Alan Mann's teaching box contains the raw materials - animal, vegetable and mineral drugs - which Mann needed to prepare various remedies such as ointments and tinctures. Mann used the kit in practice while treating patients, but also as a teaching resource when he lectured in Pharmacology at the Worcester School of Nursing.

The box contains over one hundred and fifty different natural drugs, all contained in small clear glass tubes with cork or metal stoppers. The contents of the kit are listed on the inside of the lid of the box, detailing the various Materia Medica and classes the medicines are divided into. There are a total of four removable drawers divided into two or three sections. For identification purposes most of the tubes are labelled with a number on the bottom, and some also have a name label attached to the side of the tube.