James Martin Peebles Explained

James Martin Peebles, Jr
Birth Date:23 March 1822
Birth Place:Whitingham, Vermont
Death Place:Los Angeles, California
Occupation:Physician (fraudulent degree & 1903 fed. conviction mail fraud for psychic healing business), writer, spiritualist preacher, self-proclaimed Christ, travelogue speaker

James Martin Peebles (March 23, 1822 – February 15, 1922) was an American physician, prolific author and organizer of many professional, medical, and psychic/spiritualist religious associations.

Biography

Peebles was born in Whitingham, Vermont.[1] Peebles was a member of the Indian Peace Commission of 1868, United States Consul at Trebizond, Turkey, and representative of the American Arbitration League at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. A former Universalist minister, he became an Episcopalian after the American Civil War, and then a Spiritualist and Theosophist. Many of his books are on spiritualist subjects, although he also penned a quite popular book, titled How to Live a Century and Grow Old Gracefully.[2] [3] [4]

Peebles obtained a diploma in 1876 from the fraudulent Philadelphia University of Medicine and Surgery.[5] [6] He obtained a Doctor of Philosophy from the Medical University of Chicago in 1882.[1] [7] He was a professor in the Eclectic Medical College of Cincinnati.[3]

A few organizations Peebles took a leadership role in are the National Spiritualist Association, the California College of Sciences, the Peebles College of Science and Philosophy, the California Centenarian Club, and the California Humanitarian League. Peebles was an opponent of vaccination and vivisection.[1] He authored Vaccination a Curse and a Menace to Personal Liberty in 1900.[8] He was editor of the monthly magazine Temple of Health and Psychic Review.[1]

Peebles was influenced by Sylvester Graham and opposed the consumption of alcohol, coffee, meat, tea and tobacco.[9] He was a vegetarianism activist and contributed articles to The Vegetarian Magazine. His diet was ovo-lacto vegetarian, he ate butter, cheese, eggs, milk, fruits, nuts and vegetables.[10]

Peebles was married to Mary M. Conkey, and they had three children, none of whom lived past infancy.

Quackery

He was the chairman of Peebles' Institute of Health in Battle Creek, Michigan. In reality, it was nothing more than a mail order scam business. There was no inpatient treatment center, it was a small office located above a cigar store. He advertised that if one would send in their money and symptoms, he would mail them a diagnosis and send them miracle medicine cures. His claim was that with his psychic voices and his powers equal to Christ, he did not need to see them. The institute sold a dubious "epilepsy cure", which medical experts considered quackery.[11] [12] [13] His epilepsy remedy was examined by the American Medical Association's chemical laboratory which revealed it was made from "mainly a hydro-alcoholic solution of extractives with flavouring."[11] The "indiscriminate use" of bromides was considered dangerous to epileptics.[12] In Feb. 16, 1903, the Detroit Free Press published his conviction in the case of United States of America vs James M. Peebles et al, for illegal use of the U.S. Mail in a psychic healing business based in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Peebles also set up psychic healing institutes in California, New Jersey and Texas.[5]

Bibliography (partial)

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Guinn, James Miller. (1915). A History of California and an Extended History of Los Angeles and Environs, Volume 3. Historic Record Company. pp. 527-533
  2. James Peebles (1884) How to Live a Century and Grow Old Gracefully, M. L. Holbrook & Co., New York
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20120612045733/http://www.todancewithangels.com/peebles_obituary.html "Lives Only Days Short of Century"
  4. Joseph Osgood Barrett (1872) Spiritual Pilgrim: A Biography of James M. Peebles, Boston: William White and Company
  5. Massie, Larry B; Schmitt, Peter J. (1984). Battle Creek, the Place Behind the Products: An Illustrated Business History. Windsor Publications. p. 62. "He paused from his travels to pick up a quick diploma from the fraudulent Philadelphia University of Medicine and Surgery in 1876. Dr. Peebles then bounced around the country, setting up psychic healing institutes at Hammonton, New Jersey, San Antonio, Texas; and San Diego, California."
  6. http://www.medicalantiques.com/civilwar/Articles/Fraudulent_medical_colleges_1800s.htm "Ludwig Bruck's List of Unregistered Practitioners"
  7. Lowe, Berenice Bryant. (1976). Tales of Battle Creek. Albert L. and Louise B. Miller Foundation. p. 71
  8. Buescher, John Benedict. (2006). The Remarkable Life of John Murray Spear: Agitator for the Spirit Land. University of Notre Dame Press. p. 335. "Many American spiritualists were also active anti-vaccinationists — see, for example, James Martin Peebles, Vaccination a Curse and a Menace to Personal Liberty, with Statistics Showing Its Dangers and Criminality."
  9. Wilson, Brian C. (2014). Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and the Religion of Biologic Living. Indiana University Press. p. 20.
  10. Anonymous. (1897). James M. Peebles, A.M., M.D. Food, Home and Garden 1 (12): 179-180.
  11. Cramp, Arthur J. (1921). Nostrums and Quackery: Articles on the Nostrum Evil, Quackery and Allied Matters Affecting the Public Health, Volume 2. Press of American Medical Association. pp. 148-150
  12. Anonymous. (1915). Dr. Peebles Institute of Health: A Fraudulent and Dangerous "Cure" for Epilepsy. Journal of the American Medical Association 64 (5): 455-456.
  13. https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/ads-and-labels-early-20th-century-health-fraud-promotions/2018-11 "Ads and Labels From Early 20th-Century Health Fraud Promotions"

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