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The Philosophy of P. P. Quimby
Annetta Gertrude Dresser
The Philosophy of P. P. Quimby
With Selections from his Manuscripts and a Sketch of his Life
By Annetta Gertrude Dresser
Third Edition
Boston
Geo. H. Ellis, 272 Congress Street
1899
Dedicated
To the sick everywhere
PREFACE
The rapidly growing interest in the philosophy and practice of mental
healing in its various forms has created a desire to know more about the
man to whose discoveries this new development is due, and to know wherein
his teaching differed from the prevailing systems of thought. The facts
concerning the discovery were published in 1887, in a pamphlet entitled
"The True History of Mental Science," by Julius A. Dresser, in which quotations
from Dr. Quimby's writings were then made public for the first time. By
kind permission of those who have the manuscript in charge the author of
the present volume is enabled to make further quotations from these writings,
and also to republish a number of articles which were written for the press
during the last years of Dr. Quimby's practice. In this way the facts are
made to speak for themselves, and to show, without further comparison,
the scope and scientific value of the parent philosophy.
A.G.D.
481 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass.,
May 1, 1895
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Historical Sketch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
I I. Extracts from the press, 1857-65 . . . . . . . . . 22
I I I. Reminiscences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
I V. An Exposition of Dr. Quimby's Philosophy . . . . 58
V. Selections from the Manuscripts of P. P. Quimby . . . 79
9
I.
HISTORICAL SKETCH
It frequently happens in the progress of invention and discovery that
the man through whose genius and labor some great work is begun passes
away from public notice with scarcely a word of recognition in gratitude
for what he accomplished, while others receive not only the benefit of
his researches, but the credit of the discovery or invention. Nearly all
great movements originate in the pioneer work of some man of genius, struggling
in the isolation for a time, amid the opposition of established modes of
thought, until an army of lesser intellects scatter the new thought broadcast;
and it becomes a permanent factor in human thought.
But the time comes when people are eager to know all that can be learned
about the few original thinkers to whom human progress is mainly due. Every
detail is interesting; and there is no more fascinating record of achievement
than the stories of genius caught working at its task.
All this applies with unusual emphasis to the movement which, originating
in the researches of P. P. Quimby more than half a century ago, now
10
numbers among its followers many thousands of people in this country
and abroad. The new philosophy has gradually won its way, despite all opposition,
to a recognized place among the educational factors of our time. It has
its literature, its army of workers, and its organizations. It has brought
untold relief to suffering humanity, and opened the way to the final mastery
of the many diseases and affliction which hold mankind in bondage.
Yet the new thought has been brought forward mainly by those who dwelt
on the outskirts of its central truth. Erroneous conclusions derived from
Dr. Quimby's sound premises have passed current as a genuine philosophy,
which others have claimed to discover. His method of cure has been adopted
by thousands who never heard of its real originator; while only the few
have known of the patient effort, and the years of unsparing devotion to
truth, whereby Dr. Quimby sought to build up a science of life and happiness
which should destroy all disease,--a work which was but half finished when
his earthly career came to an end.
It would seem well, then, now that Dr. Quimby's teaching in its derived
form has won a permanent hearing, to make more generally known what he
really taught, and to distinguish his philosophy from this derived teaching.
He was one of the few profoundly original men.
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Working wholly alone, without aid from books, and according to methods
of his own, he not only regained his own health after being condemned by
the medical faculty, but saved the lives of thousands of others during
his twenty-five years of practice, and founded a philosophy which, combining,
as it does, theory, practice, religion, and the science of health, has
wrought a transformation in a vast number of lives. It is no exaggeration
to say, in the light of what is coming to the world as the result of that
one life, that few men ever lived who, working single-handed in a new field,
have accomplished as much as he. As we turn, then, to a consideration of
the main facts in his life, it is worth the feeling that we are studying
to career of a man who is still with us, and whose great work is even now
but in its inception.
"Phineas Parkhurst Quimby * was born in the town of Lebanon, N.H., Feb.
16, 1802. When about two years of age, his parents emigrated to Maine,
and settled in the town of Belfast. His father was a blacksmith, and the
subject of this sketch was one of a family of seven children.
"Owing to his father's scanty means and to the meager chances for schooling,
his opportunity for acquiring an education was limited. During his boyhood
he attended the town school a part of the time, and acquired a brief knowledge
of the rudi-
* George A. Quimby, New England Magazine, March, 1888
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mentary branches; but his chief education was gained in after life from
reading and observation. He always regretted his want of education, which
was his misfortune rather than any fault of his. . . .
EXTRACTS FROM THE PRESS, 1857-65
It may now be of interest to the reader, before considering a more detailed
account of Dr. Quimby's
philosophy and practice, to learn what was said of him by those who
made the first attempts to describe
his work among the sick. The selections are made from a series of newspaper
articles, dating from 1842,
many of which are testimonials of the wonderful cures wrought...
"He had a very inventive mind, and was always interested in mechanics,
philosophy, and scientific subjects. During his middle life he invented
several devices on which he obtained letters-patent. He was very argumentative,
and always wanted proof of anything rather than an accepted opinion. Anything
that could be demonstrated he was ready to accept; but he would combat
what could not be proved with all his energy rather than admit it as a
truth.
" With a mind of this combination, it is not strange that, when a gentleman
visited Belfast about the year 1838, and gave lectures and experiments
in mesmerism, Mr. Quimby should feel deeply interested in the subject.
Here was a new --to him at least-- phenomenon; and he at once began to
investigate the subject, and on every occasion when he could find a person
who would allow him to try, he would endeavor to put him into a mesmeric
sleep. He met with many failures, but occasionally would find a person
whom he could influence.
"At that time Mr. Quimby was of medium height, small in stature, his
weight about one hundred and twenty-five pounds; quick-motioned and nervous,
with piercing black eyes, black hair and
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whiskers; a well-shaped, well-balanced head; high, broad forehead, and
a rather prominent nose, and a mouth indicating strength and firmness of
will; persistent in what he undertook, and not easily defeated or discouraged.
"In the course of his trials with subjects he met with a young man named
Lucius Burkmar, over whom he had the most wonderful influence; and it is
not stating it too strongly to assert that with him he made some of the
most astonishing exhibitions of mesmerism and clairvoyance that have been
given in the modern times. . . .
"Mr. Quimby's manner of operating with his subject was to sit opposite
him, holding both his hands in his, and looking him intently in the eye
for a short time, when the subject would go into that state known as the
mesmeric sleep, which was more properly a peculiar condition of mind and
body, in which the natural senses would or would not operate at the will
of Mr. Quimby. When conducting his Experiments, all communications on the
part of Mr. Quimby with Lucius were mentally given, the subject replying
as if spoken to aloud.
"For several years Mr. Quimby traveled with young Burkmar through Maine
and New Brunswick, giving exhibitions, which at that time attracted much
attention and secured notices through the columns of the newspapers.
It should be remembered that at the time Mr.
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Quimby was giving these exhibitions, over forty-five years ago, the
phenomenon was looked upon in a far different light from that of the present
day. At that time it was a deception, a fraud, and a humbug; and Mr. Quimby
was vilified and frequently threatened with mob violence, as the exhibitions
smacked too strongly of witchcraft to suit the people.
"As the subject gained more prominence, thoughtful men began to investigate
the matter; and Mr. Quimby was often called upon to have his subject examine
the sick. He would put Lucius into the mesmeric state, who would then examine
the patient, describe the disease, and prescribe remedies for its cure.
"After a time Mr. Quimby became convinced that, whenever the subject
examined a patient, his diagnosis would be identical with what either the
patient or some one present believed, instead of Lucius really looking
into the patient, and giving the true condition of the organs; in fact,
that he was reading the opinion in the mind of some one rather than stating
a truth acquired by himself.
"Becoming firmly satisfied that this was the case, and having seen how
one mind could influence another, and how much there was that had always
been considered as true, but was merely some one's opinion, Mr. Quimby
gave up his subject, Lucius, and began the developing of what is
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now known as mental healing, or curing disease through the mind.
"In accomplishing this, he spent years of his life, fighting the battle
alone, and laboring with an energy and steadiness of purpose that shortened
it many years.
"To reduce his discovery to a science which could be taught for the
benefit of suffering humanity was the all-absorbing idea of his life. To
develop his 'theory' or 'the Truth,' as he always termed it, so that others
than himself could understand and practice it, was what he labored for.
Had he been of a sordid and grasping nature, he might have acquired unlimited
wealth; but for that he had no desire. He used to say, 'Wait till I get
my theory reduced to a science, so that I can teach the Truth to others,
and I can Make money fast enough.' . . .
"Each step was in opposition to all the established ideas of the day,
and was ridiculed and combated by the whole medical faculty and the great
mass of the people. In the sick and suffering he always found staunch friends,
who loved him and believed in him, and stood by him; but they were but
a handful compared with those on the other side.
"While engaged in his mesmeric experiments, Mr. Quimby became more and
more convinced that disease was an error of the mind, and not a real thing;
and in this he was misunderstood by
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others and accused of attributing the sickness of the patient to the
imagination, which was the very reverse of the fact. 'If a man feels a
pain, he knows he feels it, and there is no imagination about it,' he used
to say.
"But the fact that the pain might be a state of the mind, while apparent
in the body, he did believe. As one can suffer in a dream all that it is
possible to suffer in a waking state, so Mr. Quimby averred that the same
condition of mind might operate on the body on the form of a disease, and
still be no more of a reality than was the dream.
"As the truths of his discovery began to develop and grow in him, just
in the same proportion did he begin to lose faith in the efficacy of mesmerism
as a remedial agent in the cure of the sick; and after a few years he discarded
it altogether.
"Instead of putting the patient into a mesmeric sleep, Mr. Quimby would
sit by him; and , after giving a detailed account of what his troubles
were, he would simply converse with him, and explain the causes of the
troubles, and thus change the mind of the patient, and disabuse it of its
errors and establish the truth in its place, which, if done, was the cure.
He sometimes, in the cause of lameness 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 his
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mere talk with him produced the cure, that he did his 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 any
one 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. On the contrary, Mr. Quimby always denied emphatically that he
used any mesmeric or mediumistic power.
"He was always in his normal condition when engaged with a patient.
He never went into any trance, and was a strong disbeliever in Spiritualism,
as understood by that name. He claimed, and firmly held, 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.
"Suppose a person should read an account of a railroad accident, and
see, in the list of killed, a son. The shock on the mind would cause a
deep feeling of sorrow on the part of the parent, and possibly a severe
sickness, not only mental, but physical. Now, what is the condition of
the patient? Does he imagine his trouble? Is it not real? Is his body not
affected, his pulse quick;
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and has he not all the symptoms of a sick person, and is he not really
sick? Suppose you can go and say to him that you were on the train, and
saw his son alive and well after the accident, and prove to him that the
report of his death was a mistake. What follows? Why, the patient's mind
undergoes a change immediately; and he is no longer sick.
"It was on this principle that Mr. Quimby treated the sick. He claimed
that 'mind was spiritual matter, and could be changed'; that we were made
up of 'truth and error'; that 'disease was an error, or belief, and that
the Truth was the cure.' And upon these premises he based all his reasoning,
and laid the foundation of what he asserted to be the 'science of curing
the sick' without other remedial agencies than the mind.
"In the year 1859 Mr. Quimby went to Portland, where he remained till
the summer of 1865, treating the sick by his peculiar method. It was his
custom to converse at length with many of his patients who became interested
in his method of treatment, and to try to unfold to them his ideas.
"Among his earlier patients in Portland were the Misses Ware, daughters
of the late Judge Ashur Ware, of the United States Court; and they became
much interested in 'the Truth,' as he called it. But the ideas were so
new, and his reasoning was so divergent from the popular conceptions, that
they found it difficult to follow him
19
or remember all he said; and they suggested to him the propriety of
putting into writing the body of his thoughts.
"From that time he began to write out his ideas, which practice he continued
until his death, the articles now being in the possession of the writer
of this sketch. The original copy he would give to the Misses Ware or the
writer of this, and then reread to him, that he might see that all was
just as he intended it. Not even the most trivial word or the construction
of a sentence would be changed without consulting him. He was given to
repetition; and it was with difficulty that he could be induced to have
a repeated sentence or phrase stricken out, as he would say, 'If that idea
is a good one, and true, it will do no harm to have it in two or three
times.' He believed in the hammering process, and of throwing an idea or
truth at the reader until it would be firmly fixed in his mind. . . . .
"In a circular to the sick, which he distributed while in Portland,
he says that, 'as my practice is unlike all other medical practice, it
is necessary to say that I give no medicines, and make no outward applications,
but simply sit by the patient, tell him what he thinks is his disease,
and my explanation is the cure. And, if I succeed in cor-
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recting his errors, I change the fluids of the system, and establish
the truth, or health. The truth is the cure.' . . .
"Mr. Quimby, although not belonging to any church or sect, had a deeply
religious nature, holding firmly to God as the first cause, and fully believing
in immortality and progression after death, though entertaining entirely
original conceptions of what death is. He believed that Jesus' mission
was to the sick, and that he performed his cures in a scientific manner,
and perfectly understood how he did them. Mr. Quimby was a great reader
of the Bible, but put a construction upon it thoroughly in harmony with
his train of thought. . . . .
"Mr. Quimby's idea of happiness was to benefit mankind, especially the
sick and suffering; and to that end he labored and gave his life and strength.
His patients not only found in him a doctor, but a sympathizing friend;
and he took the same interest in treating a charity patient that he did
a wealthy one. Until the writer went with him as secretary, he kept no
accounts and made no charges. He left the keeping of books entirely with
his patients; and, although he pretended to have a regular price for visits
and attendance, he took at settlement whatever the patient chose to pay
him.
"The last five years of his life were exceptionally hard. He was overcrowded
with patients and
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greatly overworked, and could not seem to find an opportunity for relaxation.
At last nature could no longer bear up under the strain; and, completely
tired out, he took to his bed, from which he never rose again. While strong,
he had always been able to ward off any disease that would have affected
another person; but, when tired out and weak, he no longer had the strength
of will nor the reasoning powers to combat the sickness which terminated
his life.
"An hour before he breathed his last he said to the writer: 'I am more
than ever convinced of the truth of my theory. I am perfectly willing for
the change myself, but I know you will all feel badly; but I know
that I shall be right here with you, just the same as I have always been.
I do not dread the change any more than if I were going on a trip to Philadelphia.'
"His death occurred Jan. 16, 1866, at his residence in Belfast, at the
age of sixty-four years, and was the result of too close application to
his profession and of overwork. A more fitting epitaph could not be accorded
him than in these words:--
"'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for
his friends.' For, if ever a man did lay down his life for other, that
man was Phineas Parkhurst Quimby."
Section 2 of 5
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