New Evidence in Old Case

John C. Lathrop

[We are glad to give prominence to the following letter to Mrs. Eddy, which we copy from the Concord (N.H.) Daily Patriot. The statement of Mr. Sargent which it contains clearly defines Dr. Quimby's practice as that of a mesmerist, and, therefore, an impossible foundation for Christian Science, which has no affiliation with mesmerism, but which, on the contrary, overcomes and destroys its alleged power.—EDITOR.]

New York, August 25, 1905.

Beloved Leader and Teacher:—A gentleman (who is not a Christian Scientist) called on me to inquire about treatment, and in the course of conversation it appeared that he had known well the late Dr. P. P. Quimby of Portland, Me. He had lived and grown up in the same town with him, had himself taken treatment of Quimby, knew him well personally, and knew his reputation in that community.

The name of this gentleman is Mr. Charles C. Sargent. He resides at No. 29 East 73rd Street, New York, and has a large business establishment at 917 Broadway. I find he is in every respect a reputable, honest New England gentleman, a man of education and refinement, sixtythree years of age. He says that he lived for years at Belfast, Me., where Dr. Quimby resided before he moved to Portland. He also says that one day, when he was quite a lad, a professional mesmerist gave an exhibition at the public hall in Belfast, which proved a failure, because some person in the audience perverted the hypnotist influence and prevented a perfect control. The hypnotist invited the person, whomsoever he might be, to remain and meet him after the performance, and it proved to be Park Quimby (as Mr. Sargent repeatedly referred to him). Mr. Quimby was told by the hypnotist that he (Quimby) possessed extraordinary mesmeric powers, and that if he developed them, he could become a great adept.

That he (Quimby) forthwith proceeded to do so, the following incident shows: Mr. Sargent says that at the age of ten years, as a little boy, he remembers distinctly having been troubled for days with a sore neck, which medicines did not heal. Finally, in desperation, his mother sent him to Dr. Quimby, who was then practising the mesmeric art in physical healing. The latter examined his youthful patient, and told him emphatically that he did not have a sore neck, but instead, that it was his front tooth which pained him. This, young Sargent strongly denied, insisting that his teeth had never troubled him, but that the pain was in his neck. The boy held to his point so persistently that finally Dr. Quimby told him to go home, and tell his mother that he could do nothing for him, because he (the boy) had too strong a will; that his purpose had been to direct the boy's thought from his neck to this tooth and thus accomplish the cure.

Mr. Sargent says that Dr. Quimby was widely known in the community as a hypnotist; that people feared his powers, which he used rather freely; that whenever some one felt or acted queerly on the street, it was a common occurrence to say that Park Quimby was working on him.

I asked Mr. Sargent if he had ever heard Dr. Quimby connect God in any manner whatsoever with his method of healing. He replied that he never had: that, on the contrary, the power possessed by Quimby was quite notoriously a mesmeric power, and nothing higher.

This rehearsal of facts may at any time be verified by calling on the gentleman named. Christian Scientists well know that the Christ-method of healing disease and sin through the spiritual power of God, or Truth, acting beneficently upon the human mind and body, is based on the divine Principle which, through you, God has unveiled to a waiting world, and that it is in no conceivable manner related to, nor emanating from, the material system of human suggestion or will-power practised by P. P. Quimby.

Lovingly and gratefully yours.

John C. Lathrop.

To Rev. Mary Baker G. Eddy, Pleasant View, Concord, N.H.

[Here we state, on Mrs. Eddy's authority, that after she visited Dr. Quimby and conversed with him on a higher basis of healing, he assumed a higher outlook, and she regards him as a good moralist.—EDITOR.]

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