ABSTRACT
During the nineteenth century, cities hosted an ever-expanding population from which emerged more finely diversified social categories. Ruptured from traditional social networks and family or village solidarities, migrants to towns required access to a range of services that they previously received through local and familial relationships in their countryside communities. Among such services were those involved in managing the body. This chapter focuses on the role of women who provided services for the body’s organic materiality, whether curing its defects or satisfying its needs.
