The Quimby Manuscripts - Chapters 4-6



CHAPTER 4
THE MESMERIC PERIOD

Turning for the time being from the direct line of development of Mr.
Quimby's views, we find interesting confirmations of his experiments in
newspaper clippings and letters of the period, 1840-47. The first of these
are from Quimby's home town, Belfast. One of these writers says in part:

"Before we proceed to describe the experiments, we will sayy that Mr.
Quimby is a gentleman, in size rather smaller than the medium of men, with
a well-proportioned and well-balanced phrenological head, and with the
power of concentration surpassing anything we have ever witnessed. His
eyes are black and very piercing, with rather a pleasant expression, and
he possesses the power of looking at one object even without winking, for
a length of time."

Newspaper writers were fair on the whole in what they said of him, while
there were public-spirited citizens who were ready to write testimonials
to physicians and other citizens of prominence in neighboring towns, that
Mr. Quimby might he well received. In these testimonials and letters one
finds the terms "mesmerism," "magnetism" and "animal magnetism" used
interchangeably without much idea of what they stood for. Plainly such
words equalled "x" as symbols for a power little short of a mystery,
although Quimby was credited with entire honesty in performing his
experiments. Apparently, it was still assumed that by making passes over a
man's head he could be put to sleep by means of some "fluid." Hence
interest centered about material facts, and there was no recognition of
the fact, now a commonplaee, that the human mind is amenable to
suggestion, and that supposed magnetic effects are mere products of one
mind on another. The mesmeric sleep was not understood, and so it was an
easy matter to speak of the subject as "magnetised." The chief value,
therefore, of these contemporary references is found in their testimony to
the facts, the authenticity of the public exhibitions and the results
coming from examinations made by Lucius. Letters of recommendation were
still necessary in those days.

Writing from Belfast, Nov. 18, 1843, and addressing himself to Hon. David
Sears, Mr. James W. Webster makes the following statement:

"The bearer, Mr. Phineas P. Quimby, visits your city for the purpose of
exhibiting the astonishing mesmeric powers of his subject, Master Lucius
Burkmar. Mr. Quimby, as also the young man, are native citizens of this
place, and sustain in the community unblemished moral characters.

"Mr. Quimby is not an educated man, nor is he pretending or obtrusive; but
I think if you should take occasion to converse with him you will discern
many traces of deep thought and reflection, particularly upon the subject
above mentioned.

"His boy will I think demonstrate in an extraordinary manner the phenomena
of magnetic influence, more especially in that department usually termed
clairvoyance; and should you take an opportunity to be put in
communication with him, I doubt not you will be gratified with the
results. Time and distance with him are annihilated, and he travels with
the rapidity of thought. I think he will describe to you the appearance of
any edifice, tower or temple, and even that of any person either, in
Europe or America, upon which or upon whom your imagination may rest. I
say this much from the fact that I have been in communication with him
[mentally] myself and do know that he describes remote places and even the
appearance of persons at great distances which he never before could have
heard or thought of. . . ."

Writing to Dr. Jacob Bigelow, apparently a physician of prominence, Dr.
Albert T. Wheelock writes from Belfast under date of Nov. 10, 1843, and
describes an experiment in "animal magnetism" under mesmeric conditions in
the case of an operation for the removal of a polypus from the nose. With
a physician's care in describing symptoms, the writer gives an account of
the patient's general condition and mentions her desire to be
"magnetised." Dr. Wheelock then goes on as follows:

As she was entirely unacquainted in the town, at her request I procured
the attendance of a gentleman who had the reputation of being a good
magnetiser (Mr. P. Quimby), although entirely faithless on my own part, as
I told her at that time . . . I am quite confident that the lady and Mr.
Quimby had never met before and that there was nothing previously
concerted. I am also confident that she took no drug to induce stupor. In
ten minutes after commencing, she was put into a state of apparent natural
sleep, breathing and pulse natural, color of countenance unchanged. Mr. Q.
asked her if she felt well. 'Yes.' I immediately, in the presence of
several noted citizens who were called in at their request, began to
remove the polypus, and did it thoroughly. . . . I was operating perhaps 4
or 5 minutes at least. During the whole time she evinced not the slightest
symptom of pain, either by any groaning, sighing or motion whatever, but
was in all these respects like a dead body. I felt convinced that I
[could] have amputated her arm. In about ten minutes after she was waked
up, but said she was unconscious that anything had been done, complained
of no pain, and found that she could now breathe freely through her nose,
that previously had been entirely closed up, for several months. . . . .
Mr. Quimby . . . is an intelligent gentleman and worthy of the utmost
confidence."

Another communication, addressed to Nathan Hale, Dr Jacob Bigelow, and Dr.
John Ware, of Boston, dated Belfast Nov. 6, 1843, has been deprived of its
signature through much handling. It is intended to show the authenticity
of the experiments performed by Quimby and his subject. The writer, who is
careful in stating facts, says that the subject told him even his own
thoughts which the writer kept to himself, also words that he simply
visualized. Lucius when blindfolded told minute facts concerning things at
a distance of half a mile which no one in the room knew, facts which he
could not know by, "any means within the limit of common experience." The
writer says:

"I have good reason to believe that he can discern the internal structure
of an animal body, and if there be anything morbid or defective therein
detect and explain it. The important advantage of this to surgery and
medicine is obvious enough. He, that is, his intellect, can be in two
places at the same time. He can go from one point to another, no matter
how remote, without passing through the intermediate space. I have
ascertained from irrefragible experiments that he takes ideas first
directly from the mind of the person in communication with him, and,
second, without reference to such mind, directly from the object or thing
to which his attention is directed; and in both instances without any aid
from his five bodily senses. He can perceive without using either of the
common organs of perception. His mind when he is mesmerised seems to have
no relation to body, distance, place, time or motion. He passes from
Belfast to Washington, or from the earth to the moon, not as horses, steam
engines or light, but swifter than light, by a single act of volition.

"In a word, he strides far beyond the reach of philosophy. He
demonstrates, as I think, better than all physical, metaphysical or moral
science, the immateriality of the human soul, and that its severance from
the body involves not its own destruction. At least he proves this of
himself. And I suppose other souls are like his. . . Mesmerism as
manifested by this boy lets in more light than any other window that has
been opened for 1800 years. This may look like gross extravagance, but if
you have the same luck I have you will find it is not so."

Another observer who was greatly impressed by Quimby's public lectures,
accompanied by experiments performed through the aid of Lucius, writes
from East Machias, Feb. 1845, concerning experiments in private which he
thinks more remarkable still. He says, in part:

"The power of perceiving the seat of the disease, and of describing the
most minute symptoms which I do not guess but know, his subject possesses
when in the mesmeric sleep is astonishing beyond words to express. He has
exramined my wife twice and . . . I venture to say that all have been
perfectly satisfied that there is not the least deception in regard to the
matter, bnt the most satisfactory proof of an extra- ordinary, I may
almost say miraculous, insight. . . . Lucius [sees] every particular in
regard to the internal structure and state of the body, especially
describing the causes of disease. . . . I write this without the knowledge
or suggestion of Mr. Quimby, but hoping that hcreby some who may receive
inestimable benefit may not lose this opportunity. . . . Mr. Johnson has
been put in communication with Lucius in public, and Mrs. Johnson this
morning at our home, and he described with astonishing accuracy precisely
the object which she had in her mind, which Mr. Quimby calls thought-
reading, and which I am just as certain is real as that I am here and the
sun shines today, and also things which she did not have in her mind in
regard to the persons and places which she took him to visit in spirit.
This if true, as has often happened to Mr. Quimby, will place the power of
clairvoyance beyond the shadow of a doubt. [Lucius] has it beyond a shadow
of a doubt as far as perceiving disease and every internal organ of the
body is concerned . . . and we shall write immediately to discover [the
facts of the things discerned through] clairvoyance."

The following excerpt from the Bangor Democrat, April, I843, gives us the
date of Mr. Quimby's first experiment away from his home town, not his
"native" town, of Belfast:

"Mr. Quimby of Belfast has visited here by invitation, and made
exhibitions in public for the first time out of his native town. Some of
our citizens are well acquainted with him, and others are acquainted with
citizens of Belfast who have the most entire confidence in him: it is
therefore preposterous that he attempts to practice imposition.

"He has with him two young men, brothers, one 23 and the other 17. They
are clairvoyant subjects. The first evening the experiments were not
successful, but one made in private we will relate as a sample of the
rest. The young man was magnetised by Mr. Quimby, when one of our citizens
was put in communication with him. In imagination he took the boy to St.
John, New Brunswick, before the new Custom House, and asking him what he
could see, he said a building with a stone front and the rest of it brick.
He then began to read the letters on it. 'C-u-s-t-o-m. Oh, this is the
Custom House.' He then took him inside of the building and asked what he
could see there, when he described the stone steps leading into the second
story, the iron railing, curiously formed, and when taken into one of the
rooms, described a man employed in writing.

"The gentleman says no one knew where he proposed to take the boy: the boy
had never seen the building, and yet he described it as accurately as
anyone who has seen it. This gentleman's word is not to be questioned by
anyone.

"Such was the experiment, and others can tell as well as I whether it was
humbuggery, witchcraft, a juggler's trick, magic, or the mysterious power
that one person exerts over another. Real or unreal, it is extraordinary."

The next excerpt, from the Waldo Signal, Belfast, Jan. 25, 1844, is
typical of those indicating that a general effort was made to avoid all
collusion and if possible to explain the strange phenomena.

"We learn from the Norridgewock Workingman of the 18th inst. that our
townsman, Mr. P. P. Quimby, has recently been in that place lecturing upon
the science of animal magnetism, and illustrating the subject hy numerous
experiments. On the evening of the l2th a committee was appointed,
consisting of several of the most intelligent men of N. to scrutinize the
experiments for the ostensible purpose of satisfying themselves and the
audience that there was no deception in the matter. The result was highly
satisfactory, Mr. Quimby showing no disposition to avoid any scrutiny
requircd by the committee."

Again, we have a letter confirming one of the experiments in clairvoyance.
The letter is dated Eastport, Me., May 3rd, 1845:

"Mr. Quimby,

"Sir: The lady you mesmerised at my house on Saturday last and then
requested her to take you to her father's house, a distance of about four
hundred miles, you recollect gave minute description of the family and
what they were about at that time. You also remember, I presume, that she
stated that Mr. G., a member of the family died on the 14th ult., and that
a Mrs. B., a particular friend of hers, had been there on a visit, was
taken sick there, but had so far recovered that her brother had carried
her home.

"On the Tuesday following her making the above statement she received a
letter from her father in which he wrote that Mr. G. died about 8 o'clock,
A.M. on the 14th of April, also stating that Mrs. B. had been there on a
visit, and that she was taken sick so as to be obliged to stay a week
longer than she intended, and that she had got so well that her brother
had carried her home.

"You are aware that I have been sceptical about most of your mesmeric
experiments. I therefore feel bound to give you the above statement of
facts, and am willing you should show this to your friends. But I am not
willing to have my name appear in print."

Other letters express the conviction that the time for ridicule has
passed: people should attend the public demonstrations, see for
themselves, then bring the sick to be diagnosed by Lucius, that the real
nature of their maladies may be learned. There is much testimony regarding
Lucius' wonderful clairvoyance in the mesmeric state, and always the
conviction that there is no collusion. One of the letters is from Mr.
Quimby himself, in which he refers to the case of a patient put into a
state of sleep during three hours while an operation upon the teeth was
being performed. The patient felt no pain. Mr. Quimby states that while
the patient was asleep he told her mother that he would show her how he
could talk with the daughter mentally. He then stepped toward the patient
but did not put his hand upon her, merely sent her a thought. The patient
thereupon laughed out in response to this thought and satisfied all in the
room that it was an instance of thought-transference. This experience is
significant, for it points forward to the time, presently to come, when
Quimby will be able to dispense with his subject, and communicate directly
either through telepathy or by the aid of his own clairvoyance, apart from
mesmerism.

The last letter of this period is dated Lowell, Sept. 26, 1847, and is an
appeal addressed to Mr. Quimby to make an examination by the aid of Lucius
of her husband's body, with the hope that the cause of his sudden death
may be determined. Mr. Quimby assented, the examination was made, and in
this instance the description is appended to the letter in Lucius's own
words. Lucius describes the condition of the heart, which was somewhat
enlarged, the state of the lungs and stomach, liver, blood, and so on. He
says, "This I write while I am in communication with Mr. Quimby in the
magnetic state."

Later, when reading over what he has written, he realizes that his
description as there given does not show why death came about suddenly,
and so he returns to the description, still confining his statement to an
account of symptoms, and the probable sensations experienced just before
death. This is what we might expect from a clairvoyant whose power
consisted for the most part in making wonderfully accurate descriptions of
things, events, states and conditions, or in reading thoughts in a
person's mind; never the interpretation of these states in terms of their
real meaning. This remained for Quimby himself to discern when, having
found the limitations under which Lucius made these descriptions, he saw
the difference between mere symploms and inner causes. Lucius might
describe the actual state of an untenanted body, and throw a little light
on the feelings its owner may have had just before he left the flesh; but
he could not tell the whole story. His descriptions raised as many
problems as they appeared to solve. His clairvoyance was remarkable. But
it was the perception of an inferior mind in a passive condition. What was
needed was intuition, showing the real state of the individual behind all
these symptoms.

Fortunately, for our present interests, there still exists a personal
journal in which, beginning December 26, 1843, Lucius noted down matters
of interest during his travels with Mr. Quimby. Most of these details are
with reference to the towns visited, the interest or credulity aroused by
the experiments, or the people met along the way. Plainly Lucius has no
theory concerning his own powers. He accepts and uses the term "magnetism"
or "magnetised," as matter of convenience, without manifesting any
interest to inquire what is behind. He is aware that Mr. Quimby possesses
power over him, but that fact neither troubles nor interests him.
Apparently, he was glad when the public exhibitions were successful, and
he notes that scepticism is overcome. But there he always leaves the
matter. One concludes that Lucius had exceptional receptive powers, so
that under other auspices he migtht have been a spiritistic medium; but
that he was almost entirely lacking in analytical power. Consequently,
Lucius merely states facts and then leaves them. What he says concerning
things discerned by him in the mesmeric state is probably what he could
recall when he heard Mr. Quimby and others talking about his descriptions,
when awakened into his normal condition.

For example, we find him referring to some of Mr. Quimby's cures in the
early period when Quimby himself still believed that "magnetism" had
something to do with them. "Quimby," he writes, "has been doing miracles.
He has cured a man that couldn't walk nor speak. It has produced a great
excitement here among the people. He [the patient] has been confined to
his house about a year, and never has spoken or walked. In one hour [Mr.
Quimby] made him walk about the room and speak so as to be heard in
another room."

Referring to the prevalent scepticism, he writes on another occasion: "As
a general thing we didn't find the people so bitter upon the subject of
animal magnetism as we thought we should. We generally had the most
influential men of the place upon our side of the question, and as a
general thing satisfied all sceptics beyond a doubt."

Two years later we find Lucius still noticing this scepticism, and
remarking that the people seem to be very bitter upon the subject of
magnetism. "But," he continues, "we have satisfied a great many, some very
hard cases. This afternoon I examined Mr. Hooper. Thought the kidney and
uthera was diseased. Said there was a seated pain in the lower part of the
abdomen, also a pain in the small of the back. Thought the pain in the
small of the back was caused by sympathy with the kidneys. Recommended a
plaster of Burgundy pitch to be worn upon the back. Told him not to drink
cold water, for it did not agree with the kidneys. Also examined Mr.
Pillsbury's wife. Examined head and pronounced the brain diseased, said
there was a congestion of the brain and large clots of blood laid upon the
brain, and it would produce convulsions and fits. While I was examining
her head she had one of these fits, as I was told by Mr. Quimby."

It is interesting to note that Lucius frequently says merely what he
"thought," and draws upon his own opinions. For example, he writes,
"Examined Mrs. Barker. Said there was a difficulty in the blood, described
one of the valves of the heart as being thicker than the other. Thought
she didn't have exercise enough. Said the valve being deranged caused the
blood to stop. Was asked what sensation it produced. Said it produced a
faintness, said this was the great difficulty; thought there was no other
functional or organic disease. At the same time examined Mrs. Bennett.
This (as I understood from the Doctor) was a nameless disease."

In another case Lucius discerns what he takes to be spinal complaint and
expresses the opinion that the patient "will never get well," although he
once more recommends a "plaster of Burgundy pitch," to be put upon the
small of the back for relief. These statements show how limited is the
range of his own thought in the matter. He tells us nothing whatever
concerning inner causes, and nothing ahout the general state of mind of
those he examines. All this remained for Mr. Quimby to discover.

Plainly, Lucius's ability is more manifest when it is a question of
describing material things, under the suggestion of someone in the
audience who mentally tells him where to travel in spirit. Thus he speaks
of being "put in communication with Mr. Buck, and being taken by him to
his house." Lucius described the room, "and saw a map lying upon the
floor, and told the audience that before he left his house he put a map
upon the floor." These descriptions were convincing to the audience,
because they proved that Lucius could actually see at a distance.

Lucius also had mind enough to follow Mr. Quimby's lectures to some
extent, for he speaks of one occasion when the lecturer "spoke of mind,
and how the mind was acted upon while in the mesmeric state." The most
significant statement is that Quimby, in his remarks, "clearly
demonstrated that there was no fluid, and he showed the relation between
mind and matter." But, in confession of his own lack of interest in this
striking demonstration, Lucius simply goes on to say, with only a comma
between, "I have been having a chit chat with a very pretty girl, her name
is Abey Redman but mum is the word."(*)

(* This sentence, a characteristic one, is given exactly as found in the
journal.)

Rightly interpreted, this explanation leads beyond "animal magnetism" by
showing that it is not a question of a supposed "fluid" or of electricity,
but of mental influences which no mesmeric theory could account for. But
Lucius has no inkling of this. He does note, however, that Mr. Quimby is
himself beginning to cure in a remarkable way. He writes, "Mr. Quimby has
performed a miracle here. He took a man that had a lame shoulder. It was
partially out of joint. He worked upon it, and the man said there was no
pain in it. This astonished them. This afternoon the man went about his
work as well as ever. . . [Mr. Quimby] took a man out of the audience (a
perfect stranger to him) and effected a cure on his arm. The man had not
been able to raise it up for two years and in a few minutes he was able to
raise his arm up to his head, and moved it round free from pain."(*)

(* These preliminary cases must have taught Mr. Quimby much in regard to
the re-establishing of confidence, for later we find him beginning as soon
as possible to encourage patients to make an effort to walk or raise ther
arms, in instances where this power had been lost.:)

So far as Lucius is able to follow, such cases merely show Mr. Quimby's
power to exert "magnetic influence," whatever that was supposed to be. He
speaks, for example, of a patient to whom Quimby was taken by a Dr.
Richardson. "The case was that of a woman who fell down and injured the
elbow joint so that she couldn't move it without excruciating pain. He
magnetised her and made her move her arm about just as he pleased without
any pain."

Turning to Mr. Quimby's own account of his experiments, we find once more
that what Quimby was interested in was not the alleged "magnetism," but
the activities which resulted when a subject or patient accepted a certain
idea and responded to it. For example, in an article dated 1863, Mr.
Quimby states that he found his mesmeric subject possessing a psychical
sense of smell such that Lucius could not only detect any odor at a
distance, but "describe the flower or person that threw the odor."
Noticing Lucius's responsiveness to what he had perceived, or at other
times merely thought he perceived, Mr. Quimby resolved to try an
experiment of another sort, namely, to prove that similar consequences
would follow when there was no real object at all, but merely an idea.

"I said," writes Mr. Quimby, that "I could create objects that my subject
could see. So, of course I could create things that would frighten him,
and I could create all kinds of fruit which he would eat and be affccted
by. For instance, when awake he was very fond of lemons, and was always
eating them. I thought I would break him of it. So when I had him asleep I
would create mentally a lemon, and he would see it. Then I would make him
eat it till he would be so sick that he would vomit. Then he would beg me
not to make him eat any more lemons. I never mentioned the conversation to
him in his waking state. After trying the experiment two or three times,
it destroyed his taste for lemons, and he had no desire for them and could
not even bear the taste of them."

From this experiment Mr. Quimby infers that "ideas that cannot be seen are
as as real as those which can be seen . . . Then man can account for his
troubles as easily as he can account for injuries caused by an accident. .
. . Some ideas contain no intelligence because the author puts none in
them." If a subject or a patient can be unpleasantly affected by a mere
sugrgestion, one can utilize this power by directing the mind with
intelligence, and so disabuse it of its errors. Since minds are reached
directly in any event by mere "opinions," working mischief, we all have it
in our power to reach minds wisely, and no "subject" is required. Thus it
becomes a question of developing that "wisdom," as Quimby later called it,
which should free people from adverse suggestions.

Mr. Quimby further saw that even when a subject is clairvoyant this state
is of short duration, and the subject readily lapses into the mere mind-
reading of those present. So the diagnosis of a disease, as well as the
opinion that a certain remedy will be effective, may be in part mere mind-
reading. In an article addressed to the editor of a Portland paper,
February, 1862, protesting against being classed with spiritists,
mesmerists, and clairvoyants, Mr. Quimby says:

"I was one of the first mesmerisers in the state who gave public
experiments, and I had a subject who was considered the best then known.
He examined and prescribed for diseases just as this class do now. . . .
The capacity of thought-reading is the common extent of mesmerism.
Clairvoyance is very rare. . .

"When I mesmerised my subject, he would prescribe some little simple herb
that would do no harm or good of itself. In some cases this would cure the
patient. I also found that any medicine would cure if he ordered it. This
led me to investigate the matter, and arrive at the stand I now take: that
the cure is not in tile medicine, but in the confidence of the doctor or
medium. A clairvovant never reasons nor alters his opinion; but, if in the
first state of thought-reading he prescribcs medicine, he must be posted
by some mind interestcd in it, and must also derive his knowledge from the
same source from which the doctors derive theirs.

"The subject I had left me, and was employed by ______, who employed him
in examining diseases in the mesmeric sleep, and taught him to recommend
such medicines as he got up himself in Latin; and, as the boy did not know
Latin, it looked very mysterious. Soon afterwards he was at home again,
and I put him to sleep to examine a lady, expecting that he would go on in
his old way; but instead of that he wrote a long prescription in Latin. I
awoke him, that he might read it; but he could not. So I took it to the
apothecary who said he had the articles, and that they would cost twenty
dollars. This was impossible for the lady to pay. So I returned and put
him to sleep again; and he gave me his usual prescription of some little
herb, and [the patient] got well."

This result convinced Mr. Quimby that if mediums and subjects had not
acquired their alleged knowledge from the "common allopathic belief," and
if it were not for "the superstition of the people," very few cures would
be wrought. The fact that the medium's eyes are closed, for example, adds
to the mystery. The people as readily responded to the suggestions of
doctors who helped them create their diseases, in the first place, as to
the supposed wisdom of the medium in the second. It is all amatter of
suggestion anyway. But real service to the sick would consist in showing
them how they had been deceived. Mr. Quimby's experience with mesmerism
had taught him the real secret of humbuggery in the case of both mediums
and of mesmerists or supposed "magnetic healers." He had to pursue his
investigatjons far enough to be thoroughly convinced, and to come into
possession of the true principle. Moreover it was necessary for him to
experiment with Lucius long enough to make the highly important discovery
that he, Quimby, was clairvoyant, too, without the aid of mesmerism, and
without any of the psychical manifestions through which the spiritists
influenced people.



CHAPTER 5
THE PRINCIPLES DISCOVERED

To note how radical was the change through which Mr. Quimby passed as he
turned from the mesmeric point of view, we need to revert for the moment
to his first experiments. In one of his descriptive articles he tells us
that the first time he sat down to try to mesmerise another man he took a
chair by him and the two, joining hands with a young man as subject, tried
to will the latter to sleep. Their hypothesis was that electricity would
pass from their organisms into that of the subject. So by "puffing and
willing," they tried to convey their electricity until at last the subject
fell asleep. Having the young man in their power the two men then tried to
determine which one had the greater influence.

"So we sat the subject in the chair, the gentleman stood in front of him
and I behind him, and the gentleman tried to draw him out of the chair;
but he could not start him. Then we reversed positions, and I drew the
subject out of the chair. This showed that I had the greater power or
will.

Later, Mr. Quimby, experimenting alone, put the subject asleep in five
minutes. But as he was new at that sort of thing he did not know what to
do next. So procuring books he learned what one is supposed to do. He did
not then realize that the results obtained depended upon the theory one
adopts and the phenomena one accordingly anticipates. But later he became
convinced that acceptance of the theory of magnetism and the mesmeric
sleep predisposed his mind to produce the results, and that if had never
heard of a book on the subject the results would have been very different.
Furthermore, he concluded that however absurd the ideas acquired by the
operator, the operator will prove thcm "true" by his experiments, since,
as he tells us, "beliefs make us act, and our acts are directed by our
beliefs." Mr. Quimby had to be credulous in the beginning in order to find
out that he had merely proved a belief and was far from truth.

At the outset, then, the hypothesis was that the subject responded merely
because the operator contained more electricity and had the stronger will,
and will-power itself seemed to be little more than magnetism, so-called.
But as matter of fact the books simply told a person how to become an
operator without explaining anything that he did: there was no science of
the thing at all. Even the conditions to be complied with were
hypothetical. Thus Mr. Quimby found that if he had any steel about him it
affected the subject, and so he had to keep all steel away as long as he
believed that steel had anything to do with his failures. Again, if a
sceptic sat too near, he failed. Stumbling along at first, he found
himself as ignorant of the phenomena as when he began, so long as he held
to the hypothesis of a magnetic current and the notion that precise
material conditions were essential. The resource was to drop the
prevailing views and set out in quest of another explanation.

In this early period of investigation, Mr. Quimby was entirely sceptical
in regard to clairvoyance and kindred phenomena, also sceptical of any
experiment where the subject had any foreknowledge of what was to be done.
To avoid any possible error or ground for doubt, he therefore adopted the
rule, and held steadily to it during the four years of his association
with Lucius, never to let the subject know what was expected of him save
mentally. Even if he merely wished Lucius to give him his hand, he would
ask him mentally, never audibly. During the entire four years there was no
evidence that Lucius knew in his waking state what he did when in the
mesmeric sleep. There was a great advantage in favor of this rule, for
Quimhy could be absolutely sure of his results.

By depending solely upon his mental communications with Lucius, Mr. Quimby
was able to attain a high degree of success, and to learn in due course
that the whole process was mental, that neither the state of the weather,
the presence of metals, nor the passing of an alleged current from one
orgranism to the other had anything to do with the actual result.

That Lucius received no impression from any source save Quimby's thought,
during an experiment with this end in view, was also clear from the fact
that Mr. Quimby could in imagination call up the picture of a wild animal,
and by concentrating upon this picture and making it as vivid as possible,
frighten Lucius by means of it. If the operator told his subject during
the experiment that the animal was merely imaginary, this qualification
made no difference; for Lucius was completely subject to the mental
picture, and was unable to draw upon his own reason or entertain an
explanation of the experiment. This result led Mr. Quimby to believe that
"man has the power of creation," and that ideas take form. Then the
question arose, What are ideas composed of? "They must be something, or
else they could not be seen by the spiritual eyes." This led Quimby to
inquire whether Lucius could see anything if he merely thought of
something abstract, such as a general principle. "I found that if I
thought of principles, he had no way of describing them, for there was
nothing to see; but if I thought of anything that had form I could make
him see it."

Sight, then, was equivalent to reality for Lucius. Yet in the operator's
mind there might be merely a visual image. But if the supposed object had
no existence outside of the mind of the operator and the subject's
perception of it, why might not an alleged "spirit" in the case of
spiritistic phenomena be a mere idea in the mind of people in the
audience? An experiment convinced Mr. Quimby that this could be the case.
Requesting anyone to give him a name written on a bit of paper, Mr. Quimby
passed the slip of paper to Lucius, who was sitting blindfolded by the
committee. Lucius read the name aloud. Quimby then told Lucius to find the
person. His account of this experiment continues as follows:

"My mode was to make him ask questions so that the audience could lead him
along. So I said,'Who is he, a man or a boy?' He said, 'A man.' 'Is he
married?' 'Yes.' 'Well, tell me if he has children, and how many.' He
answered, 'His wife has three children.' 'Well,' said I, 'find him. Lucius
said, 'He left town between two days.' 'Well find him.' He traced him to
Boston, and by inquiring followed him to the interior of New York and
found him in a cooper's shop. Now all this was literally true, and I
supposc someone in the audience knew the facts, although neither the
subject nor I knew anything about the man. I asked what became of the man.
Lucius said the man was dead. 'Well,' said I, 'find him and bring him
here.' 'Well, said he, 'he is here, can't you see him?' Said I, 'Give a
description.' So he went on and gave a general descripition. But these
general descriptions amount to nothing, for everyone will make the
description fit his case. So I said, 'I don't want that; if there is
anything peculiar about the man, describe it.' 'Well,' said he, 'there is
one thing. He has a hair lip.' I asked the question so that if there was
anything peculiar the audience would create it."

What was the explanation of such an experiment?, Mr. Quimby concluded that
those in the audience who were pre-disposed to believe in spirits would
infer that Lucius actually brought the man's spirit there. The proof was
found in the fact that Lucius accurately described the man's peculiar
appearance. But those who believed in thought-reading would conclude that
Lucius had read from the minds of the audience his description of the
man's appearance, and that the rest of the experiment was to be explained
on the basis of clairvoyance. Once in touch with the personality of the
man in question, as known by people present, Lucius could have read the
rest, or discerned the mental pictures we. successively appearing as
Lucius gained point after point essential to the description. Mr. Quimby's
conclusion was that the mental image of the man was as real to Lucius as
though the man himself or his spirit had been present. He became the more
convinced that "man has the power to create ideas and make them so dense
that they can be seen by a subjeci who is mesmerised." If an imagined
person, or the mere memory image of a person was as real to the subject as
an actual "spirit," why should one infer that a spirit was there?

Thus Mr. Quimby was led more and more steadily to the conclusion that all
effects produced on Lucius were due to the direct action of mind on mind,
and that no other hypothesis was necessary. He found that he could
influence Lucius either with or without Lucius's knowledge, and that
Lucius was also affected in respects which were not intentional on his
part. Again, he found himself able to give a thought to another's mind
without mesmerism, for instance, by bidding a person stop when walkring.
Why, then, should he use either mesmerism or his subject? Why not follow
out this discovery that ideas take shape in the mind, according to one's
belief, and can be seen by the eye of the spirit? If one mind can
influence another by creating a mental picture of an object to be feared,
such as a wild animal, why may we not create good objects and benefit the
minds of those we seek to inflence? And if the same results can be
produced by mere suggestion as by medicine taken with firm faith, why use
medicine?

Referring to Mr. Quimby's lecture-notes, used during the period of his
public exhibitions with Lucius, we find that he very gradually came to
these conclusions when he saw that no other explanation would suffice. He
not only read all the books on mesmerism he could find but familiarised
himself with various theories of matter, such as Berkeley's, and with
different hypotheses in explanation of the mesmeric sleep. Convinced that
there was no "mesmeric influence" as such, no "fluid" passing from body to
body but simply the direct action of mind on mind without any medium, he
had also to become convinced that the states perceived by the subject were
not due to imagination. He found, for example, that by creating a state in
his own mind and vividly feeling it, Lucius felt the same and exhibited
signs of its effect in the body. "Real cold" was felt by Lucius in
response to certain suggestions. If imaginary, the subject would not have
acted upon the ideas in question. Thus when Mr. Quimby handed Lucius a six-
inch rule and pictured it in his own mind as a twelve-inch rule, Lucius
would proceed to count out the twelve inches, and to him it was literally
a twelve-inch rule. That is to say, the impressions received by the
subject were real, not "imaginary," as real as would have been the actual
things in question. An impression might indeed be produced on a subject's
mind from a false cause, but the cause would then be real.

Nor was the state called clairvoyance imaginary. Mr. Quimby described it
in this period of his thought as a "high degree of excitement which gives
the mind freedom of action, placing it in close contact with everything,
including past, present and future." If it were a merely fancied state the
subject would not be able to visit distant places, describing people and
things correctly. Nor would it be possible to see actual events in process
and predict their results, as in the case of a captain located on board a
ship bound for New York and then located in port later, the second time
Lucius was asked to find that particular man.

There was every reason to accept these disclosures as real, for interested
persons took pains to acquaint themselves with the facts. For instance, in
the case of the ship above mentioned we have the evidence published in a
newspaper at the time, reading in part as follows: "During Mr. Quimby's
exhibition in this town on Wednesday evening, (14th inst.) his intelligent
Clairvoyant was in communication with F. Clark, Esq., a respectable
merchant of this place. The Clairvoyant described to the audience a
Barque. . . called the Casilda then on her passage from Cuba to New York,
minutely from 'clew to carving,' as seamen say. He then informed the
company how far said Barque was from her destined port, and gave the name
of vessel and port the distance we think was about 70 miles.

"On the next evening, he visited (in his somnambulism) the same vessel and
said she had arrived off the Hook at New York, where she then was. On the
Tuesday following this exhibition the merchants received a letter
informing them of the arrival of this Barque (see our Marine Report) at
the precise time stated by the Clairvoyant, who it will be recollected is
Lucius Bickford [Burkmar], a young man 19 years of age.

"This was but one of several exhibitions of his visiting absent vessels of
which he could have had no information, and describing even the master and
people on board. We profess no knowledge of this wonderful science, but
deem it a duty we owe to the public to publish every fact that may aid the
progress of human knowledge."

It is interesting to note that this fair-minded newspaper writer, while
heading his contribution "Animal Electricity," according to the popular
notion prevailing at the time, 1844, expresses his opinion that "there is
no more mystery in all this than there is in repeating a lesson
committed." That is to say, he thinks these facts at a distance are
discerned by "the mind's eye." He was probably convinced, therefore, by
Quimby's argument in his lectures to the effect that there was no "fluid"
passing between, no "magnetism," but mind operating on mind to put Lucius
in possession of the clue he was to follow when locating a ship at a
distance or describing her captain and crew.

Quimby tells us in one of his later articles that very early in his
experiments with mesmerism he became convinced that Lucius could "see
through matter." That is, a person in a clairvoyant state, with all his
physical senses quiescent, can discern in another person every state or
condition ordinarily coming within the range of the five bodily senses. He
was compelled to believe this, for the descriptions which Lucius gave
proved it. He therefore adopted this as his point of view, namely, that
the human spirit can intuitively see through matter.

His next interest, he tells us, in an article written in 1861, was to
become a clairvoyant himself, that is, without mesmerism. For, having
become convinced that "matter was only a medium for our wisdom to act
through," he saw how matter could be transformed by attaching one's
interest to higher ideas. This meant ridding the mind of all beliefs and
opinions tending to create miseries and troubles, and dedicating the
clairvoyant or intuitive powers to the welfare of the sick. Through his
natural state, he tells us, as a being of flesh and blood, he could still
feel as a patient felt. But in his higher selfhood or intuitive state he
was governed by the spiritual ideal, "the scientific man." As this
spiritual state can be attained by cultivating "the spiritual senses,"
which function independently of matter and see through matter, it is not
of course necessary to make the body quiescent through the use of
mesmerism.

Turning again to the period of his lectures, we find Quimby also stating
his conviction that Lucius took his clue directly from the minds of
others, by thought-reading followed by clairvoyance, and never from his
own fancies. For Quimby found that the results attained through Lucius
varied with his own progress. Thus the fears and notions which Quimby
entertained as long as he believed in magnetism passed with his change of
view. Instead of working himself up to the point of transferring fancied
electricity to Lucius, he put all his efforts into creating a mental
picture for Lucius to see in his mind. In either case it was plain that
Lucius saw or did what was commanded when he gained the attention of his
subject. Until the subject gave his full attention, nothing resulted. So
in the case of clairvoyancc, the subject would see any object to which his
attention was called. If a failure occurred, the fault was the operator's
not that of the subject.

Here, then was a highly important discovery. Quimby found that with his
great powers of concentration he had great success in arresting the
attention of his subject. This in brief was his control over him. But if
certain results follow from arrested attention in the case of a person in
the mesmeric sleep, why may not self-induced results follow upon attention
in the case of any one of us? Does this not explain many of the ancient
mysteries, and the self-induced states of Apollonius of Tyana, Mahomet and
Swedenborg?

At this point Quimby's lecture-notes come to a sudden end, and we are left
to infer that having reached these significant conclusions he was not
interested to lecture upon them any further, but might better turn his
results to practical account in healing the sick. For these notes show
that here too he had reached the same conclusion which we noted in the
foregoing, namely, that the results produced by physicians in treating the
sick depend upon securing the attention of the patient in favor of a
certain diagnosis and the proper medicine to be taken for the supposed
disease. In fact he says, convincingly, that "all medical remedies affect
the body only through the mind." The one who takes medicine must believe
in medicine and anticipate the desired result. The result is then created
by the believer.

Here, then, were interests enough to follow for a life-time. The human
mind is plastic to ideas and imagery, and these take form according to
belief. What enlists the attention long enough to produce a distinct
impression, has power to affect the body, and an idea accepted as truth is
as good as reality in its influence upon the person believing it. Thus a
person may be made to feel heat or cold, to be frightened by the mental
picture of a lion, or be dispossessed of a desire to eat lemons. There is
an endless range of possibilities. Belief in magnetism on the part of an
audience tends to the production of anticipated magnetic phenomena, but
the results change when the hypothesis of a magnetic or electric "fluid"'
is dismissed. Spirits can be summoned up from the vasty deep, or precisely
the same results may be created without their aid. A patient will proceed
to create a disease according to a doctor's description of what he is
likely to feel, or this process can be checked by diverting the attention
in favor of some other idea.

Again, man has great power over his own states, and need not depend either
on a mesmerist, a spiritist, physician or any other person. For strength
of will proves to be, not the power of a fluid or current, but
concentration upon an interest or object that has engaged the attention.
There is nothing occult or uncanny in such power. There is no reason for
yielding our minds to control, or for controlling the minds of others.
Since a person may perceive the feelings of another by simply sitting
nearby and rendering himself receptive, it is not necessary to put the
mind into any special state, hitherto deemed a mystery. The great question
is, What is that part of us which has power to penetrate beneath all
errors and illusions, and learn what is true? What is truth in contrast
with beliefs?

Quimby's mind was of the type that leads to science as opposed to mere
belief. He had come in contact with facts at last, and learned how the
human mind works under the influence of suggestion. He sought one
consistent explanation which could be followed through to the end and
proved by practical experience. He took no interest in results following
upon mere theories, such as those proposed by mesmerists and spiritists.
There must be a deeper science than so-called medical science. Moreover,
he was beginning to see, that religious creeds were not much better. "What
we believe, that we create." What then shall we create that is worthwhile?

We might expect him to raise the world-old problem concerning the reality
of matter, especially as he had heard something about Berkeley's views.
But he never mentions Berkeley again, after these notes of the period from
1843 to 1847. We might expect continued interest in such men as
Swedenborg, but there is no reference to Swedenborg save this one, when it
is a question of self-induced inner states. Quimby's brief studies when in
quest of light on mesmerism apparently convinced him that there was little
of value for him in books, and that he must explore for himself. Moreover,
spiritualism came upon the scene to take the place of mesmerism in public
interest, he was concerned to follow this to the end, too; and he must
make his way alone by following experience. To the end of his life, so far
as his notes and manuscripts can tell us, he remained sceptical concerning
spiritistic phenomena, and confined himself to a study of the experiences
taking place within the human personality in this world. This did not
prevent him from acquiring a new view of death and of the relationship of
the human spirit to God. But after 1847 we find his eyes definitely turned
in the direction which led to the development of his "Science of Health."

With reference to the rumor current in his later years that his views were
unchanged, Quimby writes in 1862, "As I used to mesmerise, some think my
mode of treatment is mesmeric. But my mode is not in the least like those
who claim to be mesmerised, or to be spiritual mediums." Adding that he
knows all about mesmeric treatment, after "twenty years" since he began
the experiments which enabled him to see through it, he says that if he
"had no other aim than dollars and cents," he would close his eyes, go
into a trance, tell the patient how he felt and call some Indian to
prescribe by making out the patient "sick of scrofula or of cancerous
humor or some other foolish disease," and impress upon the patient the
necessity of having medicine ordered by the spirits of his "own getting
up." That is, he sees through the whole game played by mesmerists and
mediums who mislead the people and take their money. "If I should do this,
I should do what I know to be wrong." Instead, he tells his readers that
he asks "no aid from any source but Wisdom. . . . Wisdom never acts in
that way."

Again, in October, 1861, Quimby writes: "It is twenty years since I first
embarked in what was one of the greatest humbugs of the age, mesmerism. At
that time the people were as superstitious about it as they were two
hundred years ago in regard to witchcraft."

What was the prime result of his investigations? That the human mind is
amenable to suggestion, as we now say; that there are subjects capable of
being put into a state which we now call hypnosis; and that the alleged
magnetic, electrical or mesmeric effects are not mysterious at all, but
are the results of the action of mind on mind. The alleged humbug was
reduced to the operation of a principle to which we are all subject, the
influence of thought. The supposed wonders of the clairvoyant state are
capital instances of the activity of an intuition which we all possess.
There is no such process as "mesmerism," therefore. There is no "magnetic
healing." There is power of one mind to control another, to be sure, and
this was surely remarkable in the case of Quimby and Lucius. But the
clairvoyant or intuitive powers of Lucius were not generated in Lucius by
Quimby: these are latent powers of the human soul, and all minds have
access to things, persons and events at a distance. All healing said to
take place by mesmeric, spiritistic or magnetic influence occurs according
to one principle: the only principle of healing in every instance
whatever, natural and Divine, according to resident energies and
unchanging laws. There could be no mesmeric or magnetic science of
healing, anymore than there exists a medical science: the one true science
is spiritual. No one who sees this could ever be content to practise upon
the credulity of the people, instilling suggestions into their minds under
the guise of a "trance" or by the aid of hypnosis. Hence Quimby's work
from this time on was to expose what he called the deception practised by
physicians, just as he exposed priestcraft, the humbuggery of mediumship,
and the fallacies of every sort of imposition turning upon the acceptance
of opinion for truth.

Had Mrs. Eddy known this, she would have seen the futility of calling
Quimby an "ignorant mesmerist" at any point in his career. An
unenlightened mesmerist he was just as long as he adopted the prevailing
theories, while trying them out. His own mind was free and his world of
thought a free one from the time he saw that the right thing to do was to
seek that Wisdom which "disabuses the mind of its errors." It then became
necessary to draw a radical line of distinction between the "mind of
opinions," subject to suggestions and in certain instances to hypnosis;
and the "mind of Science," the "mind of Christ," possessed by the real
self. It was a long road to travel from the point where Quimby started
out, a believer in medical practice and a student of mesmerism, to faith
in an inner or higher self immediately open to the Divine presence with
its guiding Wisdom quickening the "mind of Christ." The guide throughout
was love of truth, leading the way to inductions from actual experience.
One of his patients who understood the prime results as he saw them
fulfilled in Quimby's work among the sick has said:

"This discovery, you observe, was not made from the Bible, but from mental
phenomena, and searching investigations; and, after the truth was
discovered, he found his new views portrayed and illustrated in Christ's
teachings andd works. If you think this seems to show that Quimby was a
remarkable man, let me tell you that he was one of the most unassuming of
men that ever lived; for no one could well be more so, or make less
account of his own achievements. Humility was a marked feature of his
character (I knew him intimately). To this was united a benevolent and an
unselfish nature, and a love of truth, with a remarkably keen perception.
But the distinguishing feature of his mind was that he could not entertain
an opinion, because it was not knowledge. His faculties were so practical
and perceptive that the wisdom of mankind, which is largely made up of
opinions, was of little value to him. Hence the charge that he was not an
educated man is literally true. True knowledge to him was positive proof,
as in a problem of mathematics. Therefore, he discarded books and sought
phenomena, where his perceptive faculties made him master of the
situation. Therefore, he got from his experiments in mesmerism what other
men did not get, -- a stepping-stone to a higher knowledge than man
possessed, and a new range to mental vision."(*)

(* J. A. Dresser in the "True History," p. 10.)

Quimby sums up his results in one of his tentative introductions, in which
he says:

"My object in introducing this work to the reader is to correct some of
the errors that flesh is heir to. During a long experience in the
treatment of disease I have labored to find the causes of so much misery
in the world. By accident I became interested in what was then called
mesmerism, not thinking of ever applying it to any useful discovery or to
benefit man, but merely as a phenomenon for my own gratification. Being a
sceptic I would not believe anything that my subject would do if there was
any chance for deception, so all my experiments were carried on mentally.
This gave me a chance to discover how far Mesmer was entitled to any
discovery over those who had followed him. I found that the phenomenon
could be produced. This was a truth but the whys and wherefores were a
mystery. This is the length of mesmerism, it is all a mystery, like
spiritualism. Each has its belief but the causes are in the dark.
Believing in the phenomenon I wanted to discover the causes and find if
there were any good to come out of it.

"In my investigation I found that my ignorance would produce phenomena in
my subject that my own wisdom could not correct. At first I found that my
thoughts affected the subject, and not only my thought but my belief. I
found that my own thoughts were one thing and my belief another. If I
really believed in anything, the effect would follow whether I was
thinking of it or not. For instance, I believed that silk would attract
the subject. This was a belief in common with mankind, so if a person
having any silk about him, for instance a lady with a silk apron, the
subject's hand would be affected by it and the hand would move towards the
lady, even if she were behind him. So I found that belief in everything
affects us, yet we are not aware of it because we do not think. We think
our beliefs have nothing to do with the phenomenon. But anything that is
believed has reality to those that believe it, and it is liable to affect
them at any time when the condition of the mind is in a right state.

"Minds are like clouds, always flying, and our belief catches them as the
earth catches seeds that fly in the winds. My object was to discover what
a belief was made of and what thought was. This I found out by thinking of
something Lucius could describe, so that I knew he must see or get the
information from me in some way; at last I found out that mind was
something that could be changed. I called it spiritual matter, because I
found it could be condensed into a solid and receive a name called
"tumor," and by the same power under a different direction it might be
dissolved and made to disappear. This showed me that man was governed by
two powers or directions, one by a belief, the other by a science. The
creating of disease is under the superstition of man's belief.
[Conventional] cures have been by the same remedy. Disease being brought
about through a false belief, it took anothor false belief to correct the
first; so that instead of destroying the evil, the remedy created more.

"I found that there is a Wisdom that can be applied to these errors or
evils that can put man in possession of a Science that will not only
destroy the evil but will hold up its serpent head, as Moses in the
wilderness held up the errors of religious creeds, and all that looked
upon his explanation were cured of the diseases that followed their
beliefs. Science will hold up these old superstitious beliefs and theories
and all that listen and learn can be cured not only of the disease that
they may be suffering from but they will know how to avoid the errors of
others.

"I shall endeavor to give a fair account of my investigations and what I
have had to contend with and how I succeeded. I have said many things in
regard to medical science but all that I have said was called out by my
patients being deceived by the profession. The same is true of the
religious profession. Every article was written under an excited state
brought about by some wrong inflicted on my patient by the medical
faculty, the clergy or public opinion. All my arguments are used to
correct some false opinion that has affected my patient in the form of
disease, mentally or physically. In doing this I hare to explain the
Bible, for troubles arise from a wrong belief in certain passages, and
when I am sitting by my patient those passages that cause trouble also
trouble me, and the passage comes to me with the explanation and I, as a
man, am not aware of the answer till I find it out [intuitively].

"There is a wisdom that has never been reduced to language. The science of
curing disease has never been described by language, but the error that
makes disease is in the mouth of every child. The remedies are also
described but the remedies are worse than the disease, for instead of
lessening the evil, they have increased it. In fact the theory of
correcting disease is the introduction of life."



CHAPTER 6
INTERMEDIATE PERIOD

It will be noticed that Lucius, when referring to some of Quimby's works
of healing known as miracles, speaks of the fact that Quimby "worked over"
patients unable to walk or move their arms. Apparently, manipulation was
employed to some extent in such cases, possibly because the belief still
prevailed that a "fluid" passed from operator to patient. We find
confirmation of this in the biographical account already quoted from.

"He sometimes," writes George Quimby, "in cases of lame-ness and sprains,
manipulated the limbs of the patient, and often rubbed the head with his
hands, wetting them with water. He said it was so hard for the patient to
believe that their mere talk with him produced the cure, that he did this
rubbing simply that the patient would have more confidence in him; but he
always insisted that he possessed no 'power' nor healing properties
different from anyone else, and that his manipulations conferred no
beneficial effect upon the patient, although it was often the case that
the patient himself thought they did."(*)

(* New England Magazine, March, I888, p.273.)

Again, we have the testimony of a patient who remained with Mr. Quimby for
several years, meeting the newcomers and conversing with them both before
and after they received treatment. Mr. Dresser says, "In treating a
patient, after he had finished his explanations, and the silent work,
which completed the treatment, he usually rubbed the head two or three
minutes, in a brisk manner, for the purpose of letting the patient see
that something was done. This was a measure of securing the confidence of
the patient, at a time when he was starting a new practice, and stood
alone in it. I knew him to make many quick cures at a distance, sometimes
with persons he never saw at all. He never considered the touch of the
hand as at all necessary, but let it be governed by circumstances, as was
done 1800 years ago."(*)

(* "True History," p.25)

Bearing this explanation in mind, when we come to read Quimby's letters to
patients, we will understand why he speaks as if he were putting his hand
on a person's head at a long distance, that is, during an absent
treatment. This was to engage the patient's attention and arouse faith.
The explanation becomes perfectly intelligible, when me see the reason for
it. There could be no reason for the bare statement, made many years
after, that Quimby "manipulated his patients," without giving the above
explanation, unless the one who said it wished to misrepresent the great
spiritual healer.

The other typical misrepresentation, namely, that he was a spiritualist,
was made in his own day, and is undermined by Quimby's adverse critique of
spiritism as a whole. There was no reason for unfriendly feeling in this
case. But the new therapeutist was popular in his later days, spiritism
was struggling for recognition; hence it was natural for spiritistic
mediums who claimed to do healing to include Quimby as one of their
number. It was clearly impossible for Quimby to give assent, and to change
to spiritism; for his researches led him to believe that all ordinary
spiritistic phenomena could be reproduced without the aid of mediums and
without recourse to spirits.

The sleep into which he put Lucius was akin to the "trance," as mediums
knew it. The suggestions in this case came from people in the audience who
visualized places they wanted the subject to visit, or held ideas in mind
for Lucius to read. The phenomena could be explained by the action of mind
on mind, in the flesh, consequently, Quimby held close to the facts.
Moreover, his own powers of receptivity and intuition were growing. By
sitting near patients, he learned to diagnose their condition, and also
learned to read their mental states. Therefore it was possible for him to
make the complete transition from mesmerism and all psychical phenomena
akin to it to the adoption of his spiritual method of treating disease,
that is, by the aid of intuition or direct perception, through "silence"
without mediumship.

On this point George Quimby writes, "He was always in his normal condition
when engaged with his patients. He never went into any trance, and was a
strong disbeliever in spiritualism, as understood by that name. He
claimed, and firmly believed, that his only power consisted in his wisdom,
and in his understanding the patient's case and being able to explain away
the error and establish the truth, or health, in its place. Very
frequently the patient could not tell how he was cured, but it did not
follow that Mr. Quimby himself was ignorant of the manner in which he
performed the cure."(*)

(* New England Magazine, March, I888, p.273.)

There is less documentary evidence to draw upon in the years after 1847,
the date of the last experiment in mesmerism of which we have record, and
the time when Dr. Quimby was in full possession of his silent method of
healing. Naturally newspaper writers were less interested, for this new
work was not at all spectacular, like the public exhibitions with Lucius.
Moreover, it was harder to understand. For there was now no "subject,"
there were in fact no experiments, but simply the quiet development of a
method in which Dr.Quimby depended upon his own impressions and intuitions.

So long as it was a question of alleged magnetism Quimby's work was
subject to belief in the mysterious, and he himself was groping his way
from belief in the medical faculty and in disease as an entity to a wholly
different view. But when he comes to recognize the subtle influence of
mind on mind, the power of what we now call suggestion, the expectant
attention of onlookers, and his own ability to make an intuitive diagnosis
in a wholly normal state, we find his thought moving in the realm of sure
principles and fixed laws. His letters to patients indicate that he still
gave much prominence to physical conditions, and advised his patients with
reference to them. But that was because the patients must have concrete
facts to interpret, substituting Quimby's new view for that of medical
diagnosis. The patients ordinarily had no one to depend on save Dr.
Quimby, since such healing was not then recognized. Hence they wrote
frequently to him and reported their progress, that he might advise them
anew.

Again, the experimental pcriod was in a measure more intelligible to the
public because the mesmeric activities turned upon the control of one mind
by another. The excerpts quoted above have told us that Quimby had
exceptional powers of concentration and remarkable control over his
subject. The change which he passed through in the intermediate period was
from the idea of merely human control to that of inner receptivity to
Divine wisdom, and the dedication of all powers of concentration to the
carrying out of spiritual ideals. This change was hard to follow, since
few people believed in such direct access to higher wisdom, and all
thoughts directed to another's mind were supposedly for the sake of
controlling that mind. The prevailing interest in spiritism was no help,
for that theory also encouraged belief in the mere action of one spirit on
another; it did not trace guidance to the Divine mind. The teachings of
the Church were not favorable, for Dr. Quimby's work centered interest
upon the patient's own inner life at large, not upon the mere problems of
sin and salvation. Therefore, the new trail had to be blazed alone.

Still further, Quimby's reaction against medical theory and practice in
his experimental period was a reaction from all sciences based on external
signs or appearances, matters that could not be proved. His most frequent
reference is to "opinion" taken for truth, and his early articles are
directed against all such suggestions or assertions. There must then be a
true Science, so he reasoned, which is indeed verifiable. This wisdom will
take into account man's real as opposed to his apparent condition. It will
not deny the actuality of human beliefs accepted as truth, while the spell
is unbroken; it will break that spell and show people that an error
regarded as truth is for the time being as real as life itself. It will
therefore build upon psychological facts, but higher facts must gradually
be brought into view.

The basis for this Science was laid in a measure by the discovery that the
human spirit possesses senses or power which function independently of
matter. These "spiritual senses," as Quimby later called them, include not
merely sight or clairvoyance but the power of detecting odors and
atmospheres at a distance, the ability to read another's mind, and to
travel in spirit, making oneself both felt and seen -- if the recipient of
such a visit were himself clairvoyant. For the higher purposes now in view
it did not very much matter whether Lucius had actually seen the condition
of a diseased body or had merely read from the patient's mind, and from
the minds of others present, what the patient or others merely thought was
the disease; in either case the clairvoyant feat was significant. It
established the fact that clairvoyance was possible without the aid of
spirits; and, when Quimby found that he possessed the same powers, it
established the fact that this clear-seeing is possible without mesmeric
sleep. What was needed, therefore, was a higher, genuinely spiritual
psychology. We find Quimby in his articles endeavoring to express that
psychology, always greatly hampered by language and the fact that he had
no co-workers save those who helped him to express his ideas.

But if the facts of spiritual perception gave the basis in part for a
higher view of the human spirit, there was still another principle to be
achieved, that is, the adding of the idea of "the Christ" as common to the
works of healing of Gospel times and to those of the new day. There are no
references to this idea in the earlier newspaper articles which have been
preserved or in the earliest letters to patients. But when we turn to
later letters and to the first articles written in the Portland period, in
1859 and early in 1860, we find this idea in full recognition as an
essential part of the teaching then given. This shows that if it passed
through a period of gradual development, that development must have been
began long before; since this view is not brought forward tentatively but
with habitual conviction.

On the other hand, we do find references in letters from patients to
Quimby's "Science," written with a capital "S." This would indicate that
in conversation with patients Dr. Quimby was in the habit of talking about
his "Science of Health" long before he put this view in writing and
identified it with the Christ. What we must presuppose, in order to have a
complete view of his intermediate period up to October, 1859, is an
insight which brought the principles under consideration into a single
view, namely, the conception of the human spirit with its higher "senses,"
the idea of the Divine presence as guiding wisdom and healing power, and
the identification of this wisdom with the Christ in terms of a
demonstrable Science which all might understand.

We are not to suppose that Dr. Quimby quickly traneferred his exceptional
powers of control as formerly exercised over Lucius into immediate command
of his forces so that he was never ill, never had any disabilities to
overcome. For the transition began with the realization that he could
readily take upon himself the feelings of patients, and that a way must be
found to throw off these feelings. Already in Lucius's journal we find
reference to the fact that Quimby sometimes found himself enveloped in
mental atmospheres. Later, we find Quimhy hesitating to take a patient
with fits, because of the difficulty he experienced in keeping himself
mentally free. In their letters, his patients sometimes inquire about his
health, because they too realized that it was difficalt for him to throw
off his patients' troubles.

These difficulties are instructive to us, however, since they indicate
that in thus gradually learning to keep his own spirit free by realizing
the protective presence of "Wisdom," as he briefly called God's power with
us, he passed through a period of analyzing his patient's feelings by
making himself receptive, allowing those feelings to impress themselves
upon the sensitive-plate of his mind (his own illustration, drawn from his
experience with photography), and then comparing them with the Divine
ideal. For this contrast was essential to his Science. It led the way to
his view that there is a part of us, namely, the spirit, that is never
sick, never sins; but is what he called "the scientific man," the man of
Christ or Science, in his articles on this subject. Had he not possessed
exceptional sympathy, so sensitive a sympathy in fact that it was
difficult at times to put a patient's atmosphere aside, he would not have
developed so sure a view of the whole situation in the inner life. Even in
the last years of his practice in Portland he found difficulties in this
respect, and had to leave his practice for brief periods of rest at his
old home in Belfast. The sick often tended to overwhelm him. Yet one of
the secrets of his remarkable cures is found in this willingness even to
bear the burdens of the sick and sorrowing, that he might see through
their miseries to the end and establish a science of right living which
all might know and all could live by.

Those who, in recent times, have acquired the art of mental healing by
standing apart from the patient and putting the mind through a series of
affirmations, meanwhile keeping themselves comfortably free from all
atmospheres, should hesitate to conclude that they possess a method
superior to Quimby's, because he found difficulty in keeping free. Very
few mortals are willing to undergo such sacrifices as the pioneer had to
make to blaze the way for the use of his silent method in comfort and
ease. At a distance it might seem as if the pioneer were lost in the woods
of mental influences, not blazing a straight way through. But it is the
one who has encountered all the difficulties and found the way through,
who knows the sorrow and sufferings because he has borne them in sympathy,
who can tell us the whole story. And, plainly, the affirmation or silent
realization is only a part of the process as our pioneer developed it
stage by stage in his journey. Had that part been sufficient he might have
turned more quickly from his mesmeric experiments to the utilization of
ideal suggestions as substitutes for medical and priestly opinion, he
might have remained on the level of mind-to-mind projection of human
thought. But his guidances led him far beyond all this to the conclusion
that in taking the sufferings of patients upon himself he was learning the
way of the Christ, coming to learn God's presence as love.

There is one further point to note in reading the letters and accounts of
the intermediate period, that is, the frequent references to the mind as
if it were merely part of the body or identical with the "fluids" of the
organism. Dr. Quimby has found that opinions and adverse mental pictures
take such hold upon the mind that they produce what we would now call
subconscious after-effects. He has found that these disturbing mental
states, believed in and increasing in power through fear and other
disturbing emotions, bring about changes in the nervous system, in the
circulation, and in other ways. But he lacks the common term,
subconsciousness, and so is compelled to speak, now as if the mind were
constituted of thoughts simply, again as if it were the mere nervous
activities and the circulation of the blood. This is why he refers to the
mind as "the name of something, and this something is the fluids of the
body. Disease is the name of the disturbance of these fluids or mind."
Later we shall see that by the term mind used in this sense Dr. Quimby
always means the lower mental processes, never the real self. This is "the
mind that can be changed," the mind that is subject to every wind of
doctrine. Dr. Quimby was in possession of the facts we now call
"subconscious,' but couId not readily name them. Consequently he often
uses figurative language, as in his comparison of thought to the blossom
of rose. Again, he speaks of himself impersonally as "Dr Q," trying in
this way to suggest the impartial observer, puzzled at first to understand
the new mode of treatment.

Dr. Quimby did not keep a record of his patients from the point of view of
medical diagnosis or opinion, and we do not know just how soon after 1847
he began to give all his time to silent spiritual healing. But in 1861 he
writes that he has sat with "more than three hundred individuals every
year for ten years, and during the last five with five hundred yearly." By
1851, then, he was treating as many as three hundred patients a year, and
by 1856 the number had increased to five hundred. The greater years of his
work in Portland, therefore, beginning in 1859, came after he had had
abundant opportunity to test his method to the full.

What this method was we are now prepared to understand in a measure when
we note that his early experiments had taught him how to converse with
Lucius mentally, and had also shown him that there is a still higher way
of communication. When he talked with Lucius it was by way of expressing a
merely personal thought or wish, that is, telepathically, as we now say.
Such thought-transference included also the transmission of suggestions
involving imagery and emotion, such as the mental picture of a bear and
the fear of a bear's presence would arouse. Quimby made this transfer
effective by vividly creating the mental object in his own mind. Had he
stopped there he would have rivalled some of the "applied psychologists"
of our day who scorn the idea, of anything spiritual.

But by discovering that there is an inner or higher mind, Quimby learned
that spirit could talk with spirit. Such conversation did not involve the
transfer of personal thought or emotion, but what we who believe in
spiritual healing now call "realization," that is, the vivid picturing of
the Divine ideal of man in perfect health and freedom. This spiritual
process tended to arouse the same activity or spirit within the patient.
It was not the influence of mind on mind, but the operation of spiritual
power or Wisdom; for Dr. Quimby objected to the word "power" and always
insisted that the real efficiency was Wisdom. That Wisdom is in all men,
as Quimby says in his later writings on the subject of "God." It can be
appealed to in all. It is the creative Mind within all. Man's part as
healer is to establish the truth of this Mind. Hence Quimby dedicated his
great powers of concentration to this vivid realization.

The apparent receptivity of the patient when sitting silently by Quimby,
or waiting at a distance to feel an effect, was dependent of course on the
patient's belief, which might mean that Quimby was regarded as a kind of
wonder-worker, or that he was not supposed to know how he healed. But
Quimby was not dependent on the patient's conscious attitude or faith.* l
He discerned the inner condition, and conversed with "the scientific man,"
looking for subconscious after-effects. What he then wrote or said to the
patients depended on what he saw that they as conscious beings, with
little understanding, were prepared to see. Hence he had often to content
himself with brief statements concerning the bodily condition and the
physical changes to be expected. But we learn from his more enlightened
patients that the silent healing was a religious experience or spiritual
quickening, and that to them the great healer began forthwith to talk
about the things of the Spirit.

*One of his patients assures as that when she visited Dr. Quimby in 1882,
she deemed him "an old humbug" and that she received his treatment at
first merely because her mother insisted.

It is this varied series of impressions produced by patients which account
for the varied character of his writings, and on this point it would be
well to hear from Quimby in his own words:

"The reader will find my ideas strewn all through my writings, and
sometimes it will seem that what I said had nothing to do with the subject
upon which I was writing. This defect is caused by the great. variety of
subjects that called the pieces out; for they were all written after
sitting with patients who had been studying upon some subject, or who had
been under some religious excitement, suffering from disappointment or
worldly reverses, or had given much time to health from the point of view
of the medical faculty and had reasoned themselves into a belief, so that
their diseases were the effects of their reasoning. I have all classes of
minds, with all types of disease. No two are alike. The articles are often
written from the impressions made on me at the time I wrote.

"For instance, one person had a strong desire for this world's goods, and
at the same time had been made to believe his salvation depended upon his
being honest and steady. Hence his religion acted as a kind of hindrance
to his worldly prosperity. This kept him all the time nervous, and he put
all his troubles into the idea 'heart disease.' Another was a man who had
a great deal of acquisitiveness and self-esteem, while all his acts were
governed by public opinion. He wanted to be a great man by making himself
wise at others' expense, or gaining every idea of value without paying for
it. Hence he would often force himself into society where he was not
wanted. His religion was always the last thing to think of. To him heaven
and hell had no claims till he had gone through hell to make up his mind
which place was the better for his practice. To cure these two was to show
them the hypocrisy of their belief, and show that all men are to
themselves just what they make themselves . . . . So my arguments are
always aimed at some particular belief, sometimes words, sometimes one
thing, again another. . . . Hence what I write is like a court-record or a
book on law with the arguments of each case. I take up a little of
everything."