The collection provides good documentation of many aspects of McIlwain's career and his contribution to the development of neurochemistry in the UK and internationally.

Section A, Biographical, brings together obituaries, curricula vitae and bibliographies, and material relating to the various stages of McIlwain's scientific career, especially in the 1930s and 1940s, his appointment to the Biochemistry Chair at the Institute of Psychiatry in 1954 and the symposium held in his honour on his retirement in 1980. The section also presents a significant body of material relating to McIlwain's undergraduate studies at King's College, University of Durham, including essays and notebooks.

Section B, Institute of Psychiatry, is principally papers relating to the activities of McIlwain's own Department of Biochemistry and especially its teaching programme in neurochemistry. There is also material relating to various government and University of London enquiries into medical education.

Section C, Research, includes copies of McIlwain's M.Sc. and Ph.D. theses, notes, drafts and reports for early work in the 1930s and correspondence 'from the Lab' for the 1930s and 1940s.

Section D, Publications, lectures and broadcast, is the largest in the collection. It presents significant documentation, especially correspondence, relating to his textbook Biochemistry and the central nervous system which went through five editions, 1955-1985, and important editorial correspondence for the Biochemical Journal (member of the Editorial Board, 1946-1950), Biochemical Pharmacology and Journal of Neurochemistry. There are also drafts for lectures and seminars for scientific audiences in the UK and abroad, principally from the 1960s onwards.

Section E, Societies and organisations, documents McIlwain's involvement with a number of UK and international bodies including the Biochemical Society, the International Brain Research Organisation and the International Society for Neurochemistry (ISN) of which he was a founder member and from 1984 'Historian' of the Society with responsibility for its archives.

Section F, Visits and conferences, covers the period 1947-1993 and is of particular interest for its documentation of the historical sessions which McIlwain organised at ISN meetings.

Section G, Correspondence, presents an alphabetical sequence of McIlwain's correspondence including significant exchanges with a number of distinguished mentors and contemporaries such as G.R. Clemo, F. Dickens, K.A.C. Elliott, P.G. Fildes, S.S. Kety, H.A. Krebs, Derek Richter and F.L. Rose, and a chronological sequence of shorter scientific correspondence covering the period 1938-1992.

There is also an index of correspondents.

Papers of the Medical Eye Centre Association (MECA), 1928-1990, comprising minutes, 1928-1990; reports; newsletters; membership lists; subject files including records relating to the administration of Medical Eye Centres; correspondence with other bodies, including correspondence relating to legislation; publicity material including posters; and publicity material relating to the National Eye Service.

Papers and correspondence, 1913-1973, of Sir Francis Martin Rouse Walshe. Personal and biographical documents and correspondence, 1913-1965, include certificates and documentation about appointments and honours; photograph of Walshe at Queen Square, 1915; papers, 1915-1920, relating to service in Egypt; papers relating to visits to the USA, 1924-1925, 1959, 1965; caricature of Walshe, 1948; letters of congratulation on Walshe's knighthood, 1953; a manuscript biographical note by Walshe prepared for the journal Brain, 1965; letters containing recollections of Walshe sent by colleagues for a memorial volume, 1973. Drafts and manuscripts of publications, speeches and addresses, some heavily revised and with later annotations and comments by Walshe, date from 1918-1972, and, besides scientific papers, include some publishers' contracts; reviews of Walshe's published works, chiefly Critical Studies in Neurology (1948) and Thoughts upon the Equation of Mind with Brain (1953); and Walshe's earliest discussion of 'miraculism' in medicine, published in the Catholic Medical Guardian, 1938. Manuscripts and printed material relating to various controversies in which Walshe was involved as a leading member of the Roman Catholic medical community include lectures on stigmatization; a letter from Walshe on the duties of lay Catholics; printed works on religious matters, 1926-1938; a memorandum, 1965, correspondence, 1960-1966, and various press cuttings and printed matter on contraception. There is various correspondence, 1922-1927, 1940-1973, some of it scientific, including a postcard to Walshe from J S Haldane, 1921, and copies of correspondence between William B Bean and Walshe, 1950-1973.

Sir Henry Head's papers, 1891-1909, consist of his casebooks of patients with Herpes Zoster, with sketches and photographs, chiefly from Head's work at the London Hospital, 1891-1909, and his casebooks of patients with various diseases, with sketches and charts, from his work at the City of London Hospital for Diseases of the Heart and Lungs, Victoria Park, 1894.

Papers of John Thomas Woolhouse, early 18th century, comprising two manuscript volumes written in French and Latin, probably containing transcripts of lectures given by Woolhouse. The title on the spine reads Traite des Malad. de l'Oeil.

Manuscript volume containing notes on Robert Whytt's clinical lectures, delivered at Edinburgh University, [1760], taken by an unidentified student. Also includes some 'Directions given by the Physician General at the Havannah to the surgeons of the Army relating to the management of the sick'.

Papers relating to Antonio Scarpa, late 18th century, comprising a manuscript translation titled Anatomical Disquisitions on the Organs of Hearing in Man and several Classes of Animals, translated from the Latin of 'Anatomicae Disquisitiones etc Fol. Imp. Ticin. 1789' and 'de structura Fenestra Rotunda etc 4to imp Matin 1782' By Antonio Scarpa, professor of Anatomy etc.

General Optical Council administrative records, 1959-2000: minutes of the meetings of the Council and its various committees including related memos and correspondence, Annual Reports of the Council and Committees, Notices of Motion, Registers of Opticians and Lists of Corporate Bodies.

Papers of Samuel Solly, [1826-1856] comprising surgical casebook containing notes on patients examined by him at St Thomas's Hospital, privately, and at Hanwell, including operative details and post mortem findings, [1828-1846], with some water colour sketches, mostly of the brain; letter to Solly from Sydney Jones, 1856; and two letters from John Sharpe (undated).

Surgical lecture and other notes taken by [H.M. Stumbles as a student at Edinburgh University] With numerous coloured sketches. The author is not named, but identification was provided by the donor. The first part of MS. 7881 (ff. 1-80) contains a fair-copy transcript of 21 surgical lectures, no doubt delivered at the Edinburgh Medical School where Stumbles was a student (MB, ChB 1902); this is followed by fair-copy notes on various diseases and conditions pertaining to surgery, including diseases of bones (ff. 81-83), fractures and dislocations (84-242, and in MS. 7882, ff. 1-12), diseases of the blood vessels (13-40), the lymphatic system (41-43), tumours (44-68), the osseous and articular system (69-139), diseases of muscle (141-168), venereal diseases (168-205), injuries and diseases of the nerves (206-239), and middle ear diseases (239-243). The source of the notes is not generally given, though `Harold Stiles MB' [Harold Jalland Stiles, assistant in Surgery, University of Edinburgh, 1889-1900] evidently delivered lecture IX (on anaesthetics), MS. 7881, f. 29, and his name is found again on f. 224 of MS. 7882. The implication is that this was a departure from the norm, and the bulk of the lectures, if not the other notes, presumably derive from John Chiene (1843-1923), Professor of Surgery at Edinburgh. Two cuttings from the British Medical Journal, 26 Nov. 1898 and 9 Jan. 1899, are bound into MS. 7882, ff. 85-86 and 138.

Papers of Marthe Vogt, relating almost entirely to Vogt's scientific career, 1895-1988. Personal material is found in section A and includes a rare set of publications by her distinguished scientist parents Oskar and Cécile Vogt (A/1/2-4), a bibliography of Oskar Vogt (A/1/1), plus biographical information on Marthe Vogt (A/2) and various certificates of awards presented to her (A/3). Section B chiefly comprises notebooks and other papers relating to her experimental research, from Vogt's Berlin days through to the early 1980s. This research, meticulously recorded by Vogt, formed the background to many of her important and seminal papers in the field of neurotransmitters. The bulk of the collection is formed by Section C; 20 boxes of Vogt's correspondence covering all aspects of her work and career, chiefly from her arrival in Britain in 1935 up until 1988. This has been listed in detail and is arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent. Section D is a rather miscellaneous grouping of material relating to various aspects of Vogt's work. It includes papers and lectures on her adrenal research (D/1), lists of those who were sent reprints of her published articles (D/2), some ephemera relating to the Institute of Animal Research at Babraham (D/3), Vogt's University of Berlin doctoral thesis 1929 (D/4/1) and some book reviews written by her between 1952 and 1983 (D/4/2). The photographs comprising Section E include portraits of Vogt's father, mother and sister taken in Germany (E/1), an excellent collection of portraits of Marthe Vogt (E/2) and series documenting her attendance at conferences all over the world (E/4) and her many colleagues-friends and contacts (E/3).

Records of the Brain Research Association (BRA), 1968-1992, comprising committee and Annual General Meeting minutes and papers, and Honorary Secretary's correspondence. There are, however, no committee minutes after 1987 or correspondence before 1977.

Two volumes of manuscript notes bound together, containing lectures on the principles and practice of surgery by Astley Paston Cooper, and Benjamin Travers's lectures on diseases of the eye, taken by Hulbert as a pupil, 1807.

Papers relating to Petrus Camper, 1805-[1800s], comprising 2 volumes of manuscript translations of works by Petrus Camper, mostly by unknown translators but including Sir Richard Owen. Containing treatises on the organs of hearing of various fish and a whale, 1805; and a treatise on the Orangutan, [1800s].

Papers of Andrea Comparetti, late 18th-early 19th century, comprising a manuscript Latin volume titled Andrea Comparetti in Gymnasio Patavino. Observations Anatomica De aure interna Comparata 4to Patavii 1789. The Tables and Explanations, containing a manuscript copy of the tables, explanations, and diagrams of the anatomy of the ear, found in Comparetti's Observationes anatomicae de aure interna comparat (Padua, 1789). The identity of the transcriber is not known.

Papers of Peter Daniel, 1971-1990, including correspondence concerning the Jenner Trust and Appeal, Physiological Society, William Gibson, and the Sir Hugh Cairns memorial, plus some notes on medical cases and Daniel's research grant applications.

Papers of Robert Horton, early 19th century, comprising a manuscript volume titled Anatomy Notebook, Horton containing notes on subjects such the central nervous system, bones, joints, ligaments, blood vessels, testicles, brain, ear, eye and heart. The volume is undated but there is a watermark of 1818. In addition, on page 103, Horton mentions the discovery of a membrane in the eye by Dr Jacob. Jacobs Membrane, a layer of the retina containing rods and cones was first described in 1819 by Irish Opthalmic surgeon Arthur Jacobs (1790-1874). Therefore the volume can be dated to after 1819, and was probably written in the early 19th century.

Papers of William Home Clift, 1825-1832, comprising manuscript notes and sketches by Clift, taken at lectures given by Sir Charles Bell, on topics including sensory organs, hernia, and lythotomy, 1827; notes and sketches by Clift and J Streeten, taken at lectures on surgery given by Sir Charles Bell, on topics including mechanical construction of the body, the structure and growth of teeth, and the nervous system, 1828; notes by Clift and Sir Richard Owen titled Rough Account of Diagrams, Preparations etc., used at the Lectures 1828, containing lists of diagrams for lectures by Sir Charles Bell and Joseph Henry Green; notes by Clift titled Lectures 1832. Mr Guthrie and Sir Charles Bell. Commenced Tuesday February 28th, Terminated Saturday May 5th. WH Clift; reports by Clift to the Board of Curators, on the progress of the catalogue of monsters and osteological items, and other activities in the museum, 1829-1831; and colour drawings of fish by Clift, 10 Jun 1825.

Papers of Albert Wilson, c1870, comprising a volume titled [H]uman [P]athology, Prof. Saunders, 2 containing manuscript notes by Wilson, taken at the Pathology lectures of Professor Sanders at Edinburgh University; and a loose sheet containing notes on Tubercular Phthisis. The sheet of paper is from the Edinburgh Medical-Missionary Society's Training Institution and Dispensary at No 39 Cowgate. Wilson was resident physician at the Cowgate Dispensary.