Phineas Parkhurst Quimby was an American clockmaker, mentalist and mesmerist. His work is widely recognized as foundational to the New Thought spiritual movement.
Biography
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 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.
Mesmerism
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, studying to become proficient himself at applying mesmerism. 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. 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.
Personal life
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 patient 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.
Inventor
By trade Quimby was a watch and clockmaker. He also invented items and held several patents for a variety of unrelated, larger mechanical devices.
Followers and patients
Notable Followers
Among the people who claimed to be cured by Quimby were Julius Dresser and his wife Annetta Dresser, from what sickness it is unclear. Their son, Horatio 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. He also edited and published Quimby's papers in the book, The Collected Manuscripts of P.P. Quimby. 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. Warren Felt Evans was one of the first individuals who wrote seriously on the teachings of Phineas Quimby.
Notable patients
, the founder of Christian Science, was a patient of Quimby's for a short time. Later, claims were made that she was at least partially inspired by Quimby in her theology. However, both Quimby's son and Christian Scientists have pointed out major differences between Quimbyism and Christian Science. Biographer Gillian Gill and others agreed, pointing out that because of its theism, Christian Science differs considerably from the teachings of Quimby, who did not base his work in religion.
