Dr. Quimby claims that he cures disease under the guidance of a principle, which being understood must set free the sick. Consequently his system so far as he carries it, is an intelligible one, and his position in regard to disease, entirely new and original. Instead of treating the body as an intelligent organization, with independent life, he finds the life and intelligence in the man, who occupies it. His process reverses their relation to each other, making the visible form, the shadow, while the everlasting substance is not seen in the natural world. His theory separates them and brings to light the pure intelligence of man, letting it work in the world of matter as master and not slave. From this stand-point he advocates the cause of the sick against the whole world, for everybody believes that the body is diseased and the mind or real man is not affected. He says the voice of the sick is not heard in the world; it is what the well say about them that gets the public ear, while they, passive and helpless are completely controlled by the influences coming from the knowledge of those whose duty it is to cure them. He also says the well, know nothing of themselves about the sick, and consequently their judgment is uncharitable and fallible. It is his duty to get the sick free from the charges made against them, and this he does by a full knowledge of their feelings, which he takes upon himself. These feelings, which are the evidences against them, he explains in a way that destroys what they prove to the world.

Statements made by him to the sick have a strange sound, and need an explanation to render them intelligible; for he often tells a person he has no disease when nothing is plainer than that he has. Here comes in his peculiar belief, which to him is knowledge. He does not trace disease to a hidden or mysterious source, or no source at all, neither does he pay any respect to it as though it came from God. He refers it directly to man himself, under the dominion of  ● ● ●