Phineas Parkhurst Quimby

Born in the small town of Lebanon, New Hampshire, Quimby was one of seven children and the son of a blacksmith and his wife. As was customary for his social and economic class at that time, Quimby received little formal education. He suffered from tuberculosis in his youth, a disease that then had no cure, and was prescribed calomel by his doctor. The calomel was no cure, and began to rot his teeth.

Quimby began experimenting with his own ideas for a cure. He found that intense excitement (such as galloping on his horse) alleviated his pain for brief periods of time, and he became interested in the mind's ability to affect the body. He claimed to have cured himself of TB by his methods.[2]

Quimby and Lucius Burkmar

In 1836 Charles Poyen came to Belfast, Maine, from France on an extended lecture tour in New England about mesmerism, also widely known as hypnotism. He was a French mesmerist who followed in the tradition of Armand-Marie-Jacques de Chastenet, Marquis of Puységur. Quimby was intensely curious and attended one of Poyen's lectures in 1838. He questioned Poyen about the nature of animal magnetism and its powers. Poyen admitted that with proper training, anyone could become adept at administering hypnotism. Quimby left his job as a watchmaker and followed Poyen's tour of New England for the next two years (1838–1840), studying to become proficient himself at applying mesmerism.[3]

Around this time Quimby encountered Lucius Burkmar, an uneducated youth who was particularly susceptible to hypnosis. Finding him useful to work with, Quimby and Burkmar developed a tour of their own. Quimby demonstrated mesmeric practice with Burkmar in front of large crowds.[4]

Later Quimby and Burkmar stopped touring. Quimby claimed to heal people of ailments which doctors could not cure. Quimby told his patients that disease was caused by false beliefs, and that the cure was in the explanation of this.

Quimby married and had a family. One of his sons was a follower and strong defender of him, working to differentiate his work from that of Mary Baker Eddy, a student who later founded Christian Science. His son worked from his father's writings, which were mostly not released until the 1920s, after the son's death.

By trade Quimby was a watch and clockmaker.[5] He also invented items and held several patents for a variety of unrelated, larger mechanical devices.[6][7]

(d) Phineas P. Quimby is listed as patentee for "US Patent: 8,232X: Sawing timber: Chain saw for sawing timber, wood, metal, marble, etc.", 3 June 1834.[8] As of 21 September 2007, no records have been found for any of the patent numbers ranging from X5475 to X5497 inclusive — i.e., from 30 April 1829 to 11 June 1829).

Among the people Quimby claimed to have cured were Julius Dresser and his wife Annetta Dresser, from what sickness it is unclear.[9] Their son, Horatio Wills Dresser, wrote extensively on Quimby's theories. He edited and collected many of Quimby's papers in his book Health and the Inner Life: An Analytical and Historical Study of Spiritual Healing and Theories (published before 1923; reissued as 2009 paperback by Forgotten Books). He also edited and published Quimby's papers in the book, The Collected Manuscripts of P.P. Quimby (1921; reprinted in 2008 paperback as The Quimby Manuscripts by Forgotten Books).

Barry Morton, a scholar of faith healing, has said that Quimby's constant practice of his mind cure method led him to make important discoveries related to curing psychosomatic illnesses. Although Quimby did not publish his findings, he trained many others in his methods. In effect, he started a "gnostic" healing tradition. Some of his methods were adopted by John Alexander Dowie, who revolutionized Christian faith healing in the 1880s.[10]

Warren Felt Evans was one of the first individuals who wrote seriously on the teachings of Phineas Quimby.[11]

Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, has sometimes been cited as having been inspired by Quimby in her theology. Eddy was a patient of Quimby and shared his view that disease is rooted in a mental cause. Because of its theism, the Christian Science which she developed differs considerably from the teachings of Quimby, who did not base his work in religion.[12][13][14]

• Dresser, Horatio W. (1921). The Quimby Manuscripts, Thomas Y. Crowell Co. ISBN 0-7661-4052-0
• Clark, M. A. (ed.), The Healing Wisdom of Dr. P. P. Quimby: Selected Notes from the Dresser and Collie Compilations of the Quimby Manuscripts, Frontal Lobe, (Los Altos), 1982. ISBN 0-931400-02-3
• Quimby, Phineas Parkhurst (Seale, Ervin, ed.), (1988). The Complete Writings: Volume 1, Marina Del Rey, CA: DeVorss & Co. ISBN 0-87516-600-8
• _____ (Seale, Ervin, ed.), (1988). The Complete Writings: Volume 2, Marina Del Rey, CA: DeVorss & Co. ISBN 0-87516-601-6
• _____ (Seale, Ervin, ed.), (1988). The Complete Writings: Volume 3, Marina Del Rey, CA: DeVorss & Co. ISBN 0-87516-602-4

A good overview of Quimby, and the incompatibility of his ideas and practice with those of Eddy, can be found in the following sources:

• Gill, Gillian. Mary Baker Eddy. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Perseus Books, 1998 (pp 131-146 & 230-233)
• Peel, Robert. Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Discovery. Boston: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966 (chapter, “Portland 1862”)
• Taves, Ann, Fits, Trances, & Visions: Experiencing Religion and Explaining Experience from Wesley to James. Princeton University Press 1999 (pp 212-218)

• Philosophy of Mind
• Mind-body dualism
• Dualistic cosmology

• Albanese, C. L., "Physic and Metaphysic in Nineteenth-Century America: Medical Sectarians and Religious Healing", Church History, Vol. 55, No. 4. (Dec., 1986), pp. 489–502.
• Anon, "The Strange Life of Mary Baker Eddy; Her Ability to Gain and Hold the Loyalty of Thousands a Notable Attribute. How She Founded Her Cult; That She Rewrote the Ideas of Phineas Quimby Always Vigorously Denied -- Many Times Attacked" [Obituary], New York Times, (5 December 1910), p. 3.
• Holmes, S. W., "Phineas Parkhurst Quimby: Scientist of Transcendentalism", The New England Quarterly, Vol.17, No.3, (September 1944), pp. 356–380.
• Morton, B. "John Alexander Dowie and the Invention of Modern Faith Healing, 1882-1889," paper presented at UNISA, June 2015.
• Teahan, John F., "Warren Felt Evans and Mental Healing: Romantic Idealism and Practical Mysticism in Nineteenth-Century America", Church History, Vol.48, No.1, (March 1979), pp. 63–80.

• The Collected Works of Dr. Phineas P. Quimby
• Phineas Parkhurst Quimby Resource Center
• A Story Untold: A History of the Quimby-Eddy Debate