After a year in Europe studying under two well known physicians (Jan Mikulicz-Radecki,Victor Horsley), the young surgeon was appointed to the staff of the Royal Victoria Hospital's Department of Surgical Pathology.

In 1908, Archibald published a monograph, Surgical Affection and Wounds of the Head, but left neuroscience to combat the public health issue of tuberculosis.

In 1935, Archibald became president of the American Surgical Association, and delivered a speech that is considered to have been the trigger for reforms of the standard of surgeon education in the United States.

The young doctor began his surgical career with a three-year program at McGill University, with what was essentially an apprenticeship in the field at Royal Victoria Hospital, which had opened only a few years earlier.

These symptoms were confirmed to be as a result of tuberculosis by the hospital's Chief of Medicine, and Archibald moved to the Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium in upstate New York to experience a change of climate.

The head of that department, a Dr. Ruddick, encouraged Archibald to develop the new practices he had learned during his time in Europe, and his work in this field has led to many dubbing him Canada's first neurosurgeon.

[2] In 1908, Archibald published Surgical Affection and Wounds of the Head, a monograph that was at the time considered to be the most comprehensive text on the subject.

[2][3] Archibald's work in investigating the disease of pancreatitis led to the development of the sphincterotomy, a procedure still in use today.

Archibald returned to McGill University, this time as a staff member in the Department of Surgery, and revitalised it following almost thirty years of stagnation.