KERNER, JUSTINUS ANDREAS CHRISTIAN ( 1862), German poet and medical writer, was born on Sept. 18, 1786, at Ludwigsburg, Wiirttemberg. He studied medicine at Tiibingen, and settled as a practising physician in Wildbad. Here he completed his Reiseschatten von dem Schattenspieler Lucks (I8I I), in which his own experiences are described with caustic humour. With Uhland and Schwab he produced the Poetischer Almanach fur 1812, which was followed by the Deutscher Dichter wald (1813), and in these some of Kerner's best poems were pub lished. In 1815 he became district medical officer (Oberamtsarzt) in Gaildorf, and in 1818 was transferred to Weinsberg, where he spent the rest of his life. His house became the Mecca of literary pilgrims. Hospitable welcome was extended to all, from the jour neyman artisan to crowned heads. Gustavus IV. of Sweden came there with a knapsack on his back. The poets, Count Christian Friedrich Alexander von Wurttemberg (1801-44) and Lenau (q v.), were frequent guests. In 1826 arrived Friederike Hauffe (1801-29), the daughter of a forester in Prevorst, a somnam bulist and clairvoyante, who forms the subject of Kerner's famous work Die Seherin von Prevorst, Eroffnungen fiber das innere Leben des Menschen und fiber das Hineinragen einer Geisterwelt in die unsere (1829; 6th ed., 1892). His practical works include
Gedichte (1826) ; Der letzte Blfitenstrauss (1852), and Winter bliiten Kerner also wrote popular medical books dealing with animal magnetism, a treatise on the influence of sebacic acid on animal organisms, Das Fettgift oder die Fettsiiure und ihre Wirkungen auf den tierischen Organismus (1822) ; a description of Wildbad and its healing waters, Das Wildbad im Konigreich Wiirttemberg (1813), and a vivid account of his childhood in Bilderbuch aus meiner Knabenzeit (1859). In 1851 failing eyesight compelled his retirement. He died on Feb. 21, 1862, at Weinsberg.
Kerner's Ausgewiihlte poetische Werke appeared in 2 vols. (1878) ; Siinaliche poetische Werke, ed. by J. Gaismaier, 4 vols. (19o5) ; a selection of his poems will also be found in Reclam's Universal bibliothek (1898). His correspondence was edited by his son in 1897. See also A. Watts, Life and Works of Kerner (1884) ; T. Kerner, Das Kernerhaus und seine Geiste (1894).