Discussion in this incomplete manuscript mainly refers to the poor state of society in Ireland, and to McCormac's appreciation for Owen and the work he is doing to remedy this. McCormac writes seeing an example of the "condition of the working poor of this country [Ireland]" when making to 22 Pipe Lane [Belfast], "a house among others", where he was told the father had been seeking work for weeks, and where he saw a preganant woman surrounded by five children with "no appearance of fuel or food".
Owen is asked by McCormac to deliver a packet to [Thomas] Wakely which contains an article on digestion for inclusion in Wakley's journal The Lancet. The article, informs McCormac, aims to refute the hypothesis "of the gastric juice" [as the cause of digestive problems] and replace it with one of his own. McCormac notes that Wakely lives in Bedford Square [London, where Owen resides].