The volume has the original foliation 1-219 and the writing is largely on the recto only. A letter has been attached to the front cover addressed to Dr Leech from J. Douglas Boyd and dated 10 July 1932 in which Boyd explains that he has received the volume from Mr Notman of the Victoria Park School but has no other information as to its previous ownership.
The volume was created by John Hatton as a gift to Jordan which can be ascertained from an inscription on the flyleaf which reads 'presented to Joseph Jordan Esq as a slight testimony of esteem & regard, by his obedient servant John Hatton, February 10th 1838'. The title reads 'Lectures on surgery by Joseph Joran Vol.1, MSS of John Hatton' and the first lecture commences on 16 October 1837. Hatton indicates that the lectures were given at the Pine Street Medical School but that they are incomplete as he was unable to attend the full course of lectures. He created the volume as a kind of text book which Jordan could use to improve upon his lectures.
There are a total of 19 lectures, each of which is numbered but only the first is dated. A breakdown of their contents is given in a table of contents at the beginning of the volume, which is as follows: (1) phenomena of circulation & inflammation, (2) terminations of inflammation, (3) effusion of pus, formation of abscess, treatment of abscess, (4) ulceration & granulation, (5) mortification from affection of arteries, veins, or nerves, mortification in children, and mortification from blisters, (6) mortification from phlegmonous inflammation, traumatic gangrene, Pott's gangrene, blows on the skin, Lock Hospital gangrene, periodical gangrene, arteries passing in slough, from ergot of rye, and separation of limb, (7) constitution affected by local causes and irritability of an organ, (8) treatment of inflammation, (9) diseases of arteries, (10) secondary haemorrhage and aneurysm from dilated artery, symptoms of aneurysm in the aorta, and pathology & natural cure of aneurysm, (11) coagulation of blood in, termination of, symptoms of, diagnosis of, and natural cure of aneurysm, (12) cure of aneurysm by ligature, medical treatment & anastomoses of vessels [surgical anastomosis], (13) aneurysm varix, hydrocele, passage of testicle into scrotum & stricture of chord, (14) diagnosis of chord and hydrocele of chord, (15) cure of hydrocele & hernia, (16) common circumstances to hernia & strangulation etc., (17) hernia of omentum, (18) angular curvature of the spine [kyphosis], (19) lateral curvature of the spine [scoliosis].
There are some loose lecture notes in the front of the volume dated 3 December 1837 on inflammation of the substance of the spinal membrane, which look to follow on from lecture 19 and so presumably make up the content of lecture 20.
There are numerous colour and black and white illustrations found throughout the manuscript. The majority of these have been drawn by Hatton himself and illustrate the subjects alighted on by Jordan in each of his lectures. He often references the source of the drawings and in some cases they are images of the actual preparations used by Jordan during the lecture.