There is a note in the front of the manuscript in Radford's hand which reads "The following Essay was declared to deserve the prize offered by Dr Thomas Radford, Lecturer on Midwifery at the Pine Street Royal School of Medicine. The name of the author is lost".
In the introduction the student author of this essay makes clear that he intends to divide it into three main sections. These sections, with further subdivisions from throughout the text, are as follows:
- Anatomy of the female breast
- Physiology including menstruation, lactation, and pregnancy (lactation, pregnancy)
- Pathology and treatment of those diseases incidental to these organs (hydatids [echinococcosis], chronic mammary tumours [breast neoplasms], cartilaginous and cystic tumours, large and pendulous breast, scrofulous swelling, irritable tumour of the breast, ecchymosis of the breast, cancer, treatment of cancer)
The volume also bears the bookplate of the Radford Library, St Mary's Hospital, Manchester which shows it to have been allocated the reference Q144 viz. their 1877 catalogue and given the reference M15.9 E25 at a later date as part of an alternative system.