Phineas Parkhurst Quimby was a mid-1800s clockmaker in Belfast, Maine. He became fascinated with the practice of hypnotism, then called mesmerism. He dropped his clockmaking profession and traveled around Maine, offering demonstrations of mesmerism.

Over the years, he studied how the body, when mesmerized, could perform astonishing feats. Gradually, Quimby developed what he called science of the mind and used his concepts to heal the sick.

This is the story of how he evolved his theory. Consequently, his work was directly related to the founding of the Unity movement and Christian Science.

The author's position is that the New Age philosophy that the mind controls the body was inspired by a Maine clockmaker.