The history of medicine in the United States is adorned with the names of many physicians of Irish birth or blood.  Several Irish surgeons rendered valuable services in the army of the Revolution, among whom are found Drs. McDonough, McHenry, McCloskey, McCalla, Burke, Irvine, and Williamson.  Dr. John Cochran was appointed by Washington surgeon-general of the army.  Dr. James Lynah of Charleston, a native of Ireland, became surgeon-general of South Carolina in recognition of his valuable services to the patriot army.  Dr. John McKinley, a native of Ireland, who was a famous physician in his day, became the first governor of Delaware.  Dr. Ephraim McDowell is known in the profession as the “Father of Ovariotomy”, as is Dr. William J. McNevin the “Father of American Chemistry”.  Dr. John Byrne of New York had a world-wide fame, and his papers on gynecology have been pronounced by the medical press as “the best printed in any language”.  One of the most conspicuous figures in medicine in the United States was Dr. Jerome Cochran of Alabama.  Drs. Junius F. Lynch of Florida; Charles McCreery of Kentucky; Hugh McGuire and Hunter McGuire of Virginia; Matthew C. McGannon of Tennessee; and James Lynch, Charles J. O’Hagan, and James McBride of South Carolina are mentioned prominently in the histories of their respective localities as the foremost medical men of their times, while in Wisconsin the pioneer physician was Dr. William H. Fox, and in Oregon, Dr. John McLoughlin.  Among New York physicians who achieved high reputations in their profession were Drs. Thomas Addis Emmet, Frank A. McGuire, Daniel E. O’Neill, Charles McBurney, Isaac H. Reiley, Alfred L. Carroll, Howard A. Kelly, Joseph O’Dwyer, and James J. Walsh.  These and many others of Irish descent have been honored by medical societies as leaders and specialists, while it can be said that no surgeon of the present day has achieved such a world-wide reputation as Dr. John B. Murphy of Chicago.  Among experts in medico-legal science, the names of Drs. Benjamin W. McCreedy and William J. O’Sullivan of New York stand out prominently, and among the most noted contributors to medical journals in the United States, and recognized as men of great professional skill and authorities in their respective specialties, have been Drs. F.D.  Mooney of St. Louis; Thomas Fitzgibbon of Milwaukee; John D. Hanrahan of Rutland; James McCann and James H. McClelland of Pittsburgh; John A. Murphy and John McCurdy of Cincinnati; John Keating of Philadelphia; John H. Murphy of St. Paul; John W.C.  O’Neal of Gettysburg; and Arthur O’Neill of Meadville, Pa.  Indeed, it can be said that American medical science owes an incalculable debt to Irish genius.

Theodore Vail, the presiding genius of the greatest telephone system in the world, is Irish, and so is Carty, its chief engineer.  Morse, the inventor of the telegraph, was the grandson of an Irishman; Henry O’Reilly built the first telegraph line in the United States; and John W. Mackey was the president of the Commercial Cable Company.  John P. Holland, the inventor of the submarine torpedo boat, was a native of Co.  Clare; and McCormick, the inventor of the reaping and mowing machine, was an Irishman’s grandson.