Faust in America / [Henry E. Sigerist].

  • Henry E. Sigerist
Date:
[1934]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Faust in America / [Henry E. Sigerist]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    for children of both sexes. (Fig. 1) He propagates it enthusias¬ tically and in a delightfully naive way. “My book will create a sensation/’ he writes in a concluding chapter. “We Germans are a united, great and noble people that shall become more and more respected and noble and I therefore wish that all German children of all classes would be dressed in a uniform way all over Germany.” He wants the best men in the country— including Goethe, Wieland, Herder—to examine the case, to experiment with different dress patterns. He draws up regula¬ tions for the authorities to introduce such a uniform and national dress. And as he did not find much response in Germany, he had the book translated into French and presented to the National Assembly in Paris.5 A revolutionary government might be more amenable to such suggestions. An English translation was made in the same year.6 Faust is not a nationalist. He doesn’t want a uniform in a military sense. Far from it. He fights for the liberation of the child—of all the children of all countries—from the bonds of an unnatural dress harmful to its development. The book that won Faust an international reputation was his catechism of health—Gesundheits-Katechismus zum Geb- rauche in den Schulen und beym hdusliclien Unterrichte, Biicke- burg, 17947 (Fig. 2)—a small booklet of 92 pages, teaching the elements of hygiene. A small booklet and yet a great book which had a tremendous influence upon its time. It was translated into many European languages, and it has been estimated that more than 150,000 copies were sold within a few years. II. It seems obvious that such a book would find a warm reception in the country of Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush. In 1798, four years after the initial appearance of the book, an English translation was “Published for the use of the Citizens of the United States,” in New York, Printed by R. Wilson, for 5 Hommage fait a l’Assemblee nationale de quelques idees sur un vetement uniform et raisonn£, k l’usage des enfans, Strasbourg, An 3 (1792). c An essay on a peculiar uniform and national dress for children. Addressed to the national Assembly of France, London, 1792. 7 The book has been reprinted from the 9th edition by Karl Roller, Der Gesundheits-katechismus Dr. Bernh. Chr. Fausts, Leipzig und Berlin, 1909 ; and a facsimile of the first edition was edited by Martin Vogel, Dresden, n. d. (1925).