My Genealogy Hound

ARCHIBALD B. COOK, A. M., M. D., of this city, is of Irish and German extraction. John Cook, his father, who was born in County Deny, Ireland, at the age of sixteen came to America and located in Noblestown, Allegheny County, Pa., and for some years engaged in mercantile pursuits, but subsequently removed to the farm. He married Miss Kelso, a native of Allegheny County, Pa. Dr. A. B. Cook was born in Noblestown, Pa., September 23, 1828. He was educated at Jefferson College, Cannonsburgh, Pa. He had previously, however, spent some time at an academy in Wheeling, W.Va. While in college he was a close and hard-working student. He became a prominent member of the Franklin Literary Society, connected with Jefferson College, and while in his sophomore year was elected a member of the Lyceum Society — an honor rarely conferred on a sophomore, as the membership of that society was limited, and as it was their custom only to admit members of the senior and junior classes. From this institution he received the degree of A. B. in 1848, and the degree of A. M. in 1851. After being occupied for a short time in teaching in Jefferson County, Ky., in 1849 he began the study of medicine under Dr. J. A. Glenn, of Sharpsburg, Pa. In 1851 he attended lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, and subsequently at the Kentucky School of Medicine, Louisville, from which he graduated in the spring of 1853. He first settled in New Castle, Henry County, Ky., removing to Louisville in 1854. He has successfully performed operations for ovariotomy and lithotomy; also has reduced dislocation of the hip joint by manipulation on the dorsum ilii. He became a member of the American Medical Association in 1855; was a member of the Kentucky State Medical Society; of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of which he was vice-president; and of the Medico-Chirugical Society of Louisville. The following are some of his contributions to the literature of his profession: “Chloroform — its Obstetric Use.” - (inaugural thesis) Louisville Medical Gazette, 1853; “ Fixed Apparatus for the Immediate Dressing of Fractures of Femur; Securing Bone Union in the Intra Capsular Fractures of Old Persons,” etc. — Semi-Monthly Medical News, 1859; “ Joined Twins, with Plates (his own wood-cuts), Dislocation,” etc. — Richmond & Louisville Medical Journal, 1869; “Operation for Adhesion of Soft Palate and Uvula to the Posterior Wall of the Pharynx, with Dressing with Lead Plates,” etc., etc.; and on the “Value of Cincho Quinine in the Treatment of Intermittent and Remittent Fever,” both of the latter published in the Medical and Surgical Reporter; “Case of Gunshot wound; Ball Penetrating the Base of Left Lung, Diaphragm, Left Kidney, and Lodging in the Erector Spinal Muscles,” etc. — Louisville Medical Gazette, 1858; “Extraction of Five False Teeth, with Plate attached from the Cardiac Orifice of the Esophagus, which had been swallowed five months previous, causing Stricture of the Esophagus.” — American Medical Bi-Weekly, October, 1877; “Complicated Fracture.” — Same, September, 1878; “How to Elevate the Standard of Medical Education and Medical Teaching.” — Same, April 26, 1879; “Dislocation of the Shoulder Joint, caused by Muscular Spasm of Six Months’ Standing, Successfully Reduced.” — Richmond & Louisville Medical Journal, May, 1875; “Poisoning by Cannabis Indica.” — The American Practitioner, July, 1884; “Ruptured Urethra,” February, 1885; “Lacerated Perineum of Eight Years’ Standing,” successful, March, 1884; “Complete Laceration of the Perineum and Recto-Vaginal Septum, Resulting from Forceps Delivery, Primary Operation, complicated with Traumatic Erysipelas,” successful result, August, 1885; “Surgical Diseases resulting from Infrequent Causes,” January, 1886, all published in Guillards Medical Journal; “Elixir Paraldehyde, the Coming Remedy as a substitute for Opiates and Anodynes.” — Medical Progress, January, 1888, etc. etc. etc. “Elixir Paraldehyde in Puerperal Eclampsia, dead Foetus, Seventh Month of Pregnancy, Albuminous Urine, Good Recovery,” Guillard’s Medical Journal, 1888, etc. etc. etc. In 1855 Doctor Cook was elected professor of anatomy and demonstrator of anatomy in the Kentucky School of Medicine, a position he held until 1856, when he was elected to the latter position in the medical department of the University of Louisville. This he also held for several years, the while also teaching private classes in medical branches and giving special lectures in surgery and surgical anatomy. In 1863 he was elected professor of surgery in the Kentucky School of Medicine; and in 1866, the two medical faculties uniting, he took the chair of the surgical diseases of the genito-urinary organs and rectum in the University of Louisville. In 1867, he was again elected to the chair of principles and practice of surgery in the Kentucky School of Medicine, and he was then president and registrar of the faculty. In 1875 he was elected to the game chair in the Louisville Medical College, filling both positions until 1877, when the chair of the Kentucky School of Medicine was changed to embrace the science and art of surgery and clinical surgery. He was for ten years physician to the Episcopal Orphan Asylum; for several years connected with dispensaries for the benefit of the poor, and for twenty years, one of the surgeons in the Louisville City Marine Hospital. In 1860 he was appointed surgeon, with the rank of major, on General Buckner’s staff, Kentucky State Guards; acted as surgeon of volunteers in 1863, and received the appointment to organize the invalid corps. He has been a member of the Board of Health of Louisville, was a member of the Board of Commissioners of Public Charities, of Louisville, during 1870, and chairman of the hospital committee. In February, 1872, he married Mrs. Fannie M. Roberts, of Louisville. She died November 29, 1886, leaving no children.