Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1884-05-22

appearance 80 common in artificial
hands. IN the palm. too, is screw
socket, into which can quickly be fitted
knife or fork for eating, hand brush
for washing. hook for lifting and car
rying, ETC., and even whiting may be
done. if the elbow-joint remains, by
the firm grasp of a pen or pencil which
thethumb and first finger afford. All
these improvements tend to draw at
tention away from cripples, and thus
the apparently smaller number of such
unfortunates is accounted for.''
'Is not the use of the artificial leg
extremely limited?'' asked the reporter
"a glance at these letters would
probably surprise you on that point.
Farmers, builders, express messengers,
Oystermen-in fact, all kinds of persons
doing work that is heavy or that re-
quires one to be much on his feet, ap-
parently hold their own on wooden
legs. Boys wearing them play ball.
ride horseback, skate, ETC.; girls dance
with them. and, in short, there seems to
be hardly any end to their practical
usefulness. Did you know that there
are quite number of persons having
both legs artificial, and that they go
about freely? Tommy" called the man
ufacturer at this point, "show us how
you walk a7E - -
A, young man of about twenty ap-
peared, and with . slightly cranky
motion walked, without cane, rapidly
up and down the room. ''That boy,n
resumed the manufactu chad both
his legs amputated-one above the knee
and the other Just below. He has
walked a half-mile in nine minutes on
his artificial legs
evil you tell me something of the
material used, OF prices, etc. H.
''Of course the body of the leg is hol:
low. All sorts of material have been
used--leather, German silver, paper.
mache, and even corrugated iron! Paper
to be light must be very thin paper as
thick as wood is heavier, you know,
and this is fatal, because q stump is
likely to change from time to time, and
the alterations in the artificial leg thus
made necessary may cause the thin
paper to be whitfield away in no time.
Yellow willow is the material preferred,
as it is both light and tough. l. is
nodded to the shape of the leg, and then
covered with thin buckskin having an
enamel coating of the flesh tint. The
soft finish of this is decidedly attractive
Of course stockings or socks are worn,
and the foot is properly booted The
leg can be adjusted in minute or two.
The cork Lego I'm afraid that is a
bit of myth, for I have been in this
business over twenty-five years, and I
have yet to see a single artificial leg
made of cork. Prices are generally
500 for leg (and it should last about
eight years on an average) and from
$50 to $75 for an arm. True, that is
about the same rate as Just after the
war, but every order is separate and in
dividual; only once in my experience
have two legs been exactly alike.
q ''How soon after amputaion should
an artificial limb be applied?'' ...
''Now you raise point of dispute be-
tween some surgeons and the artificial
limb makers. There are surgeons who
hold that a year should intervene. 9th
ers confirm my own belief that the de-
lay should be only until the stump has
thoroughly healed for after that point,
the stump begins to deposit at its ex-
tremity large amount OF adipose It's
sue. its disuse begets weakness in the
muscles.-and these muscles are re-
quired to operate the artificial leg-and
the art of locomotiOn ON artificial legs
being quite different from that with
crutches, is picked up with consider
able difficulty after a long experience
with the latter. IN Y. Times. .