Born the youngest of six children in New Hampshire in 1821, the poorly educated Mary Baker was one of the most remarkable women of the late 19th century becoming the founder of the Christian Scientist movement. She published several books, one selling over one million copies, and founded an international newspaper The Christian Science Monitor still in circulation today.
 
A semi-invalid, Mrs Eddy became increasingly disenchanted with the non-efficacy of drugs and homoeopathy and turned to the power of the mind for healing. As a patient of Phineas P. Quimby, she was influenced by his system of healing. Quimby’s ideas being developed along the lines of those of a French mesmerist Charles Poyen. Quimby believed that the methods he used were those employed by Jesus, mental rather than manipulative - good thoughts driving out the bad.

In her book, Science and Health, published in 1875, although she tries to disassociate herself from Quimby’s healing system, there is a mixture of Quimby’s ideas supplemented with extracts from the works of the great philosophers Berkely, Kant and Hegel. The Christian Science movement officially attributes the discovery of her healing system to an accident she had in 1866, when she fell on ice and which at the time was considered to be fatal. This marked the beginning of her work as a miraculous healer and is regarded as a direct revelation from God.
 
The Christian Science movement grew and thrived appealing to those with a predisposition to believe in the occult. By 1906, Mrs Eddy claimed to have one million adherents. Her reputation as a mental healer is based on a number of dramatic occasions although these are unsubstantiated by the medical profession. Christian Scientists however, attribute this to their hostility to anything deemed unconventional.

From: Edwards, H. 1994 Magic Minds Miraculous Moments, Harry Edwards Publications

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