Page:The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy.djvu/73

Rh a poor, hardworking blacksmith. Quimby, therefore, had practically no educational advantages; indeed, he spent actually only six weeks in school. Apprenticed as a boy to a clock-maker, he became an adept at his trade. The Quimby clock is still a domestic institution in New England; hundreds made by Quimby's own hands are still keeping excellent time. Quimby had an ingenious mind and a natural aptitude for mechanics. He invented, among other things, a band-saw much like one in use at the present time, and he was one of the first makers of daguerreotypes. From the first he disclosed one rare mental quality: his keen power of observation and originality of thought forbade his taking anything for granted. He recognised no such thing as accepted knowledge. He developed into a mild-mannered New England Socrates, constantly looking into his own mind, and subjecting to proof all the commonplace beliefs of his friends. He read deeply in philosophy and science, and loved nothing better than to discuss these subjects at length.

In those days a man of Quimby's intellectual type did not lack subjects of interest. In the '30's the first wave of mental science, animal magnetism, and clairvoyance swept over New England. The atmosphere was charged with the occult, the movement ranging all the way from phrenology and mind-reading to German transcendentalism. Quimby's interest was directly stimulated by the visit of Charles Poyen, the well-known French mesmerist, who came to lecture in Belfast. The inquiring clock-maker became absorbed in Poyen's theories, formed his acquaintance, and followed him from town to town. Inevitably, Quimby began experimenting in the subject which