Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1906-01-28
A VERY ANCIENT ART
The MAKING OF ARTIFICIAL MEMBERS
OF THE HUMAN BODY.

wooden Legs Have Heen Found That
Probably Date Dnrl In the Pre-
Christinn Era-Thc Genius of Pnre
In the Sixteenth Century,
Belzoni and others found in an nm
sient sarcophagus artificial teeth made
Of sycamore wood. A set of artificial
teeth on the bridge work system was
asso found in mn Etruscan skull Of
nbout 200 A. u. Plaster restorations OF
the nose, ears and lips are clearly de-
scribed In Susruta about 300 Il. &. But
the earliest representation of an artifi-
cial limb is that of satyr who is de-
picted with II wooden leg on n Greco
Roman vase I'm Il collection at the
Louvre in Paris. In n Greco Roman
mosaic there is also n sportsman repre-
scented with wooden leg. Both OF
these are probably OF the pre- Christian
period
The oldest artificial leg still i'm exist
ence was found in n tomb ut Cnpua.
ITALY. and Is now preserved in the mu-
eeum of the Royal College of Surgeons.
London. where 1t is thus described in
the catalogue:
hOitiuI HitIUti1l =. ne HTIlUC1NI
limb accurately represents tho form OF
the leg. 1t is made with pieces of thin
bronze, fastened by bronze nails to n
wooden core. Two iron bars. having
holes Mt their FREQ ends nro attached TO
tho upper extremity OF the bronze. 4
puadrilateral piece of iron found near
the portion Of the foot Is thought to
have given strength to IT, There Is no
trace of the foot and the wooden core
had nearly crnmblod away. Tho skcle-
ton had its whist surrounded by a belt
OF sheet bronze edged with small rlvets,
probably used to fnsten lenther lining
Three painted vases cred figures on
black ground lay nj the feet Of the
skeleton. Tho vases belong to rather
advanced period in the decline Of art
tabout 300 years r. c..
We learn from Herodotus that an
Elean captured by Spnrtans and con
hned IN stocks ms torture preliminary
TO the infection Of death amputated his
own imprisoned foot escaped and Inter
procured wooden foot. Pliny records
That Sorgius. 16T r. c.. wore mn arti-
fetal hnnd and fought with IT, we'll
authenticated prcsthesls was the iron
hand made In 1904 for Goetz Won Ber-
l1chingen. knight Of Nuremberg. 1t
was clumsy structure! but an ingen-
ious one BY means of buttons and Ie.
Ters II accomplished certain finger move.
ments. Half century Ia ter Ambrose
Fare described an iron prosthesis that
mad been devised for Huguenot cap
tain whose arm had been lost in the
Siege Of Fontcnoy.
1t was nj thnt time-viz. In tho six.
teenth century. when new impetus
was given 10 surgery by the genius of
Pare-that efforts were made to sun
ply substitutes for missing legs that
would be more than mere supports. It
ID not unreasonable to suppose that
Fares application of the ligature to
amputhtions In place OF boiling oil de-
creasing the agonies OF the operation
and increasing the number of recover
les. had much 10 do with the interest
given to the manufacture Of artificial
limbs.
Fare himself devised an apparatus
with a knee joint which. while usually
fxed. could be moved by means OF
thong running 10 the hip. Leather and
paper and gin" were soon employed
Instead Of iron. The prostheses we're
made ty mechanics Of all sorts. but n
rev OF them acquired celebrity by their
skill, notably I.orrain. n French lock.
smith whose work was largely direct.
ed by the great Pare Father Scbas.
titan. carn:clite monk later produced
or sheet Tin clumsy arm which by
means Of supdry springs was capable
OF certain articulntions Bniliff. n mo
chanic, alro made movable arms. pnt-
termed largely after those of Father
Sebastian. 1t is recorded that the
Duke Christian Won BraunschwciS wore
an artificial hand in 1922 Peter Lowe
in his "Discourses of the Whole Art of
Chirurgery," 1854. shows several forms
Of artificial legs that were used in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
and many others are found in the