Windsor attended Abernethy's lectures during the years 1810-1814, which is when the manuscript most likely dates from, but an inscription in the front, presumably written at a later date, reads 'John Windsor, Manchester, 1821'. The volume also bears the bookplate of the Manchester Medical Society, which indicates that it was donated to them by Thomas Windsor on 17 September 1877. Additional annotations indicate that it was allocated the reference Q 820 viz. the Society's 1890 library catalogue.
There is no attempt to divide up the lectures or number them individually but there are clear subject headings throughout and writing is on both the recto and verso of each page. In the lectures Abernethy illustrates the different afflictions he addresses with relevant cases and anecdotes and describes suitable treatments for many of them. The text is split into two sections, the first having the page numbering 1-140. There are then two blank folios before the second section begins, which has the page numbering 1-215, although the notes carry on for several pages more beyond this.
Some of the topics covered in the first section include: introduction to diseases, injury, and irritation; afflictions to certain parts of the body in sympathy; disorders produced by local causes; nervous disorders (pain, sickness, rigors, convulsions, fainting, delirium, tetanus); digestive disorders; local objects; diseases arising from inflammation (phlegmonous inflammation, cysts, abscesses, sarcomas, carcinoma, wens, erysipelatous inflammation, gangrene, carbuncle anthrax, oedema, ulcers, tic douloureux [trigeminal neuralgia]); diseases arising from extraneous cause or injury (cuts, punctures, gun-shot wounds, mechanical injury of bones, compound fractures, chemical injuries, burns and scalds); diseases produced by something noxious from the peculiar sensibility of parts (lues venerea or syphilis, pseudo syphilis, gonorrhoea, diseases of the urethra, retention of urine, morbific poisons from rabid animals etc.); diseases of the skin; diseases of the eyes; diseases about the rectum; paronychia.
The second section deals with: structure, composition, and formation of bones; thickening of bone; abscesses; necrosis; difference between diseases of bones and of soft parts; rickets; mollities ossium [osteomalacia]; exostosis; fungus ossium; tumours [neoplasms]; nomenclature of bones; diseases of joints; ankylosis; teeth; jaw; spine; spina bifida [spinal dysraphism]; sternum; dislocations & fractures; shoulder joint; diseases of the hip joint; wrist; amputation of the fingers; knee joint; ligaments of the tarsus; muscles (wry neck [torticollis], diaphragm, abscesses, breathing [respiration], plantar fascia, biceps, trapezius muscle, in relation to treatment of fractures); diseases of the testicle; bladder stones; prostate; the ear; the skin, hair, & nails; secretion; arteries; nerves; gall-bladder; the pleura; fractured ribs; diseases of the trachea; prolapse uterus; fascia of the forearm; salivary glands; physiology of the pituitary; stomach; liver; pancreas; spleen; worms; larynx; cases where poisons have been taken; obstructions to abdominal organs; nerves; brain; dura mater; lymphatic system; morbid anatomy (heart, kidney, lungs, uterus); injuries to the head (trephine, concussion); the eye; surgical procedures (for fistula lachrymalis [lacrimal fistula], polypi of the nose, tying tumours, harelip [cleft lip], diseased breast, hernia, urinary calculi, phimosis, aneurysm, arteriotomy, sutures, tracheotomy, paracentesis thoracis, gastroraphy, femoral hernia, castration, amputation).