Crum Brown writes to Balfour that he believes the University of Edinburgh should have three ordinary professors of Chemistry who work co-operatively together and who are each assigned a laboratory and junior staff. He then includes some financial projections for salaries and a new building which he states 'should not be ornate' and should be built so it could be extended.

The two volumes forming the collection contain a set of notes on Professor Crum Brown's lectures taken in Winter Session 1892-3 by George Burns (then residing in Grange Road, Edinburgh), in a clear and legible hand. The volumes are labelled on first pages as; Chemistry 1; and, Chemistry 2. They are stamped on the spine as 'Note Book' and on the front boards with the University badge.