This group of about 40 letters, a part of the Sinclair Collection, consists of correspondence between Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882) and John Scott Burdon Sanderson (1828-1905) during the years from 1873-1881.
The letters deal with the research Darwin and Burdon Sanderson did on the digestive powers and leaf movements of insect-eating plants, notably Drosera and Dionaea. Darwin published the results of this research as part of his <em>Insectivorous Plants</em> (1875).
There is also correspondence about Burdon Sanderson's (and to a lesser extent, Darwin’s) attempts to ensure that the antivivisectionists should not secure the passage of a bill through Parliament that should hinder scientific research. Sanderson's efforts influenced the events that led to the appointment of a Royal Commission in 1875 to study the use of animals in scientific research in Britain.

The collection consists of off-prints and copies of articles and reports arranged alphabetically by faculty member name.

The collection consists of assorted records divided by subject generated during the expedition and general material about Easter Island subsequently added. Records include correspondence, magazine clippings, newsletters, personnel lists, and reports.

The first part of the collection contains letters between Haldane from his mother, Mary Elizabeth Haldane (née Burdon Sanderson) and other family members regarding familial matters. These letters range from 1883 to1926. There are other letters pertaining to Mary Elizabeth Haldane and Edinburgh professors that are in the collection as well ranging from 1887 to 1922. Haldane’s personal documents, including his birth certificate and university certificates are also in this collection, ranging between 1878 to1897.

His reports, tables and correspondences are contained within, as well as his papers and speeches. These are largely undated and concern topics such as miners’ eye problems, tuberculosis in the Navy, regulation of normal breathing, functions of sweat, kinetic theory of gases, death by suffocation and the like. According to H.M. Sinclair: “Mrs. Haldane told me that her husband destroyed his MS as soon as the paper was published, and these lectures and addresses to various societies were not published. Haldane always wrote his addresses out in full, and this collection is mainly written in full in his own hand.”

A section of the collection contains reports and correspondence of Haldane’s work with the use of gas in WWI. H.M. Sinclair states that the collection is: “A most important collection of papers relating to his and Douglas's researches in World War I when gas was first used. Included are long autograph letters from Douglas (who was in the field in France), very out spoken about the military authorities and giving full descriptions of the casualties and attempts to prevent them.”

Finally, there are 2 drafts of an unpublished book written by Haldane on vitalistic physiology. H.M. Sinclair notes that: “The first draft is copiously corrected . . . This has been entirely rewritten in nine chapters of the final draft. . . . This very interesting book was never published, but illustrates the state of physiology at the turn of the century as seen by a young graduate of about 30 years.”

Collection consists of letters from prominent scientists in various fields of study. Many of the letters in this collection are addressed to Dr. Chauncey D. Leake.

Some of the letters contain discussion of a scientific nature, while others contain pleasantries, invitations, and discussion of scientific publications for collecting purposes. Some of the notable correspondents include Sir Richard Owen, Sir Francis Galton, Joseph Dalton Hooker, William Jackson Hooker, Sir Frederick Grant Banting, Adam Sedgwick, and James Prescott Joule.

Collection consists of 56 documents which mostly concern Frederic Schiller Lee’s capabilities as a fundraiser for the International Physiological Conference in the eastern United States in 1929. The majority of the collection is letters from prominent physiologists.

Collection concerns the history of the College of Science, Dublin where William Fletcher Barrett worked from 1873 to 1910. Included in the collection are handwritten notes, letters, and a parliamentary report on the history of the college.

Collection consists of letters addressed to Dr. Alexander Marcet, one from William Prout and the remainder from William Chas. Wells. The letters date from 1811 to 1817. The letters discuss various experiments on urine, the research of Professor Prevost on radiant heat, and Mrs. Marcet’s work on political economies.

This is the complete set of John Burdon Sanderson’s vivisection licenses, from 1876 to 1905 (the year of his death). The first license is numbered “1”, and is in fact the first license ever issued in Great Britain under the Act of 1876. They are signed in person by the various Home Secretaries, Viscount Cross (Home Secretary 1874), Vernon Harcourt, Henry Matthews, H.H. Asquith (later Prime Minister), etc.

In addition, there are two small notebooks, written by John Burdon Sanderson’s wife, Lady Ghetal Burdon Sanderson, which contain copies of letters written by John Burdon Sanderson and herself, that she recopied into the notebooks, in the course of her research into his life.

The collection illustrates Otto Cohnheim’s personal and professional life while he lived in Germany and Scotland. The personal material includes correspondence with or about family members while the professional material includes letters, laboratory notes, and papers to do with his physiological studies.

The Macintosh Collection was created by Sir Robert Reynolds Macintosh, a Nuffield Professor of Anesthetics at Oxford. The collection consists of the documents relating to the life and research of anesthetist Joseph Thomas Clover. In addition there are correspondence, research and notes written by Sir Robert Macintosh, which were collected during his research into the life of anesthetist John Snow. There are also notes and correspondence by Dr. K Bryn Thomas, a visiting medical historian and anesthetist who arranged, catalogued and annotated the collection in 1971. Throughout the collection, there are various notations, transcriptions and notes written by Dr. Thomas that occurred during his processing of the collection. The current arrangement of the collection is still largely the arrangement applied originally by Dr. Thomas.
The materials related to Joseph Thomas Clover spans the beginning of his career until the end of his life. They include obituaries and eulogies of his death (1882-83), and articles in magazines on Clover after his death (1913, 1928). There are photographs of Joseph Thomas Clover and his wife, Mary Ann Clover in various poses and a small, hand-drawn family tree of the Clover family. Clover’s observations, patient notes, hand-draw sketches of anatomy and apparatus and even some small books Clover used for financial recordkeeping, are present, some in small, bound volumes and others in loose pages. Clover’s original article of indenture (1841) and testimonials regarding his qualities as a doctor are also present. Correspondence within the collection include discussions on anesthesia, requests from patients and for apparatus, letters of condolences Mary Ann Clover after the death of Joseph Clover (1882) and letters to Clover’s daughter regarding her father’s legacy (1913). A small amount of the letters has been transcribed by K Bryn Thomas and present in the correspondence section. There is a small collection of cards bearing advice and quotations from Clover’s father, J.W. Clover, pertaining to weddings, finances, and life, as well as Clover’s own notes on God and life (1859-65). There are also several sheets of pressed flowers.
The second portion of the Joseph Thomas Clover collection was organized by subject matter by K Bryn Thomas. The sections are largely undated and cover Clover’s notes on ether, nitrous oxide and ether, chloroform, nitrous oxide, as well as a large amount of hand written notes covering various anesthetic subjects. Clover’s notes also discuss the deaths from chloroform and resuscitation. There are also hand-drawn illustrations of various apparatus inventions and experiments.
The third section of the collection contains the material collected by Sir Robert Macintosh during his research into anesthetist John Snow. This section contains biographical sketches by Sir Robert Macintosh, letters of correspondence between John Snow’s descendants and Sir Robert Macintosh, and a speech given regarding John Snow in 1955. There are a few correspondences regarding the gifting of Snow’s book <em>On Cholera</em>. A transcript of Snow’s article <em>On Asphyxia</em> is also contained in the collection. There are also copies, transcripts, and correspondence relating to Snow’s will, and his burial certificate. The remainder of the collection consist of items about John Snow, including correspondence to his descendants regarding his memorial tombstone, correspondence to his publishers regarding his books, and items written about John Snow himself.