subject. The change which he passed through in the intermediate period was from the idea of merely human control to that of inner receptivity to Divine wisdom, and the dedication of all powers of concentration to the carrying out of spiritual ideals. This change was hard to follow, since few people believed in such direct access to higher wisdom, and all thoughts directed to another's mind were supposedly for the sake of controlling that mind. The prevailing interest in spiritism was no help, for that theory also encouraged belief in the mere action of one spirit on another; it did not trace guidance to the Divine mind. The teachings of the Church were not favorable, for Dr. Quimby's work centered interest upon the patient's own inner life at large, not upon the mere problems of sin and salvation. Therefore, the new trail had to be blazed alone.
Still further, Quimby's reaction against medical theory and practice in his experimental period was a reaction from all sciences based on external signs or appearances, matters that could not be proved. His most frequent reference is to “opinion” taken for truth, and his early articles are directed against all such suggestions or assertions. There must then be a true Science, so he reasoned, which is indeed verifiable. This wisdom will take into account man's real as opposed to his apparent condition. It will not deny the actuality of human beliefs accepted as truth, while the spell is unbroken; it will break that spell and show people that an error regarded as truth is for the time being as real as life itself. It will therefore build upon psychological facts, but higher facts must gradually be brought into view.
The basis for this Science was laid in a measure by the discovery that the human spirit possesses senses or powers which function independently of matter. These “spiritual senses,” as Quimby later called them, include not merely sight or clairvoyance but the power of detecting odors and atmospheres at a distance, the ability to read another's mind, and to travel in spirit, making oneself both felt and seen—if the recipient of such a visit were himself clairvoyant. For the higher purposes now in view it did not very much matter whether Lucius had actually seen the condition of a diseased body or had merely read from the patient's mind, and from the minds of others present, what the patient or others merely thought was the disease; in either case the clairvoyant feat
