“Der Katzenraphael”
September 17, 2024 12:48 AM Subscribe
Though Gottfried Mind is seldom discussed today, his story unites several concerns that preoccupied Europe in the early nineteenth century: the swiftly evolving nature of art and of artists; the increasingly examined relationship between humans and animals; and, more distinctively, a popular and intellectual fascination with the Swiss Alps and the supposed Alpine phenomenon of “cretin imbecility”. ... A modern reassessment of his life and work therefore offers a fresh perspective on Mind’s turn-of-the-century context, as well as his art. from Gottfried Mind, The Raphael of Cats [Public Domain Review]
On the one hand, who can argue with big soft round cats? On the other, how can a house with that many cats have that many rats?!
posted by mittens at 5:54 AM on September 17 [2 favorites]
posted by mittens at 5:54 AM on September 17 [2 favorites]
I don't recall hearing about Gottfried Mind before, or seeing any of his delightful art, so I'm grateful for the introduction to it provided by this post.
posted by misteraitch at 2:08 PM on September 17 [5 favorites]
posted by misteraitch at 2:08 PM on September 17 [5 favorites]
On the subject of cretin imbecility:
"Unable to walk, — usually deaf and dumb, — with bleared eyes, and head of disproportionate size, — brown, flabby, and leprous skin, — a huge goitre descending from the throat and resting upon the breast, — an abdomen enormously distended — the lower limbs crooked, weak, and ill-shaped, — without the power of utterance, or thoughts to utter, — and generally incapable of seeing, not from defect of the visual organs, but from want of capacity to fix the eye upon any object, — the cretin seems beyond the reach of human sympathy or aid. In intelligence he is far below the horse, the dog, the monkey, or even the swine; the only instincts of his nature are hunger and lust, and even these are fitful and irregular.
The number of these unfortunate beings in the mountainous districts of Europe, and especially of Central and Southern Europe, is very great. In several of the Swiss cantons they form from four to five per cent. of the population. In Rhenish Prussia, and in the Danubian provinces of Austria, the number is still greater; in Styria, many villages of four or five thousand inhabitants not having a single man capable of bearing arms. In Württemberg and Bavaria, in Savoy, Sardinia, the Alpine regions of France, and the mountainous districts of Spain, the disease is very prevalent."
“Cretins And Idiots”
By Linus P. Brockett, The Atlantic Monthly, February 1858
posted by ohshenandoah at 1:52 PM on September 19
"Unable to walk, — usually deaf and dumb, — with bleared eyes, and head of disproportionate size, — brown, flabby, and leprous skin, — a huge goitre descending from the throat and resting upon the breast, — an abdomen enormously distended — the lower limbs crooked, weak, and ill-shaped, — without the power of utterance, or thoughts to utter, — and generally incapable of seeing, not from defect of the visual organs, but from want of capacity to fix the eye upon any object, — the cretin seems beyond the reach of human sympathy or aid. In intelligence he is far below the horse, the dog, the monkey, or even the swine; the only instincts of his nature are hunger and lust, and even these are fitful and irregular.
The number of these unfortunate beings in the mountainous districts of Europe, and especially of Central and Southern Europe, is very great. In several of the Swiss cantons they form from four to five per cent. of the population. In Rhenish Prussia, and in the Danubian provinces of Austria, the number is still greater; in Styria, many villages of four or five thousand inhabitants not having a single man capable of bearing arms. In Württemberg and Bavaria, in Savoy, Sardinia, the Alpine regions of France, and the mountainous districts of Spain, the disease is very prevalent."
“Cretins And Idiots”
By Linus P. Brockett, The Atlantic Monthly, February 1858
posted by ohshenandoah at 1:52 PM on September 19
While Brockett was being insulting and exaggerating, CIDS was a real problem in the mentioned areas until the mid-twentieth century. Iodized salt was a genuine triumph of public health.
posted by tavella at 4:16 PM on September 19 [1 favorite]
posted by tavella at 4:16 PM on September 19 [1 favorite]
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posted by Phanx at 5:52 AM on September 17 [4 favorites]