Dr. Reuben Saunders
Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
Dr. Reuben Saunders (1808-1891). Physician credited with discovery that hypodermic use of morphine-atropine halted cholera during epidemic here, 1873. Telegraphed prescription to other plague-stricken areas. Honored by Medical Association in U.S. and Europe. First to advocate fresh air for pneumonia and tuberculosis. Grandfather of Irvin S. Cobb. Presented by John Pearce Campbell IV. (Reverse) Dr. Reuben Saunders (1808-1891) - Outstanding pioneer physician in Western Kentucky for 50 years. Born in Frankfort; died in Paducah. Buried in this cemetery beside his son, Dr. John Bartlett Saunders (1840-1873), also a physician of eminence. John migrated to Honolulu, where he did research on leprosy. He was personal physician to King of Hawaii at the time of his death. Presented by John Pearce Campbell IV.
Erected by Kentucky Historical Society
The Story
Dr. Reuben Saunders (1808–1891) was a pioneering Western Kentucky physician credited with discovering that hypodermic morphine and atropine could halt cholera during Paducah's 1873 epidemic. He telegraphed his prescription to other stricken communities and was honored by medical associations in the United States and Europe. An early advocate of fresh air for pneumonia and tuberculosis, he was also the grandfather of writer Irvin S. Cobb; his son, Dr. John Bartlett Saunders, researched leprosy in Hawaii and served as the Hawaiian king's personal physician.
Why it matters
Saunders's rapid, telegraph-shared cholera treatment reflects a formative era of American medicine, when frontier doctors made and spread lifesaving discoveries.
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Related people
- · Reuben Saunders
- · John Bartlett Saunders
- · Irvin S. Cobb
Related events
- · Cholera epidemic of 1873
Themes & tags
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