Page:The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy.djvu/72

44 her sister, and as there was no one else, she used her wits. From time to time she applied to Mrs. Tilton for small sums of money for extra expenses. By hoarding these she soon had enough to pay her fare to Portland, and she, therefore, set out.

Mrs. Patterson arrived at the International Hotel in October, 1862, and with scores of others, who went flocking to Quimby, she was helped up the stairs to his office.

Dr. Quimby now becomes such a potent influence in Mrs. Patterson's life that some understanding of the man and his theories is necessary for any complete comprehension of her subsequent career.

Phineas Parkhurst Quimby was "Doctor" only by courtesy: he had taken no university degree and had studied in no regular school of medicine. He was regarded by the educated public as an amiable humbug or a fanatic, but by hundreds of his patients he was looked upon as a worker of miracles. His methods resembled those of no regular physician then in practice, nor did he imitate the spiritualistic and clairvoyant healers who at that time flourished in New England. He gave no drugs, went into no trances, used no incantations, and did not heal by mesmerism after he had discovered his "science." He professed to make his patients well and happy purely by the benevolent power of mind.

Fantastic as this idea then seemed, Quimby was no ordinary quack. He did not practise on the credulous for money, and his theories represented at least independent thought and patient, life-long study. He was born in New Lebanon, N. H., February 16, 1802, but spent the larger part of his life in Belfast, Me. He was one of seven children, and his father was