Defining Quackery: an examination of the Manitoba Medical Profession and the early development of professional unity.

In the early 1920s, the Manitoba medical profession reached a pinnacle in its opposition to alternative medicine, waging an aggressive four-year campaign against chiropractic and osteopathy to "protect" the public from the dangers of alternative forms of healing and prevent "irregulars" from establishing their practices. It was during these same years that the Manitoba medical profession was able to successfully overcome many internal problems of consensus and external problems of legitimacy. Examining the years leading up to, during, and following the campaign, this paper demonstrates how the Manitoba medical profession's militant reaction to osteopathy and chiropractic during these years helped strengthen and differentiate orthodox practitioners as a group, thus reinforcing their authority within the public realm.