Red Beech Husks and Nuts
fl;1853;76;pi (formerly Catalog entry #2):
Red Beech, (Fagus ferruginea). Eight Husks and Two Beech-Nuts, the former in position of naturally occurring symmetry.
The Red Beech is found in all parts of the State, and in some places is so much multiplied as to form almost entire forests of considerable extent. Its usual height when full grown is from 60 to 70 feet, with a diameter of two to two and one-half feet...The fruit of this tree is usually abundant, and as swine eat it with avidity the early settlers of the state relied much upon beech-nuts for fattening their hogs. As beech-nuts are injured by the fall rains, those which are designed for preservation should be gathered as soon as ripe, and should be thinly spread in a dry place till they are thoroughly seasoned. They are often eaten, but are not very highly esteemed. A rich oil may be extracted from the nut. —Zadock Thompson, Natural History of Vermont, published by the author, Rutland, 1853.
“In a boyhood frolic [of Edward Williams, the doctor who treated Phineas Gage in Cavendish, Vermont] unknown to himself, a beech-nut became attached to his bronchial tubes causing trouble in breathing. This was diagnosed as asthma, because of which it was thought he could not sustain the rough life of an engineer, and he was then advised to study medicine...during an attack of coughing the beech-nut burr was expelled from Dr. William’s throat, thus removing the supposed obstacle to the pursuit of the vocation he preferred, and he determined to abandon medicine and devote himself to railroad building. —Alba B. Johnson, Two Sons of Vermont, Edward Higginson Williams and John Heman Converse, Woodstock, n. d., pp. 6-8.
"It was well known to the teachers and pupils of the medical school at Woodstock that Dr. Williams was the first to reach and attend to Mr. Gage.
When these matters came out in a distorted form Dr. Williams let them alone, as the facts were known. And, besides, after leaving Proctorsville for Northfield, where he was associated with his brother-in-law, the late Dr. Samuel W. Thayer, he had an exceptionally violent fit of coughing, which brought up a beech-nut burr which had lodged in the vocal chords, in Michigan. Relieved of all fear of asthma, Dr. Williams (the "Dr. stuck to him through life) obtained the position of engineer on a railroad to be built from Caughnawaga, Canada, to the United States border. The death of the engineer put him in charge and he completed the work.
—Edward Higginson Williams, jr. “THE GAGE INCIDENT, Edward H. Williams Tells Further Facts Connected With Case. Woodstock, Vermont,” Springfield (Vermont) Reporter, Letter to the Editor, Jan., 29, 1923. wp 080, Williams Family, vertical file, Norman Williams Library, Woodstock, Vt.
