02/20/18

HAYS, Kan. – A rare first edition medical book by a 19th-century scholar in homeopathic medicine will soon have a home in Fort Hays State University’s Forsyth Library.

“Vaccinosis and Its Cure by Thuja,” by James Compton Burnett, was published in 1884.

The donors, Mary Wasinger Bittel, her husband, Marvin Bittel, and Mary’s siblings, will be honored at a reception in the library at 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 23.

The book, believed to be in its original leather binding, will be placed in the library’s Special Collections, which seek to cultivate and preserve materials related to religion and cultural histories.

The book, according to Brian Gribben, coordinator of government documents and special collections, has been traced to a native stone building in Victoria used in the early 1900s as a clinic and hospital.

The new addition is not only a rare book that helps capture the history of the surrounding community, but it also reflects medical treatments sought and practiced by Ellis County residents in the early 20th century, said Gribben.

Family members at the reception will recount the history and background of the book and hospital.

During the early 1900s, doctors J.W. and Elizabeth Melchers, natives of Germany, and G.M Hemm and K.C. Haas, surgeons from Hays, all practiced medicine and surgery in the building.

The building and book later became the property of Andrew J. Wasinger. Wasinger made a home of the former hospital. Four of his six children and many of his grandchildren are FHSU alumni.