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This volume contains David H,. Hall's essays and notes on medical cases, which he composed while studying medicine at the University of Pennsylvania between 1851 and 1852. Hall's notes are organized by the types and details of patients and cases, and his essays pertain to treatments of various diseases and ailments.

This volume (131 pages) contains David H. Hall's essays and notes on medical cases, which he composed while studying medicine at the University of Pennsylvania between 1851 and 1852. Hall wrote "Dr. Darrach's Office, vol. i" on the opening page of the volume, referring to William Darrach (1796-1865), professor and president of the University of Pennsylvania's medical college.

The notebook begins with a two-page index, which includes entries for a second volume (not present). Hall wrote notes on individual case studies, tracing the development of diseases or other conditions in specific patients and noting treatment methods. Conditions include obstetric issues, diseases of the skin, tuberculosis, scarlet fever, influenza, typhoid fever, pneumonia, and dysentery. One study followed a "colored girl" afflicted with swelling (pp. 34-39). Hall also discussed post-autopsy phenomena (pp. 78-85). Topics of additional reference lists and essays include "Classifications of the Matteria Medica" (pp. 67-68), "Parts of the Body to which Medicines are Applied" (p. 69), apothecary weights (p. 70), nosology (p. 112), "Modern Doctrines" (p. 121), and the "Destructive Principle" (pp. 122-124). Other topics include "Lectures on the Principles & Practice of Medicine" (p. 117) and a discourse on fevers (pp. 118-119).

Dr. Vine Utley compiled his Observations on Old People 80 Years of Age while interviewing octogenarians and older individuals in New London County, Connecticut, from 1809-1818. He reported on their ages, families, dietary habits, and physical and mental health.

Dr. Vine Utley compiled most of his Observations on Old People 80 Years of Age (87 pages) while interviewing octogenarians and older individuals in New London County, Connecticut, from September 9, 1809-June 17, 1818; one entry is dated April 15, 1827. Utley recorded biographical information about each person he interviewed, including their name, age, hometown or place of residence, marital status, occupation, previous illnesses and medical treatments, number of children, and sometimes their date of death. He commented on interviewees' habits and diets, particularly with regard to alcohol and tobacco, and on their parents' longevity.

Utley wrote about physical health and mental acuity, and noted some trends amongst his subjects, such as octogenarians' tendency to have few, if any, remaining teeth (p. 25). He interviewed men and women from Waterford, Lyme, and New London, Connecticut, including David Harris, a native of Paris who had been held captive by Native Americans (pp. 22-25); E. Jeffry, a Native American woman (pp. 30-33); Celia, an enslaved woman who had been born in Africa (pp. 60-62); and John Utley, his father (pp. 81-84). The volume's cover is a repurposed section of The Witness (June 25, 1806), a newspaper published in Litchfield, Connecticut.