Pedro Mata y Fontanet

Spanish medical doctor

Pedro Mata y Fontanet (1811-1877) was a Spanish medical doctor referenced by the author Jorge Luis Borges in his work "The Analytical Language of John Wilkins". Mata is cited as having written a book entitled Curso de lengua universal or The Study of Universal Language, which was purportedly written in Buenos Aires in 1886.^[1] Borges' piece on John Wilkins focused on an attempt at creating a universal language.

The calle del Doctor Mata, a street in Madrid, is named in honor of Pedro Mata y Fontanet.

Dr. Mata is also referenced, humorously (his family name means "[he] kills"), in Ángel Ganivet's novel Los trabajos del infatigable creador Pío Cid.

References

^ Borges, Jorge Luis. Obras Completas, 1952-1972. Otras Inquisiciones. El idioma analítico de John Wilkins. Emecé Editores, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1996, p. 86.

Jorge Luis Borges

Bibliography

Original
collections

A Universal History of Infamy	"Man on Pink Corner" "On Exactitude in Science"
Ficciones	"Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" "The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim" "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote" "The Circular Ruins" "The Lottery in Babylon" "An Examination of the Work of Herbert Quain" "The Library of Babel" "The Garden of Forking Paths" "Funes the Memorious" "The Form of the Sword" "Theme of the Traitor and the Hero" "Death and the Compass" "The Secret Miracle" "Three Versions of Judas" "The End" "The Sect of the Phoenix" "The South"
The Aleph	"The Immortal" "The Dead Man" "The Theologians" "Story of the Warrior and the Captive" "Emma Zunz" "The House of Asterion" "Deutsches Requiem" "Averroes's Search" "The Zahir" "The Writing of the God" "The Two Kings and the Two Labyrinths" "The Wait" "The Man on the Threshold" "The Aleph"
Otras Inquisiciones (1937–1952)	"The Analytical Language of John Wilkins"
Dreamtigers	"Borges and I"
Dr. Brodie's Report	"The Encounter" "The Gospel According to Mark"
The Book of Sand	"The Other" "Ulrikke" "The Congress" "There Are More Things" "The Disk" "The Book of Sand"
Shakespeare's Memory	"Blue Tigers" "Shakespeare's Memory"