comfortable, and turned over on her left side, a thing she had not done for nearly a year. She continued improving, and [I] sent the Doctor letters informing him of his success. On Sunday, not expecting her to rise, I attended church, and on my return I found her up and dressed. Between the hours of 11 and 12 she arose from her bed and walked across the room, returning to the bed, and then walked out into the dining room, and the next morning she took breakfast with the family, and continued to improve.”[1]
[The letter goes on to say that the patient suffered a partial relapse a year later, and her husband, being in Portland, called on Quimby for help; the help was given without informing the wife, and her husband reports that it was with success according to Quimby's predictions. Evidently, there had been no opportunity in this case for Quimby to converse with the patient and give her advice regarding her health. The editor, commenting on the above instance, thinks it invites explanation from those who would attribute it to spiritistic influences. The editor was much impressed by the genuineness of the explanation offered by Quimby in such cases, namely, that it was intelligent use of therapeutic power, not the agency of spirits; for he learned from a woman in Lancaster, N. H., that at the time appointed by Quimby for visiting Mrs. Whitney absently, Quimby, then in Lancaster, remarked that he “must go to Wayne to visit a patient.” After retiring to the parlor for an hour, Quimby returned and said he had “got the lady up from her bed, and that she walked, and three persons were present in the room who witnessed it. Upon writing Mr. Whitney, it was found that he and two friends, who had accompanied him home from meeting were present at that time, and saw her walk.” This again shows the clarity of Quimby's perception at a distance, also the fact that what he gave as facts could be verified.
A writer in another Portland paper, name and date not
given in the scrap-book, after pointing out the usual
misconceptions gathering around Quimby's name and declaring
that Quimby is “always conscious of what he says and does,”
adds that]: “He takes as a starting-point that disease was
- ↑ This case shows the clearness with which Quimby discerned a patient's condition at a distance, also his skill in telling how long his absent work would take before the patient would be up and about.
