Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1897-1902, 1901-07-05
ARTIFICIAL LEGS.
HOW THEY ARE MADE AND
Adjusted.
Every Year Limbs That Approach More
Nearly to Perfe elton Are Being Turned
Out-Wond ,rful Mechanism OF Wooden
Legs of Today

For the advance that has been made
in the construction OF artificial limbs
the railroads ave to be thanked. They
cause a demand that is always growing
as regards quality no less than as re-
CARDS quantity. To meet this demand
the limbmaker, straining every nerve,
finds himself turning out each year
limbs that approach more nearly TO
perfection. The wooden leg of to-day
is a wonderful mechanism. While it
is much like the real leg it. does not
equal the real leg in any respect, and
alongside of a real leg it will always
be seen TO be a poor enough make
shift. Yet, hidden under shoes and
trousers or a skirt, ii serves; it en-
ables its wearer TO walk without a
cane; it cannot be told from a natural
leg. 1t seems, if you take it up and
examine it. to be made OF pink wax.
1t is made, as a matter of fact, of Eng
fish willow, strips of Engnsn willow,
covered with rawhide that is enameled
pink. 1t is hollow, and it is very light
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 remain
ing leg carefully Return" he says,
"in such and such a time" When
you return the leg is ready for you.
A thick stocking, called stump stock
Ing, is put on your stump, and over
that the leg fits much as a glove fits
over hand. The stump sets into the
leg so that the weight falls or the
sides, not on the end, of the stump,
and thus soreness is avoided. An ar
rangement of straps about your Shout
derS and breast holds the leg in place.
You try to walk, and # you are fairly
self-confdent, you will walk well from
the start. You will be surprised TO see
that, somewhat, the knee and ankle
Of the wooden leg bend in harmony
with the other knee Ind ankle. When
you sit down the wooden leg forms
itself naturally into q 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, firm
ly. The foot, pressed on the floor.
causes the ankle joint to work; the
bent OF the natural leg at the knee
causes the wooden one to bend there
in sitting down. You decide that you
are not badly off, after all, and pay
500 to the legmaker and depart.
Your purchase will last you about five
years. 1t will then be worn beyond
remedy at the joints, and you will have
to get new one. This will annoy
you; you will have got accustomed to
the old leg; the new one will not seem
the same untfl it, too, will be about
worn out. In case OF aDputatfon be-
low the knee the wooden leg costs
only $S5, and no shoulder straps arc
required. A kind of leather drawer Is
attached to the top of the leg, and laces
up to the stump firmly. An artificial
foot costs s45. A wooden legmaker
said: "Only one in twenty are women
This Is because women lead sheltered
lives, because they don't work on tho
railroads, in the mines, or among dan
gerous machinery. 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 the
prettiest women / ever knew married
a man who had two legs of wood, and
she is happy. A 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
unselfish than men. A person who
wears an artificial leg will have
wonderful and beautiful development
of the shoulders, hack and chest. His
waist will always remain slim and
supple. His figure, the older he grows,
will approach nearer and nearer 10
perfection. This is because the man
agement of the artificial leg falls to
a tremendous extent upon the muscles
Of the shoulders, back and chest, and
these muscles are getting daily a mag
nihcent series of exercises. | know a
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. we'll
set off by the slimness Of his waist,
causes people on the street to turn
and look after him with appreciation.
1t is impossible to tell how many ar
tificial limbs are made in this country
in a year. There ara three factories
for their making In this city, two or
three In New York and one In Mil
waukee. Legs first were made Of cork,
which was not durable, then of alumni
num. which was not durable. either.