“Sebastian Kniepp’s Legacy to Worishofen,” pictured at the beginning of “The Codicil.”
As colder weather comes on, many of us are changing an outdoor for an indoor exercise routine: Sebastian Kniepp wants to help you with that.
You’ll remember the image of exercising men that we put up at the beginning of this week. Well, that was only one of Kniepp’s suggestions for keeping body and mind healthy. Apart from giving health advice, Kniepp was also a cleric: the front matter to The Codicil identifies him as “Privy Chamberlain to the Pope and Pastor of Worishofen.”
The Codicil to “my will” for the healthy and the sick; containing chapters on the anatomy and care of the human body, gymnastic exercises, first help in accidents, cooking recipes, medicinal plants and the cure of diseases was published in 1897 as a follow-up to Kniepp’s earlier works, My water cure as tested through more than thirty years and described for the healing of diseases and the preservation of health and Thus shalt thou live : hints and advice for the healthy and the sick on a simple and rational mode of life and a natural method of cure.
In The Codicil, Kniepp provides general health advice to men and women, invalid and healthy through a variety of means, including championing the curative powers of water, as well as “natural” living, and “Cooking Recipes for strengthening the stomach.” Kniepp also provides extensive guidance in “gymnastic exercises,” as seen by our chosen illustration on Monday as well as the dozens of other illustrations in the book.
You can find more works by Kniepp in our Internet Archive collection, some in English, some in German. And, as always, for more from the Medical Heritage Library, please visit our full collection!