches of medicine that least depend on speculation and are more based on experimental verification, led him to the Laboratory of the Crónica Médico-Quirúrgica of La Habana. There, the generosity of Doctor Santos Fernández, the love he has always shown for the progress of medical sciences, had opened a research center to which many colleagues already resorted in search of that aid, sometimes indispensable, which the microscope provides to clinical practice. Doctor Calvo himself says: "from my entry into the Laboratory my vocation was fixed forever."

"It was," he says, "like a new atmosphere that one breathed in the Laboratory; there not only did I feel attracted by the frank and affectionate reception, born of the spirit of noble and healthy democracy that its kind Director and the professors of the different sections imparted to it, but also by the multitude of interesting scientific problems that were debated in speculative terms or that were subjected to experimentation by the crucible, the test tube or the stage of the microscope. Very soon the attraction that the Laboratory's personnel exercised on me was converted into a feeling of friendship that time has strengthened."

To that laboratory of Doctor Santos Fernández, Mecca of all those interested in modern research, the only institution where it was possible to resort to those who were not satisfied with the classical verdict of magister dixit.

Doctor Calvo's scientific life begins with his entry into the Laboratory, because before that date he had published only two contributions to medicine: the first "Syncopal and hemorrhagic typhoid-malarial fever" is the result of long and painful clinical observation; it is a conscientious work that undoubtedly tested his abilities as a physician and as a friend; the second, "Non-diphtheritic angina treated with antidiphtheritic serum from the Bacteriological Laboratory," reveals his inclination to utilize in clinical practice the products of bacteriology and presents in a clear manner the fact recognized today by all of the beneficial influence of antidiphtheritic serum on catarrhal anginas or at least non-diphtheritic ones.

Of the thirty-odd works published by Doctor Calvo, nineteen are exclusively his work; five appear in collaboration with Doctor Dávalos, Cuba's first bacteriologist, whom Calvo called his "professor and brother"; five in collaboration with his colleagues from the National Laboratory, Doctors Venero and Fernández, and one with Doctor Cartaya.

A quick glance at Doctor Calvo's bibliography makes it very clear his indisputable erudition and the vast field that his knowledge encompassed, for otherwise it would not be explained how in his brief life he could treat with the recognized competence that he did, matters of bacteriology, of medical jurisprudence, of hygiene, of medical clinic, of therapeutics, etc., and in those writings are proven in evident manner his constant industriousness, his dedication to study, his conditions as a perspicacious observer and his mastery of laboratory technology.

Another successful effort is what Doctor Calvo carried out and details in his contribution entitled "Bacteriological analysis of water from a well etc." and which resulted in the finding, for the first time in Cuba, of the typhoid fever bacillus in waters that served for domestic purposes.

The other work that merits special mention is the one he called "Pyocyanotic angina"; it is a communication to the Academy of Sciences and tends mainly to draw attention to the importance of bacteriological diagnosis in pseudo-membranous anginas: but the clear and precise exposition, the detailed account of all the circumstances of the case and of the lengthy procedures by means of which he carried out the demonstration, make of that work a masterpiece, a true and complete lesson about the pyocyanic bacillus. If in so many other writings Doctor Calvo had not demonstrated his very special capacity for this class of investigations, that one alone would have sufficed for the title of bacteriologist to be awarded to him based on it.

As medical inspector during the first Intervention and later in the Municipal Laboratory, Doctor Calvo demonstrated his faculties as a scientific man and of upright judgment. Furthermore, without receiving any remuneration, how many years did he not serve as physician of the Dispensary for Children "La Caridad" and in the bosom of the Junta de Educación of La Habana?

It is difficult to present a more complete and meritorious service record to aspire to the honorable standing of good patriot.

Day and night, at all hours, his professional services were at the disposal of his colleagues; many families of these have received his accurate guidance and his affectionate attentions, Doctor Calvo enjoying the enviable privilege that so many physicians would place their confidence in him, in recognition of his special conditions as an expert clinician.

On the 18th of last February, he suffered a small puncture, almost imperceptible, from the scalpel that had served him to drain an abscess. In a few hours, despite having proceeded to the immediate disinfection of the wound, symptoms of septicemia appeared which rapidly worsened his condition. Finally, nine days later, his body's natural defenses completely exhausted, he had to succumb to the terrible infection.

He died a victim of professional duty.