Artificial Limbs.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXI, Issue 8959, 7 December 1905, Page 1 (Supplement)

Artificial Limbs.

(By Joseph MacDooahl, Jun., 31.D., in the Medical 2?cws.) Belzoni and otheTs found in oil ancient sarchophagus artificial teeth made of sycamore wood. A set of artificial teeth ori the bridge work system was also found in an Etruscan skull of about 2CO A.D. Plaster restorations of the nose, ears, lins, are cleaTly described in Susruta about--300 B.C. "But the earliest representation ; of an artificial limb is that of a satyr who I is depicted with a. wooden leg on a WrecoRonutii vase. in th<3 collection at the Louvre in Paris. lii a t'ireco-Roman mosaic there i« also a sportsman f£p#nsented with a wooden let;. Both of these are. probably of the pre-Christian jjeriod. The eldest artificial leg still in existence was ioiu;d m a tnmh in Capua. Italy, and is now preservation in the Museum of the Royal foUe-ie of Surgeons, London, where it is > tliu< " described" in the catalogue. Roman .'.rtilicral h:the artificial limb accurately repiesciits the form of the leg : it is xcajio ; with pieces chin bronze, ]<ist*M!Oii by bronze nails to a wood<-h core, 'ill? iron! bars, having holes at their free enct*. are' attached to the upper extremity oi t-.ie bronze ; a quadrilateral piece of iron, io-snrt ncaT tlie position of the foot, is thought to liave given strength to it. Ihere is n( i trace, of tlie foot, and the wooden core Itacf nearly crumbled away. Ihe skeleton had its waist- surrounded by a belt of sheet htoivA&y edged with rivets, probably used to> fasten a leither linifi"-. Three painted vases (red ii jures on a° black ground) lay at the fetf <•'; the skeleton. The vases belong to .1 r.iilicr advanced period in the decline o: art (about 300 years 8.C.) Wo learn from Herodotus that an L;ean ea'ifurod by tlie Spartans and coined in'stocks as a future preliminary tt> the infliction of fle'nfh, .-tmr't'oted 'h* ;-y; !>npriso::e ■ ' foot procured a wooden foot. I'lniy Tecorcss that S'ereius. 161 8.C., wore an art-w;a! h.ind and foucht with it. A well-

prost:;-r? : !i w-is ti.o iron 1 svim.- : n 1501 for Goetz vo;i :i. Irnijrht of Nuremburir. *t w.is a- c.-; .■■i-'-y structure, but <lll ingenious one. By means of buttons and levers it plished certain finger movements. «'i century later AuibToise Pare deso-oed an iron prosthesis that bad been df:'.'sea for a Humienot captain whose arm had been lost "in the siege of FonUnoy. It was at that time, viz., m the sixteenth century, when ;i .new impetus was r :ven to mrsery by the pc'iihis of Pare. ;hat efforts were made to supp'ly substitutes foT missing legs that would be urate ; r:ian mere supports. It is not unreason;!!::;- to suriose that PaTe's applications of the liuature to amputations in place of boiling r »il, decreasing the- agonies of tin? -' ])&- ratioii afM increasing the number o' recoveries. had iwtfcft to do with the interest given to the ui.imifacture of artificial limbs. Pare himself devised an app.'ir.-tus with a knee joint which, While- ur:"Ily fixed, could be moved by means oi a £N>»g running to the hip. Leather and j'.ipei' and glue were soon employed irtste:'-; of iron. The prostheses were made by nechani.s of all sorts, but a few of iliem acquired celebrity by their skill—ikk ; .bly Loratin. a French locksmith, whose *.v>rk was largely directed by Pare. Father Sebastian," a Carmellite monk, later produced sheet tin, a clumsy arm w'-icli bv men lis of sundry springs, was enable of certain articulations. Bailiff, a mechanic, also made movable arms, patte".ned largely after those of Father Sebasnan. It is recorded that the ifruke Ci.riM!aii von Kiaunscliwci'i wore an artificial li .nd, 1632. Peter I.owe, in his "Discourse _of the Whole Art of CluTUTgery ; " IV)4, shows several forms of artificial legs tiat were tlsrd in .he sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and _many_ others .'.ro found in th work-, oi Anuw's- 1 il :re These legs were made of wood anct attached by straps. In the Works of Ambrose I'aTC there is a- chapter dealing with "The means and manner to repair or supply natural or accidental defects 01' wants in man's body." He describe:, the use of artificial eyes and also axt-iliciaJ noses. He mentions a method for mailing an artificial tongue to help those who cannot speak by reason of its loss, .md also gives a drawing of this instrument and a full description of how it should be fixed in the mouth. He also gives an account of maJcin" an artificial poiate from a plate of gold or silver, which, he states, should be little bigger t-lrnn tho cavity itself. Falcinelli, a surgeon of Florence, in 1649, mentions the use oi "artificial eyes of silver and of gold and of crystal painted in various colors," and also artificial ears made of the same metals, which were painted the color of the flesh and fixed by means of strings to the head or sewn into the skin by means of gold or silveT wiTe. Silver noses, etc. were made even earlier than that. The Dutch surgeon Verduyn (1696) constructed an artificial leg consisting of a wooden foot and a hollow copper cylinder lined with chamois and strengthened with steel splints. There was a hinge joint at t-ha knee. The apparatus was attached to the thigh by means of a broad band. About the same time (1692) Lamzweerde constructed a leather hand in which a pen could be held. In 1753 H. Ravaton constructed an artificial limb by means of which a cavalryman was able to continue his field service. In 1761 Laurent supplied a man with a pair of artificial arms. Gavin Wilson, of Edinburgh, toward the end of the eighteenth century, constructed a hand in which a knife or fork could be held, and on the first and second fingers of which an apparatus was attached for holding a pen. He also made legs for amputations above and below the knee, modelled on the apparatus of Ravaton. They were fastened on to the body by a strap running over the shoulder on to the opposite side. Only the knee joint was movable. Addison, London, made a wooden foot with toe joints as well 06 ankle joint. Professor J. H. Brunninghausen (1796) constructed an apparatus adaptable to amputations either above or below the knee. The ankle joint vras fixed, but by means of strings motion was secured both at Chopart's joint and in the toe joints.