HEINECKEN, or HEINECICE, CHRISTIAN HEINRICH, born at Lilbeck the 6th of February 1721, was the son of a painter, Pant Heinecken, and younger brother of Karl Heinrich Heiuecken, also an artist, and a writer on the fine arts. Christiau Heinrich was an extraordinarily precocious child. At the age of teu months he could speak and repeat every word which was said to him ; when twelve months old he knew by heart the principal events narrated in the Pentateuch ; in his second year he learned the greater part of the history of the Bible, both of the Old and New Testaments; in his third year ho could reply to most questions ou universal history and geography, and in the same year he learned to speak Latin and French ; in his fourth year he employed himself with the study of religion and the history of the Church, and he was able not only to repeat what ho had read, but also, it is affirmed, to reason upon it, and express his own judgment. The fame of this wonderful child spread widely, and many persons resorted to Lubeck on purpose to see and hear him. The King of Denmark wishing to see him, be was taken to Copenhagen, and there examined before the court, and pronounced to be a wonder.
On his return home he learned to write, but his constitution being weak, he shortly after fell ilL Though he rallied for a time, he soon relapsed, and died on the 27th of June 1725, without, it is said, showing much uneasiness at the approach of death. His teacher, Christian von SehOneich, published a narrative of his lifo, 8vo, Ltibeek, 1726, and his account is confirmed by many respectable contemporary authorities ; among others—Iiirsching, in his 'Hieterisch-literfirisches Handbuch,' 3rd part, pp. 62-64; the 'Deutsche Bibliothek,' vol. xvii.; and by most of the journals of the time. See also 'Richer,' Gelehrtenlexicon,' vol. ii., p. 1454; and the Allgemeine Eneykloplidie der 1Vissenachaften and Kunst,' Leipzig, 1829, art. ' Heinecken.' Martini published a dis sertation at Ltibeek, 1730, in which he endeavoured to account for the circumstances of the child's early development of Intellect.