Bilgin, Ozgur

Noachtar, Soheyl

Remi, Jan

English

Ozgur Bilgin

Jan R&eacute

Soheyl Noachtar

Crossref

Straw Peter Syndrome &ndash; A Literary Mistake?

Open Access LMU

Fax +41 61 306 12 34E-Mail karger@karger.chwww.karger.com Correspondence  The character who best represents hyperactivity in the bookis Fidgety Philip (Zappel-Philipp) ( fig. 1 b)  [5] . He was not able to sit quietly at the table at family dinner ( fig. 1 b). He kept rocking his chair despite his parents’ repeated admonitions. These behav-ioral characteristics are consistent with many of the ICD-10 cri-teria for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)  [3, 5] . There is another story which also includes aspects of ADHD.Cruel Frederick (Böser Friederich) shows antisocial aggressive behavior which may also be considered at least partly a symptom of ADHD  [4] . The story of Johnny-Look-in-the-Air (Hanns-Guck-in-die-Luft) describes a boy who always looked up in the sky and did not hear people warning him. He eventually fell in a hole in the road and into the water  [4] . The German epileptologist Dieter Janz felt that Johnny-Look-in-the-Air represents a boy with absence epi-lepsy but others believed that he more likely was a day-dreaming child  [6, 7] . All 10 different stories of the book  Straw Peter (Struwwelpeter) have a moral to children which has sometimes been regarded as black pedagogy (Schwarze Pädagogik) because of some frighten-ing characters and scary punishments  [4] . Discussion  The stories in Dr. Hoffmann’s book reflect universal problems in children’s behaviors as well as the universal reactions of parents to these behaviors. For this reason it was translated into more than 30 languages. The English translation was done by Mark Twain. Sigmund Freud  [8] appreciated Hoffmann’s ‘understanding of sexual and other complexes in children’. Considering all stories, it would be more appropriate to name ADHD after Fidgety Philip rather than using the name of the book  Struwwelpeter (Straw Peter) , which includes a lot of different problems of child development and misbehavior  [3, 5] . The trans- Dear Sir,  With interest we read the article ‘Neurological eponyms de-rived from literature and visual art’ by Dr. Budrys, which was published in  European Neurology in 2005  [1] . We would like to comment on a few points of the Straw Peter Syndrome, which is based on the book by Heinrich Hoffmann. Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann was born in Frankfurt/Main on June 13, 1809. He studied medicine and had a passion for literature. In 1844 he wrote the children’s book  Struwwelpeter  (Straw Peter) as a Christmas gift to his then 3-year-old son. Dr. Hoffmann was a psychiatrist but erroneously is often re-ferred to as a pediatrician. As a psychiatrist he published on psy-chiatric issues  [2] . In 1851 he founded the first mental hospital (lunatic asylum) in Frankfurt. He considered psychiatric disor-ders to be medical disorders and rejected the notion of psychiatric patients being criminal or obsessed  [3] . He also tried to alter pub-lic opinion on mentally ill persons. He died in Frankfurt on Sep-tember 20, 1894. Dr. Hoffmann designed the book  Straw Peter for his son with-out any intention to publish it. The book includes 10 separate sto-ries on 10 children who displayed typical undesirable children’s behaviors  [4] . Straw Peter was the one with long, uncombed hair and long fingernails who refused common hygiene ( fig. 1 a).Published online: April 11, 2008 © 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel0014–3022/08/0596–0336$24.50/0  Accessible online at:www.karger.com/ene  Eur Neurol 2008;59:336–337  DOI: 10.1159/000121429  Straw Peter Syndrome – A Literary Mistake?  Ozgur Bilgin, Jan Rémi, Soheyl Noachtar   University of Munich, Klinikum Grosshadern Epilepsy Center,  Munich , Germany a b Fig. 1. Original illustration of Struwwel-peter (Scrubby Peter) ( a ) and Zappel-Phi-lipp (Fidgety Philip) ( b ) by H. Hoffmann.  Correspondence 337 Firstly please let me express thanks for the interest in my paper and the valuable comments on Straw Peter Syndrome. I fully agree that Fidgety Philip represents most of the typical attention deficit hyperactivity disorder features; nevertheless other characters of the book also display some of them and together form a complete picture of the syndrome. Concerning renaming of the syndrome, the name of the book  Struwwelpeter seems merely more mem orable and euphonious, so more suitable for a literary eponym. An analo-gous example could be the well-known  Pickwick  syndrome – named after the book, not the name of the fat boy Joe. Though somewhat inaccurate, the Straw Peter Syndrome is already an-chored in medicine and a difficult task will be to change it.  Eur Neurol 2008;59:337  DOI: 10.1159/000121430  Reply to the Letter by Bilgin et al.:Straw Peter Syndrome – A Literary Mistake?  Valmantas Budrys   Clinics of Neurology and Neurosurgery,Vilnius University Faculty of Medicine,  Vilnius , Lithuania  Valmantas Budrys, MD, PhD  Center of NeurologyVilnius University Santariskiu Klinikos Hospital  Santariskiu 2  LT–08661 Vilnius (Lithuania)  Tel./Fax +370 5 2365 220, E-Mail valma@takas.lt lation of ‘Struwwelpeter’ as ‘Straw Peter’ is somewhat inaccurate. The English translation of ‘Struwwelpeter’ by Mark Twain as ‘Slovenly Peter’ emphasizes the child’s character, whereas the German colloquial word ‘Struwwel’ is a descriptive term of long uncombed hair. The closest English term would be scrubby. The examples of literary named diseases usually refer to the character who suffers them. Sir Aguecheek in Shakespeare’s  Twelfth Night is an example. Aguecheek disease (chronic portal-systemic encephalopathy) is named after this character  [9] . In conclusion, we think that naming ADHD as Straw Peter Syndrome is misleading and propose to name it after the charac-ter of Fidgety Philip (Zappel-Philipp), who displays most of the characteristics of the ADHD syndrome.  References  1 Budrys V: Neurological eponyms derived from literature and visual art. Eur Neurol 2005; 53: 171–178.  2 Hoffmann H: Beobachtungen und Erfahrungen über Seelenstörungen und Epilepsie in der Irrenanstalt zu Frankfurt am Main (1851–1858); in Hoffmann H, Siefert H (eds): Schriften zur Psychiatre. Frankfurt, Insel, 1859, pp 140–324.  3 Thome J, Jacobs KA: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a 19th century children’s book. Eur Psychiatry 2004; 19: 303–306.  4 Hoffmann H: Der Struwwelpeter. Leipzig, Edition Peters, 1979.  5 Dobson R: Could Fidgety Philipp be proof that ADHD is not a modern phenomenon? BMJ 2004; 329: 643.  6 Janz D: Die Epilepsien, spezielle Pathologie und Therapie. Stuttgart, Thieme, 1969.  7 Rinnert S, Bauer J: Am Beispiel einer Bildergeschichte. Eine Analyse von Heinrich Hoffmanns Geschichte Hanns-Guck-in-die-Luft aus ep-ileptologischer Sicht. Z Epileptol 2003; 16: 157–171.  8 Freud S: Studienausgabe. Vorlesungen zur Einführung in die Psycho-analyse und Neue Folge. Frankfurt/Main, Fischer, 1989, vol 1.  9 Summerskill WHJ: Aguecheek’s disease. Gut 1978; 19: 468–469.   Ozgur Bilgin  University of Munich,  Department of Neurology  DE–81337 Munich (Germany)  Tel. +49 89 7095 3691, Fax +49 89 7095 6691E-Mail ozgurbilgin1@yahoo.com 

Am Beispiel einer Bildergeschichte. Eine Analyse von Heinrich Hoffmanns Geschichte Hanns-Guck-in-die-Luft aus epileptologischer Sicht. Z Epileptol

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a 19th century children’s book. Eur Psychiatry

Beobachtungen und Erfahrungen über Seelenstörungen und Epilepsie in der Irrenanstalt zu Frankfurt am Main (1851–1858);

Could Fidgety Philipp be proof that ADHD is not a modern phenomenon? BMJ

Die Epilepsien, spezielle Pathologie und Therapie.

Neurological eponyms derived from literature and visual art. Eur Neurol

Vorlesungen zur Einführung in die Psychoanalyse und Neue Folge.

Straw Peter syndrome - A literary mistake?

Universität München: Elektronischen Publikationen

Fax +41 61 306 12 34
E-Mail karger@karger.ch
www.karger.com
 Correspondence 
 The character who best represents hyperactivity in the book
is Fidgety Philip (Zappel-Philipp) ( fig. 1 b)  [5] . He was not able to 
sit quietly at the table at family dinner ( fig. 1 b). He kept rocking 
his chair despite his parents’ repeated admonitions. These behav-
ioral characteristics are consistent with many of the ICD-10 cri-
teria for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)  [3, 5] . 
There is another story which also includes aspects of ADHD.
Cruel Frederick (Böser Friederich) shows antisocial aggressive 
behavior which may also be considered at least partly a symptom 
of ADHD  [4] .
 The story of Johnny-Look-in-the-Air (Hanns-Guck-in-die-
Luft) describes a boy who always looked up in the sky and did not 
hear people warning him. He eventually fell in a hole in the road 
and into the water  [4] . The German epileptologist Dieter Janz felt 
that Johnny-Look-in-the-Air represents a boy with absence epi-
lepsy but others believed that he more likely was a day-dreaming 
child  [6, 7] .
 All 10 different stories of the book  Straw Peter (Struwwelpeter) 
have a moral to children which has sometimes been regarded as 
black pedagogy (Schwarze Pädagogik) because of some frighten-
ing characters and scary punishments  [4] .
 Discussion 
 The stories in Dr. Hoffmann’s book reflect universal problems 
in children’s behaviors as well as the universal reactions of parents 
to these behaviors. For this reason it was translated into more than 
30 languages. The English translation was done by Mark Twain. 
Sigmund Freud  [8] appreciated Hoffmann’s ‘understanding of 
sexual and other complexes in children’.
 Considering all stories, it would be more appropriate to name 
ADHD after Fidgety Philip rather than using the name of the 
book  Struwwelpeter (Straw Peter) , which includes a lot of different 
problems of child development and misbehavior  [3, 5] . The trans-
 Dear Sir, 
 With interest we read the article ‘Neurological eponyms de-
rived from literature and visual art’ by Dr. Budrys, which was 
published in  European Neurology in 2005  [1] . We would like to 
comment on a few points of the Straw Peter Syndrome, which is 
based on the book by Heinrich Hoffmann.
 Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann was born in Frankfurt/Main on June 
13, 1809. He studied medicine and had a passion for literature. In 
1844 he wrote the children’s book  Struwwelpeter  (Straw Peter) as 
a Christmas gift to his then 3-year-old son.
 Dr. Hoffmann was a psychiatrist but erroneously is often re-
ferred to as a pediatrician. As a psychiatrist he published on psy-
chiatric issues  [2] . In 1851 he founded the first mental hospital 
(lunatic asylum) in Frankfurt. He considered psychiatric disor-
ders to be medical disorders and rejected the notion of psychiatric 
patients being criminal or obsessed  [3] . He also tried to alter pub-
lic opinion on mentally ill persons. He died in Frankfurt on Sep-
tember 20, 1894.
 Dr. Hoffmann designed the book  Straw Peter for his son with-
out any intention to publish it. The book includes 10 separate sto-
ries on 10 children who displayed typical undesirable children’s 
behaviors  [4] . Straw Peter was the one with long, uncombed hair 
and long fingernails who refused common hygiene ( fig. 1 a).
Published online: April 11, 2008
 © 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel
0014–3022/08/0596–0336$24.50/0 
 Accessible online at:
www.karger.com/ene 
 Eur Neurol 2008;59:336–337 
 DOI: 10.1159/000121429 
 Straw Peter Syndrome – A Literary Mistake? 
 Ozgur Bilgin, Jan Rémi, Soheyl Noachtar  
 University of Munich, Klinikum Grosshadern Epilepsy Center, 
 Munich , Germany 
a b
 Fig. 1. Original illustration of Struwwel-
peter (Scrubby Peter) ( a ) and Zappel-Phi-
lipp (Fidgety Philip) ( b ) by H. Hoffmann. 
 Correspondence 337
 Firstly please let me express thanks for the interest in my paper 
and the valuable comments on Straw Peter Syndrome. I fully agree 
that Fidgety Philip represents most of the typical attention deficit 
hyperactivity disorder features; nevertheless other characters of 
the book also display some of them and together form a complete 
picture of the syndrome. Concerning renaming of the syndrome, 
the name of the book  Struwwelpeter seems merely more mem orable 
and euphonious, so more suitable for a literary eponym. An analo-
gous example could be the well-known  Pickwick  syndrome – 
named after the book, not the name of the fat boy Joe. Though 
somewhat inaccurate, the Straw Peter Syndrome is already an-
chored in medicine and a difficult task will be to change it. 
 Eur Neurol 2008;59:337 
 DOI: 10.1159/000121430 
 Reply to the Letter by Bilgin et al.:
Straw Peter Syndrome – A Literary Mistake? 
 Valmantas Budrys  
 Clinics of Neurology and Neurosurgery,
Vilnius University Faculty of Medicine,  Vilnius , Lithuania 
 Valmantas Budrys, MD, PhD 
 Center of Neurology
Vilnius University Santariskiu Klinikos Hospital 
 Santariskiu 2 
 LT–08661 Vilnius (Lithuania) 
 Tel./Fax +370 5 2365 220, E-Mail valma@takas.lt 
lation of ‘Struwwelpeter’ as ‘Straw Peter’ is somewhat inaccurate. 
The English translation of ‘Struwwelpeter’ by Mark Twain as 
‘Slovenly Peter’ emphasizes the child’s character, whereas the 
German colloquial word ‘Struwwel’ is a descriptive term of long 
uncombed hair. The closest English term would be scrubby.
 The examples of literary named diseases usually refer to the 
character who suffers them. Sir Aguecheek in Shakespeare’s 
 Twelfth Night is an example. Aguecheek disease (chronic portal-
systemic encephalopathy) is named after this character  [9] .
 In conclusion, we think that naming ADHD as Straw Peter 
Syndrome is misleading and propose to name it after the charac-
ter of Fidgety Philip (Zappel-Philipp), who displays most of the 
characteristics of the ADHD syndrome.
 
 References 
 1 Budrys V: Neurological eponyms derived from literature and visual art. 
Eur Neurol 2005; 53: 171–178. 
 2 Hoffmann H: Beobachtungen und Erfahrungen über Seelenstörungen 
und Epilepsie in der Irrenanstalt zu Frankfurt am Main (1851–1858); 
in Hoffmann H, Siefert H (eds): Schriften zur Psychiatre. Frankfurt, 
Insel, 1859, pp 140–324. 
 3 Thome J, Jacobs KA: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) 
in a 19th century children’s book. Eur Psychiatry 2004; 19: 303–306. 
 4 Hoffmann H: Der Struwwelpeter. Leipzig, Edition Peters, 1979. 
 5 Dobson R: Could Fidgety Philipp be proof that ADHD is not a modern 
phenomenon? BMJ 2004; 329: 643. 
 6 Janz D: Die Epilepsien, spezielle Pathologie und Therapie. Stuttgart, 
Thieme, 1969. 
 7 Rinnert S, Bauer J: Am Beispiel einer Bildergeschichte. Eine Analyse 
von Heinrich Hoffmanns Geschichte Hanns-Guck-in-die-Luft aus ep-
ileptologischer Sicht. Z Epileptol 2003; 16: 157–171. 
 8 Freud S: Studienausgabe. Vorlesungen zur Einführung in die Psycho-
analyse und Neue Folge. Frankfurt/Main, Fischer, 1989, vol 1. 
 9 Summerskill WHJ: Aguecheek’s disease. Gut 1978; 19: 468–469. 
 
 Ozgur Bilgin 
 University of Munich,  Department of Neurology 
 DE–81337 Munich (Germany) 
 Tel. +49 89 7095 3691, Fax +49 89 7095 6691
E-Mail ozgurbilgin1@yahoo.com 


https://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/16795/1/10_1159_000121429.pdf

Straw Peter syndrome - A literary mistake?

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Crossref

Open Access LMU

Universität München: Elektronischen Publikationen