The National tribune., 1884-10-16

you would not recognize in their easy, springy
and noiseless walk that they were not in pos
session of all their natural members. And
that is the great reason why cripples are disap-
pearing. 1t is a common error that more men
were MANNED in battle during the war than
during any other time of equal duration in
the history of the country, but the fact is that
there are as many cripples made by the rail
roads in each year now as were made by the
war in any year of the war. That / affirm
from intimate knowledge Of more than 5000
cases. According to the war records there
were only about $4,000 cripples made on both
sides, North and South by the war. OF course
the exact number has not been, and cannot be
ascertained, for not only were many cases
never reported, but in not few instances in
jures received in battle led to amputation
number of years afterwards, so long that they
could not have been included in the official
records or kept an exact account of. There
was Henry La Rue. of Pennsylvania, for in
stance, who had leg amputated in 1877, in
consequence of fracture received in 1865,
when he was member of the 18th Pa. Cav.
have made thousands of legs and arms
for soldiers, who are supplied with them free
OF cost by the Government They are allowed
n new limb every five years A good leg of
willow, well made with good steel joints and
springs, and rubber foot, will last 15 years,
with proper care, and an arm is good for life
Iuc t1dSbiCiUy VI tHO loOI III
creases the durability as we'll as the servicea-
bility of the leg A frst-class leg costs $1O0.
/ have heard of artificial legs being made to
order in France with gOld-plated joints and all
sorts of fancy business, costing several hundred
dollars but have never been called upon to get
up anything of the kind, and if | had to wear
an artificial leg l am sure, / would prefer
plain one with that great American invention,
the rubber foot, rather than any gold plated or
leweled one without it. l am called upon to
furnish from 5000 arms and legs, comparatively
few OF the former, every year. and you may
say. on my authority, that the railroad system
OF this country, as at present conducted, and
the machinery used in so many branches of
manufacture, may be relied upon to make three
cripples for every one that would be likely to
be made by another war;"
dealer in surgical appliances said "I do
not deal in artificial limbs any more for the
reason that the things | have to keep are null
hilarious enough to set mans head whiring,
and to prosecute the artificial limb business
properly requires exclusive attention to it. But
L know all about it, and | often have to repair
arms and legs, so that l meet many persons
who wear such things, and give you my word
that have been surprised more than once by
men who came into my store and disclosed
that they had artificial legs. / had not OBJ
served any indication of it in their walk. /
know a girl employed in the Fifth Avenue
HOTEL who has wooden leg with solid rubber
foot, and nobody of all those about her every
day, not even the other girls who sleep in the
same room with her at night, suspect the fact.
She is very smart, bright girl, and she told
me that the secret of her coucealing the fact so
well is that, when she commenced wearing it,
she carefully and Systematically trained the
well leg to adapt itself to the movements of
the manned one instead of reversing that pro-
cess as most persons do. The rubber foot is the
invention of an old and experienced American
maker. and is acknowledged in Europe as well
as this country as the greatest discovery of the
age in this direction"
Henry Laurens Bascomb, the actor who had
both his feet amputated in consequence of their
being frozen, has had them replaced by rubber
ones, and he now walks about almost as we'll as
anybody, well enough, at all events, to enable
him to teach elocution and acting.