By examining the Montreal activities of Francis Tumblety, the 'Indian herb doctor' and 'prince of quacks' in the fall of 1857, this article illustrates that institutional and political changes in the 1840s and 1850s are the necessary framework for an understanding of the move towards professional medical hegemony in the Atlantic world. In particular it focuses on Tumblety's arrest on the charge of attempting to procure an abortion for Philomene Dumas, a prostitute in the city, an arrest that elicited considerable discussion in the English-language newspapers of the city. Tumblety's background in Rochester, New York gives further insights into the connections among political, national and medical activism.

ISSN 0823-2105

© 2012 Canadian Society for the History of Medicine/
    Société canadienne d'histoire de la médecine