Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1900-12-12
Artificial Limbs.

trifing embarrassment of losing a leg
or two or even an arm, says the Chica-
go Chronicle" They nut in such
flexible joints and such charming rub
ber feet that the wearers of these i'm
proved legs dance gayly at balls and
cotillions without raising question as
to the makeup of their limbs. There
is a man in a downtown Office wearing
an artificial leg and foot-his own hav-
ing been amCutated four inches below
the knee. who jumps six feet forward
in sDrightly manner just to show
what he can do when the subject of
wooden legs is mentioned. He can pick
up 200-pound man in his arms, and
hold him easily and dance Jig with
his rubber foot and willow limb. He
would just as soon have an artificial
leg and foot as not. There is one ad-
vantage, he says. He never has rheu-
matism, and he never suffers with
corns or chilblains. He can quit pok
er game at any stage without being ac-
cused of having cold feet" He is as
happy as grig, though just why grig
should be happy is one of the things
no fellow can find out.
"The making of artificial limbs" "
says one of the makers as he stood
with piece of willow tree in his hands
and looked at it with a critical eye, "is
an art Every Tom, Dick and Harry
who hangs out shingle cannot make
artificial limbs properly If they did
some of us would have to go out of
the business. You see, they go at
the business in a laundering way, and
try to turn out legs as cheaply as posi-
bic, and the result is they turn out bad
ones. Everything lies in the fitting of
the stump. The making of the leg it
self is almost secondary to it's fitting
in such way that it will not bother
the man who wears it. The making of
bad legs is what keeps the business
of us who make good legs going Here
the limb-maker Caused a moment to
see whether the shot had found a tar
get
There are plenty of limbs demand
ed" he went on. "owing to accidents
and amputations for one reason or
other, but if all the legs made and
sold were fit to wear permanently the
business would be pretty slack. The
fact is that two-thirds of the false
limbs turned out by some houses are
unsatisfactory, and their purchasers
come here, and throw them away when
they get new ones. See?" and he
opened the door of closet and showed
a score CT artificial legs of all makes,
patents and weights. They were all
secondhand, but some of them had
evidently beea |orn only short time.
Feel the weight of that" he said,
handing out a 3onderous thing of
leather and wood and metal. 1t fell
to the floor with a clank like that of
a bushel of coal.
What do you think of a man trying
to wear a thing like that?" he asked
Nov in here I'll show you the lightest
artificial limb ever made"
He led the way to an inner room
where in a cabinet were half a dozen
new limbs, all of the queer pink which
is supposed to resemble flesh tints
But they certainly were light A limb
which was intended to be strapped
around the hip for an amputatlon
above the knee was as light as basket
of chips. 1t was made of willow, pared
very thin. covered with raw hide ant
then painted with waterproof enamel
The foot was of rubber, but firm ant
flexible, and the knee and ankle Joint!
worked as we'll as metal joints car
work
THAT is the leg that got that cert
ficate for" said the limb-maker. point
ing to framed certificate from tht
Worlds Fair which set forth that tn,
artificial limbs made by this manufac
turer were the real thing.
Very few of the old-fa2hioned woJd
EN- stumps are made now," he Went on
| "Of course. some people who are to-
poor to get an artificial limb max
them themselves. They take a coupl
of pieces of wood and chop them ou
some way to support their weight.
good leg, one Of the kind l showed yp
in there, is worth $780, OF course. thi
price keeps many people from gettin
them, but they are worth it. The
must be fitted with a care and skill
which comes only from experience
and it is worth money to get the rlgll
thing the first time. There has bee
a great advance made in the making c
artificial limbs in the last decade. On
improvement has followed another I'm
til now it is almost impossible to de
tect the presence of a first class arti
fetal limb. They are making Feet G
rubber and of aluminium and of woot
cut l think the rubber feet ar, tn