This manuscript volume records medical case notes of male and female patients of the Edinburgh physicians James Gregory (1753-1821) and Daniel Rutherford (1749-1819) in November 1793. Members of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh volunteered on a monthly rotation to treat the impoverished sick at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and it seems likely that this is a record of clinical cases from the Infirmary.

In 1790 the physician James Gregory had been appointed joint Professor of the Practice of Physic at Edinburgh University, augmenting the ageing William Cullen (1710-1790). On the death of Cullen soon afterwards, Gregory went on to hold the Chair alone for the rest of his life. He attacked the system of rotation of doctors to the Royal Infirmary on the grounds that patients were uncertain as to which physicians would treat them, and permanent medical staff were appointed eventually.

The physician Daniel Rutherford was appointed physician-in-ordinary to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in 1791. Rutherford was also considered to be one of the leading chemists of his generation. He was President of the Royal College of Physicians between December 1796 and December 1798.