Medical information obtained during Morgan W. Knerr's studies from 1893 to 1894 at the Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia is the primary content of four of the six notebooks this collection. The two remaining notebooks, dated 1890 and 1891, contain medical information taken from an unknown source, most likely the Bellevue Hospital Medical College from which Knerr graduated in 1891. This collection provides a record of late nineteenth-century medical advancements in prescriptive treatments and operative practices for various diseases and conditions and contains many prescriptive formulas scattered throughout. Each of the notebooks is labeled along its spine with one of the following titles: "Smith," "Dennis," "Obstetrics," "Therapeutics," "Surgery," and "Practice," although these are not entirely indicative of what is contained in the individual notebooks. Notes were sometimes entered with an accompanying date and with what may have been a lecturer's name. "Shoemaker" is one such name found at the beginning of several entries, which corresponds to a professor of dermatology and the chair of materia medica and therapeutics at the Medico-Chirurgical College. The notes are written in complete or nearly-complete sentences and are easily legible. The notebook labeled "Smith," dated 1890, primarily contains notes taken on the medical usages for various substances, such as arsenic, opium, belladonna, cod liver oil, ammonia, and bromides. There is also a large section on different substances that can be used to achieve either diuretic (evacuation of the bladder), diaphoretic (evacuation in the form of perspiration), or cathartic (evacuation of the bowels) effects. The notebook labeled "Dennis," dated 1891, primarily contains notes on treatments for bone fractures and dislocations, as well as for tumors, cancers, and wounds. The sections on tumors and cancers also contain some information on what was believed to be the cause of these conditions and statistics on the number of afflicted persons. There is an extended passage on how to perform a trephination in this notebook. The remaining four notebooks, which contain material dated from 1893 to 1894, list in no particular order a series of conditions, their descriptions, and recommendations for their treatment. The recommendations come in the form of formulas for various prescriptions and/or general notes about helpful substances and practices. For instance, in the notebook labeled "Therapeutics," one entry states, "Diseases of the lungs markedly benefited by sulphur. Mustard seems very good in lung affections. Onion syrup good for lung diseases especially for colds. Garlic very good to produce the same effects." In the same notebook is the statement that "a man that smokes tobacco to excess or close to excess may be the cause of producing abortions in his wife." In the notebook labeled "Surgery" it is warned that for the treatment of cancer "never use electricity." What is recommended is "equal parts chloride of zinc and arsenic." The "Obstetrics" notebook contains a few pages of instructions for delivering a baby, as well as descriptions of and treatments for several dangerous gynecological conditions. The "Practice" notebook lists descriptions of and treatments for conditions such as asthma, leprosy, and cholera, among others. This notebook also contains several pages of a ledger that documents unspecified monetary charges to various people in 1898 and 1899. Individual charges do not exceed $1.25. A similar ledger appears in a lesser extent in some of the other notebooks.
