"The investigations described in this volume were undertaken for the Medical Department of the Privy Council ... The five chapters on physiological and pathological processes of the breast are reprinted, with additions and corrections, from the [Medical Officer's] Report of 1875, and the chapter on tumour-infection of lymphatic glands from the Report of 1876. The chapters on development were originally published in the Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, vol. 11, 1876"- Pref. to first ed.

"The present issue differs from the former in having a chapter on scirrhous cancers of the breast added. The new chapter is a reprint, with a few unimportant changes, of a paper with woodcuts in the Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, vol. 14 (October 1879)" - Pref. to 2nd ed.