The New International Encyclopædia/Jung-Stilling, Johann Heinrich

JUNG-STILLING, yōōng stĭl′lĭng, Johann Heinrich (1740-1817). A German author, born at Grund in Westphalia. His original name was Jung. He was a charcoal-burner, was then apprenticed to a tailor, and in 1770 went to Strassburg to study medicine. He practiced at Elberfeld till 1778, and achieved renown by his operations for the removal of cataract; then taught at Kaiserslautern, Heidelberg, and Marburg; but soon returned to Karlsruhe, where he was pensioned by the Grand Duke of Baden and made Privy Councilor. His most important work is the mystic autobiography, Heinrich Stillings Leben (1806), in the publication of which he was assisted by Goethe, whom he had learned to know at Strassburg, and who characterizes his friend in the second volume of Aus meinem Leben. The autobiography was completed by Heinrich Stillings Alter (1817). His other works are the novels: Geschichte des Herrn von Morgenthau (1779); Geschichte Florentins von Fahlendorn (1781-83); and Erzählungen (1814-15); and on purely mystical subjects: Theobald (1784-85; in English, 1846); Theorie der Geisterkunde (1808; in English, 1834); and Scenen aus dem Geisterreiche (1797-1801). His collected works were published at Stuttgart (1835-39). Consult Petersen, Jung-Stilling (Copenhagen, 1890).