Julius A. Dresser
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Julius A. Dresser (1838-1893) was born in Portland, Maine, and died in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a journalist, editor, and early proponent of the New Thought movement. Dresser first met Mary Baker Eddy (then Patterson) in Portland, Maine, in the 1860s when they were both patients of Phineas Parkhurst Quimby. Eddy and Dresser continued to correspond until 1866, shortly after Quimby's death and Eddy's discovery of Christian Science. At that time, Dresser did not feel he could carry forward Quimby's work, as this excerpt from his March 2, 1866 letter to Eddy indicates: "As to turning Dr. myself, and undertaking to fill Dr. Q's place and carry on his work, it is not to be thought of for a minute. Can an infant do a strong man's work? Nor would I if I could...." (632.64.008). Dresser moved to Boston in 1882, after spending some years living and working in California. Shortly after arriving in Boston, he studied metaphysical healing with Edward J. Arens, a former student of Mary Baker Eddy's. After studying with Arens, Dresser began a public attack on Eddy, claiming she had plagiarized the works of Quimby and that Quimby was the originator of Christian Science. Dresser and Eddy exchanged opinions publicly in the Boston Post during February and March of 1883. Dresser's accusations may have contributed to Eddy's decision to ask the Circuit Court of the United States for an injunction to stop Arens from printing and circulating a pamphlet which contained numerous plagiarisms of her writings. In his response, Arens took the position that Eddy had herself plagiarized her writings and ideas from Quimby, a case he was unable to prove. Undeterred by the Court's findings in Eddy's favor, Dresser devoted the rest of his life to attacking Eddy, culminating in the publication of his book The True History of Mental Science (1887). After Dresser's death, his wife, Annetta G. Dresser, published The Philosophy of P. P. Quimby (1895), and his son, Horatio W. Dresser, edited and published The Quimby Manuscripts (1921).

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Julius A. Dresser
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Julius A. Dresser (1838-1893) was born in Portland, Maine, and died in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a journalist, editor, and early proponent of the New Thought movement. Dresser first met Mary Baker Eddy (then Patterson) in Portland, Maine, in the 1860s when they were both patients of Phineas Parkhurst Quimby. Eddy and Dresser continued to correspond until 1866, shortly after Quimby's death and Eddy's discovery of Christian Science. At that time, Dresser did not feel he could carry forward Quimby's work, as this excerpt from his March 2, 1866 letter to Eddy indicates: "As to turning Dr. myself, and undertaking to fill Dr. Q's place and carry on his work, it is not to be thought of for a minute. Can an infant do a strong man's work? Nor would I if I could...." (632.64.008). Dresser moved to Boston in 1882, after spending some years living and working in California. Shortly after arriving in Boston, he studied metaphysical healing with Edward J. Arens, a former student of Mary Baker Eddy's. After studying with Arens, Dresser began a public attack on Eddy, claiming she had plagiarized the works of Quimby and that Quimby was the originator of Christian Science. Dresser and Eddy exchanged opinions publicly in the Boston Post during February and March of 1883. Dresser's accusations may have contributed to Eddy's decision to ask the Circuit Court of the United States for an injunction to stop Arens from printing and circulating a pamphlet which contained numerous plagiarisms of her writings. In his response, Arens took the position that Eddy had herself plagiarized her writings and ideas from Quimby, a case he was unable to prove. Undeterred by the Court's findings in Eddy's favor, Dresser devoted the rest of his life to attacking Eddy, culminating in the publication of his book The True History of Mental Science (1887). After Dresser's death, his wife, Annetta G. Dresser, published The Philosophy of P. P. Quimby (1895), and his son, Horatio W. Dresser, edited and published The Quimby Manuscripts (1921).

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