The documents include collection of notes on variolation; letter from W. E. van Heyningen of Oxford, accompanying a cutting of a 'Sunday Times' article by Ivo Geikie-Cobb entitled 'Smallpox: The Dread Disease', (4 February 1951); copy of 'Sphere' the newsletter of the Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center, Augusta, Georgia, U.S.A., including a report entitled 'Hemoglobinopathies in China', (December 1985); copy of an article entitled 'Medical Maggots', ('The Sciences', New York Academy of Science, 1976); Joseph Needham's notes from a lecture by Robin Jeffrey entitled Medical Pluralism and Public Policy in India' given in Durham, April 1979; copy of an article by P. H. Nancarrow entitled 'Semi-Language: Better Than No Information', ('The Cambridge Review', 1 June 1981); copy of a published letter from P. H. Nancarrow of Cambridge to the Editor of 'Nature' about 'Translating Chinese Texts', (4 August 1977); small sub-file of 'Pending Mixed Notes'.
The documents also include a collection of correspondence resulting from a query by Dr. Edward H. Hume of New York, U.S.A. to Prof. Homer H. Dubs of Oxford about the transmission of smallpox inoculation from China to Turkey. This correspondence comprises the letter from Hume to Dubs, (14 January 1951); letter from Dubs to Joseph Needham forwarding the enquiry, (30 January 1951); copy of a letter from Needham to Dubs; copies of 2 letters from Needham to Hume; 2 letters from Hume to Needham.