The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-06-02
ARTIFICIAL LEGS.
How They Are Made and Adjusted
Women wearers Few.
Philadelphia Record.

Philadelphia Record
For the advance that has been made in
the construction of artificial limbs the rail-
roads are TO be thanked. They cause a de-
mand that Is always growing as regards
quality no less than regards quantity.
TO meet this demand the limbmaker. strain
ing every nerve. finds himself turning out
each year limbs that approach more nearly
to perfection.
The wooden leg of to-day is wonderful
mechanism. While il is much like the real
leg IL does not equal the real leg in any re-
Spect. and alongside of real leg IL Will al
ways seem to be "a poor enough makeshift.
yet hidden under shoes and trousers or a
skirt. 1t serves; it enables it's wearer to
walk without cane; it cannot be told from
a natural leg.
1t seems, If you take il up and examine it,
10 ne made of pink wax 1t is made. as a
matter OF fact of English willow. strips of
EnSllsn willow, covered with raWhlde that
Is enameled pink. II is hollow, and it is
very lfght-frOm four to five pounds in
weight. The foot is always very delicate
and small, the ankle slender. the calf large
and round-"a good leg" you would say.
approvingly. Of its shape But the foot has
no toes; it ends in solid strip.
suppose You have had your leg cut off
above the knee. You will then require one
OF the most complicated wooden legs made.
one with joint at the knee and another at
the ankle. You wait until your stump Is
perfectly healed and healthy, and then you
visit the wooden legmaker.
The wooden legmaker takes a cast in
plaster of the stump. He measures your
remaining leg carefully. Return" he
says, lin such and such a time"
When you return the leg is ready for you
A thick stocking, called a stump stocking
Is put on your stump, and over that the les
hts much as a glove fits over a hand. The
stump sets into the leg SO that the weight
falls on the sides. not on the end. of the
stump, and thus soreness is avoided. An
arrangement of straps about your should
crs and breast holds the leg in place. You
try to walk, and, if you are fairly self-con-
tdent' you will walk we'll from the start
You will be surprised TO see that, somewhat
the knee and ankle of the wooden leg ben
in harmony with the other knee and ankle
When you sit down the wooden leg forms
itself naturally into a right angle at the
knee, and when you walk the foot feXes
itself on the ankle.
What causes this? The joints work like
the joints of a wax doll easily. smoothly
nrmly. The foot, pressed on the floor
causes the ankle joint To work: the bend
of the natural leg at the knee causes the
wooden one TO bend there i'm sitting down
You decide that you are not badly Off aftC'
all, and pay 800 to the legmaker and de
part. Your purchase will last you about five
years. 1t will then be worn beyond remedy
at the joints, and you will have to get a
new one. This Will annoy you; you viii
have got accustomed 10 the old leg; the
new one Will not seem the same until It,
too. will be about worn out.
In case OF amputat ton below the knee
the wooden leg costs only $S5 and no
shoulder straps are required. A kind OF
leather drawer is attached to the top of the
leg, and laceS UP the stump firmly. An
artificial foot costs SIS.
A wooden legmaker said yesterday;
only one in twenty of the people who
lose their limbs are women. This is
because women lead sheltered lives. be-
cause they don't work on the railroads.
in the mines, or among dangerous machin-
cry
women. while they abhor false limbs
for themselves. do not mind them on other
persons. A woman will not hesitate TO
marry a man with wooden leg. One of
a man who had two legs of wood, and
she is happy man. on the other hand.
would not marry a woman with a wooden
leg under any condition. That Is where
men and women differ. Women are more
spiritual and more unselfsh than men.
"a person who wears an artificial leg
will have a wonderful and beautiful de-
velopment of the shoulders. back and chest.
His waist will always remain slim and
supple. His figure. the older he grows,
will approach nearer and nearer to per-
lection. This is because the management
of the artificial leg falls to tremendous
extent upon the muscles OF the shoulders,
back and chest, and these muscles are get
ting daily a magnificent series of exercises
know young man with two wooden legs.
He walks with a cane, and his depth
through the chest. his breadth of back
and the width of his shoulders. well set
off by the slimness of his waist. causes
people on the street TO turn and look after
MIN with appreciation.
cit is impossible TO tell how many ar
tifcial limbs are made In this country
i'm a year. There three factories for
their making i'm this city. two or three
I'm New York and one in Milwaukee. Legs
first were made Of cork. which was not
durable then of aluminium. which was not
best substance that has yet been found
TO make them of.