Maternalism and the Homeopathic Mission in Late-Victorian Montreal

This article examines the interactions between homeopathy and maternal values in the nineteenth century through a case study of Montreal's homeopathic community and the Montreal Homeopathic Hospital, which opened in 1894. Through an analysis of women's diverse roles within the institution, it demonstrates the variety of ways in which maternalism found expression. It argues that the maternal ideology was particularly compatible with homeopathy’s self-proclaimed mission to the poor, the emphasis it placed upon inculcating familial values within the homeopathic community, its appeal to women as patients, its claim to reduce child mortality, and the image it cultivated of the special role of the homeopathic mother.