ARTIFICIAL LIMBS.
BIAKIXO SUnSTITUTRS FOR MISS
ING LEGS AND ARMS.
An Industry That Is a Boon to Hu
manity Various Processes of '
Manufacture Described Cost
of Replaced Members.
"7T CCIDENT trill (.imnon und
r&A .1..1 A - 1.1:..-.
T a avft unuvjLi siu a. 11 ra ii himiiiii?ii,iiiii
the fcttificial article is truly a blcssinc.
It appears to be a difficult task to de
termine the date of the first appear
ance of this great boon to humanity.
For ccntnries the unfortunate cripple
was an object of pity, neglected and
entirely at the mercy of the unskilled
urgeon. Crnde and cruel methods
were nriopted by the ancients in cut
ting off a limb. It was not nntil the
seventeenth century that any humane
means of stopping the hemorrhage was
discovered. Previous to thnt, after a
leg or arm had been knocked off by
the use of a mnllet and a chisel, the
stamp was scared over with rod hot
irejjs Jo stop the flow of. the blood,
i And even after all , tliis torture 'the
sufferer was compelled to hobble about
as best he could without the slightest
lope of ever having Lis condition
ameliorated. And vet some substitute
for a missing morubrr was certainly
found by the ancients, for Herodotus,
who died in 408 B. C, tells us in some
of his historical works of a prisoner
who amputated his own foot to free
himself from the shackle, and was thus
nnblcd to escape and return to his
homo, where his friends provided him
with a wooden foot. An artificial log
was found in 18S3 at Cnpua in a tufa
tomb and is now on exhibition in the
Academy of Sciences in London. At
ti e feet of the skeleton where this
relict was found lay three vases bear
ing the date of 800 B. C, proving that
the art of making artificial limbs is an
old one.
The beginning of the present cen
tury, however, marks the time when
CJZI FIRST
FORMATION
Wl f F'Rsr
XX I I . START
WOODEN
LEG
ARTIFICIAL LEG IS VARIOUS
teal improvements were made in arti
ficial limbs and shapely legs and arms
and hands began to take the plaoe of
the crutch and the stiff and immova
ble wooden peg. Although frequently
poken of as "cork" legs, that very
useful material has never been a faotor
in the making of an artificial limb.
Artificial limbs are made generally
from red or English willow. This
comes to the manufacturer in blooks
after a thorough seasoning of twe
rears. For legs, these blocks are long
Vcugh to form either the lower or
Jdf or the upper or thigh part of the
'limb. Then there is the foot bloek.
All the work is done by hand. Inven
tion has not yet devised machinery for
making artificial limbs. The first
thing the operator does is to hew the
loot block into some rough semblance
of a human foot, and into this is put
one part of the ankle hinge. Then
the skin is rudely formed and the other
portion of the ankle hinge is adjusted.
When these two parts are put together
nd conneoted natural working
ankle joint is prouuoed. The ordin
ary make has only the baok and for
ward motion, though in some eases a
joint having lateral action is fonnd
necessary. This, however, is not often.
The next point to which the work
man gives bis attention is the toe
joint. This is a simple contrivanoe
to look at, but it is an ingenious pieoe
f mechanism. It is difficult to get
this hinge to exactly anit the step of
the wearer. Then oomes the saoket
lor the reception of the stump. This
is work of great eue, for in the per
fect fit here lie all the comfort or dis
comfort. In one end of the original
bloek as it arrives at the faotory ia a
round auger hole. With a peouliar
twl. abased like k book, with a sharp
7 i.i ni
V i THlCrf
P ? AMPUTATION
eAgt the workman begins enlarging
thi hole nntil he has made it fit the
stump so that it touohes with precisely
the same bearing every portion of it.
ARTIFICIAL tEO FOR AJfrUTATION BELOW
thr knee.
If the amputation has been below the
knee then comes the stout steel knee
joint. The making and fitting of this
port of the limb requires great skill.
The necessity is found for a separate
knee piece of wood. This is fashioned
into a slnpoly knee cap, and so ad
justed that each end works smoothly
and steadily in either the top socket
of the lower limb or the bottom part
of the upper limb.
The making of the various hinges
which form the joints is an important
part of the work. They are made of
steel and car-spring rubber, and must
be simply perfect in their adjustment
to insure satisfactory results.
When the leg has beon fitted and all
the joints have been made to work
ROUGH
LET. BLOCK
AND
STAGES OP MANUFACTURE.
perfectly the wood is smocthed on the
outside. It is then covered with a
coating ct thin rawhide and enameled.
Bat with all the care exercised in the
manufacture, the most difficult tank,
perhaps, falls upon the person who is
to wear the contrivanoe. In many
cases it is difficult to learn to use it.
Acoording to all acoounts people have
more trouble learning the use of an ar
tificial arm or hand than they do the
leg. If but one arm has been ampu
tated, the remaining member is made
to do all the service. People as a
usual thing find it much easier to
learn to write with the left hand than
getting the knaok of holding a pen or
pencil between a wooden or rubber
finger and thumb, but if both hands
are missing it becomes necessary.
In regard to artificial arms and
hands some great results have been
attained. The work on these is muoh
more complicated than on the leg, but
still hands are made with fingers that
will piok np a pin or handle a sword
with wonderful faoility. The simplest
contrivanoe for making the fingers
work naturally is a strap which goes
over the shoulder. By "hunohing"
or working the shoulder joint this
strap is made to act upon a mechanism
in the forearm and aotion is thus com
municated to the fingers so that they
will open and abut. -
While it is advisable for anyone who
intends procuring artificial limbs to
visit the faotory in person to get
perfect fit, it ia possible to get fairly
good remits from a plaster of Paris
cast. It is sometimes impossible for
people to reach large cities where this
work can be done aa it should, and in
aueh cases the plaster oast aerves a
good pnrpose. So also in regard to
the cost of limb. A perfeot leg will
cost about 875, while an arm, owing
to the complicated mechanism, will
oost from 810 to 8100.
There are what the makers call peg
legs. These are finished legs except
that they have no foot. They are
made with a peculiar joint at the
knee, ao that the peg can be either stiff
or, by turning a screw, can be made
to work on a hinge, as the wearer likes
best The, sooket recei.taole is hol
lowed out in the complete leg, and
ttiey can be made very oomfortable.
There is a wide difference of opinion
regarding the time that ought to elapse
after amputation before the artificial
limb ahonld be tried, but a fair aver
age of all judgments on the matter
sets the time at three months, and it
will then take two weeks to turn ont a
limb. .
White willow, the chosen wood for
the cricket bat, ia said to be disap
pearing from England,
3. J. ACTOR'S OLD DWELLING.
The Fur-Trading Headquarter of
;the Original Astor.
To live in a house that was once oo
cupiad by John Jacob Astor, founder
of the greatest fortune in the world, ia
to have encouraging surroundings.
That is the situation of Mr. E. H.
jST.?5-ii::----tSVi
trvr.
THE ORIGINAL ASTOR flOCSE."
Clcrque, of Philadelphia, who is in
oharge of the Saalt pulp and paper
plant of Sault St. Marie, Ontario.
The house is situated on the St.
Mary's P.iver, the outlet of Lake Su
perior. It is said to bo oua of the
places which John Jacob Astor made
his headquarters while engaged in the
fur trade, in which ho made his for
tune before buying real estate in New
York. It was probably the furthest
went ho reached. Tho establishment of
Atorin, in Oregon, described by
Washington Irving, was bis entcrpriBo,
but he did not go there.
Astor arrived in Now York In 1783,
and a chance acquaintance with a fur
rier on the ship decided him to enter
the fur trade. At first he exported
furs from Canada to England and re
imported thorn to this country.
Tbon a treaty with Great Britain
enabled him to organize the far trade
in the United States. In 1809 ho in
corporated the American Fur Com
pany in the State of New Vork. After
wards he organized tho Southwest
Company, with authority from tho
Government to trade in the Indian
Territory along the Canadian border.
This company included the Mack
inaw Company, a British corporation,
and certain members of the Northwest
Company, the greatest trading asso
oiation in Canada. Many of Astor's
hunters and trappers were Canadians.
Astor's company was suppressed by
the War of 1812.
It is said that he made two million
lollars in furs and the China trade be
fore he began hie accumulation of real
estate.
The old bouse is built of very heavy
logs, evidently with a view to defense
tgainst Indians. There are loop
holes for muskets. Mr. Clerqne has
idded a story to it and furnished it in
t very charming manner.
The Tanderbllt Arboreium.
All those Americans who are inter
ested in the material welfare of their
sountry will watch with interest what
3eorge W. Vauderbilt is doing on bis
Vorth Carolina estate. Mr. Vander
bilt, as is well known, ia making on
ins eBtAte a sort of model forest, where
loientfflo forestry is to be practioed,
nd experiments made in aoolimaticg
valuable foreign trees, and in the most
profitable management of the native
ipeoies ; but every one does not know
that his plan includes horticulture
tnd agriculture as well as forestry, and
that he wishes and hopes to make his
experience valuable to American
furmers and land oirncrs everywhere.
With this view, he proposes to build
on his property a little village, in
cluding not only n hotel, but houses
and stores, where people interested in
agriculture, who come properly intro
duced, may rent rooms or bouses for
themselves and their families, for suoh
time as they may desire to study the
work going on upon the estate. There
can be no doubt that there will ba
plenty of applicants, for howhere else
in this country can such opportunities
for advanced study of the sort be
found. Fortunately for his country
men, Mr. Vauderbilt is not only able,
but willing, to expend large sums o.'
money in experiments which may re
turn, for the present, nothing but act
vanoes in eoieutifio kuowledge; and it
is just these experiments wnioh are,
perhaps, in the end, ruojt valuable to
the oountry. American Architeat.
The Limit ot Folly.
It teems about the limit of folly to
hide money in a stove and leave it to
the risk of fire, bnt even that line was
passed by some nnkpgwq near Nor
way, Ga., who stored a lot of cart
ridges in a stove. A woman started a
fire in the stove oue day last week and
the cartridges exploded, destroying
the sight ot one eye and otherwise in
juring her. New York Sun.'
A Sew Factor In Civilization.
The motocycle, as the horseless car
riage is to be named in future, has
oome to stay. At Tunbridge Wells n
exhibition of these vehicles has been
moiocxcle, on roim-WHEXD tetbo
lbum 010,
held, and recently a motoeyole race at
Chicago brought the new vehicle still
more prominently before the world.
The borse has survived steam ; will V
be able to defy petroleum?
liilHi
UK
NEW AND NEAT.
SOMR 1.ATR DESIGNS IN GAR
MENTS KOR WOMEN.
gfjllsh Combination In a Waist for
Misses Norfolk Dasqite for Gen
eral Wear Picturesque Ma
rie Antoinette Klc has.
IN the first large illustration fancy
boncle plaid is nnited with hunt
er's green Velvet and decorated
with narrow, dull gilt gimp and
email buttons to match. The stylish
waist is arranged over linings fitted
with single bust darts and other usual
aeams, and closes in centre baok. The
full fronts and baok are gathered on
at yoke depth. A pointed yoke of
velvet covers the tipper portions of
front and back, the front yoke extend
ing to form a stolo in centre over the
drooping blouse close to the waist
line. The neck is finished with ft
close-fitting standing collar of vel
vet, and a belt to match encircles the
waist. Full gigot sleeves are mounted
HANDSOME WAIST FOR MISSES.
over comfortable linings and com
pleted at the wrists with flaring cuffs
of velvet, edged with gimp to matoh
yoke. Handsome combinations of
plain and mixed fabrioscan be effected
by the mode, whioh is suitable for all
styles of material in wool or silk. The
waist can be worn with gored or
round full skirt to match, and serge,
camel's hair, cashmere, cheviot or
tweed will usually be chosen for prac
tical purposes, with or without ailk,
velvet or other contrasting fabric.
The quantity ot 44-inoh wide ma
terial renuired in mnba this iraalf fn
a miss of ten years old is 2 yards ; for
n luuneen-year-oia size, yards; for
sixteen-year-old size, 2 yards.
NORFOLK BASQCK FOR GENERAL WEAR.
Cheoked tweed in Sootch heather
mixture made the stylish basque pic
tured in tha fltlmr tin.lnlnmn Ulna.
tration. This lmsnnl
aa. I X 1 aaww
tor shopping, walking, driving,
ejeuug or general wear. The adjust
ment is Clove flttino tn ilia wiaf linn
below nhich it falls with a slight rip-
pie io lasmonanie length over the hips,
the box plaits being graded and ap
plied froill tha nhnnlilora an f? IhAAnnttin
of fronts and baok to the lower edge
oi Dasque. a belt of the material is
worn around the waist. The closing
POPULAB NORFOLK BASQUE.
ia effeoted invisibly in centre front
nnder the box plait. Two styles of
collar are provided by the pattern,
high rolling collar that is closed to
the neok, a shown on the figure, and
a low-cut revert collar to wear with
chemisette, as shown in the small
drawing. The fashionable full gigot
aleevea are gathered at the top over
comfortable sleeve linings and are
plainly completed at tha wrists. This
style of basque ia simple, in construc
tion and dressy in effect, requires no
deooration or trimming of any kind,
is becoming to All figures, and for these
reasons held in general favor, retain
ing to-day the popularity achieved on
its first introduction to the world cf
fashion. Cheviot, serge, camel's hair,
vionna, covert and ladies' olotb and
all varieties of smooth and rough
faced suiting in plaid, striped, mixed
or cheoked designs will develop
atylisbly by tha mode.
Tha quantity of 44-inoh wide mate
rial required to make this basqna for
a lady having a 82-Inch bust meaanri
Is H yards; for a 86-inch size, 4
yards; for a 40-iich size, 4 yards
for 42-inch size, 4 yards.
ORNAMENTS FOR THE ltAtR.
Of late year' it has become tha
fashion to wear tome ornament in the
hair when in full evening dress.
Tiaras, crowns and coronets are, of
coarse, the handsomest ornaments,
but, after all, the majority of women
do not possess suoh jewels. Rhine
stones, which closely resemble dia
monds in their brilliant appearance,
are deemed permissible imitatiyTvof
the precious stones, and come inWny
quaint and beautiful designs.
Mercury wings are very popular,
and are to be had in all sizes. When
attached to a band ot the same stonos
thoy make a beeoming and effective
headdress, and can be worn with hair
arranged either high on the head or
low in the neck, or part way between.
Young girls twist a bit of ribbon in
their hair and tie the ends of the rib
bon into a bow in asort ot wing shape,
while the rhinestones are universally
conceded to be more suitable for older
women to wear. The wings are often
used without the bandeau. In that
case they are generally fastened to ft
long ha roin.
LAD 33' MARIE ANTOINETTE FICHUS.
The picturesque neok draperies of
the Marie Antoinette period are found
among the dainty nocossories to the
UARIE ANTOINETTE FIOHCS.
toilette of the fashionable women.
The soft, fine mull, chiffon, silk, muB
lin, crepe-de-chine, or Brussels net,
of -which tbey are usually made,
draped around the neck in soft folds,
with the fluffy, ruffled edging of soft
lace or fine embroidery, render them
graoef ul and becoming alike to young
and old. No. 1 is here piotnred of
bnttor-oolored chiffon, shaped in
square or sailor ontline at the Daok,
the edges being finished with frills of
the chiffon, edged with butter-colored
Valenoiennes laoe. No. 2 is of whit
mull with deep frills of handsome
laoe. It is shaped in round ontline in
blaok and lies in soft, natural folds
around the neck. The ends can hang
loosely or tied in a knot over the bust,
as here presented.
The quantity of 41-inch wide mate
rial required to make designs JSo. 1 or
No. 3 is 1 yard for either 32-inoh, 36
incli or 40-inoa breast measure, ,
COATS COXI SHORTER.
Coata to tailor-made gowns are made
shorter, only twenty -one inches to be
exact, with ripple in tha akirt, and
they must be lined with silk and not
satin. Last month, last week, may
hap, satin was the swagger thing for
lining, bat to-day it itn t
A RATXLES9 HORSESHOE, .
An Important Invention That Slay
Prove a Hoon for Horses.
In one respect the human race has
made very littlo improvement during
the past few thousand years. This is
in the matter of horseshoes. Our pres
ent method of shoeing horses has not
changed materially for centuries, and
has always been rude and irrational.
One of the chief objections to the sys
tem is that the boot is made to fit the
shoe instead of the shoe to fit the hoof.
This involves lot of cutting and
scraping, and is the chief cause of
lameness and stumbling. The use of
nails is also a serious objeotion, as, no
matter how careful the blacksmith
may be, there are eases when ft tender
spot will be penetrated. It is quite
obvious that nature never intended
nails to be driven into horse's hoof.
The accompanying illustrations,'
says the New York World, show a
novel horseshoe that has been sub -jected
to a careful and thorough trial
on half a dozen horses. In every in-
stance it has worked to perfection.
The inventor is G. L. Beynolds, of Au
bnrn, N. Y.
Like a great many works of genius,
the one in question is extremely sim
ple. It consists of band of metal
about an inch high, which fits around
the lower edge (of the hoof. At the
base of this band there is a sort of 1
projecting shelf, or flange, which is
made to fit into a groove which runs
TITE HORSESHOB) WITHOUT KAILS.
around the inside of the shoe. The
latter is made ot steel, of the usual
chape and style. The only difference
between it and the ordinary shoe is the
presence of the groove and the absence
of nail holes.
When the band is fitted to the hoof
(which is done very readily), the shoe
in turn is attaohed by slipping the
flange into the groove. It now re
mains to clasp the arrangement by two
screws in the rear. These may be
turned to any degree of tightness de
sired, and a moderate degree is suf
ficient to prevent the shoe from com
ing off. The whole arrangement may
be put on or taken off in a moment.
As the shoe is not nailed to the
hoof, there is a perfect freedom for -expansion
and contraction. This is
very essential point, as all horsemen '
know. The growth ot the hoof is not
prevented, and if there is any growth,
instead of splittling the hoof, it serves
only to tighten the shoe. All the
strain on the band as it is tightened
comes over the toe and around the
tower edge of the hoof at the point
where it is the hardest.
The ease with which the shoe may
be put on and taken off permits its
fortunate wearer to enjoy a luxury
that has been denied him up to the
present time, for now the horse may
remove his shoes before retiring for
the night. We all know what ft relief
it is to take off our footgear, especially ,
LOWER PART OF 8HOR.
in damp weather. There is no reason
why the horse should not feel equally
relieved when deprived of his heavy
iron clogs.
Another point of advantage, on
whioh the inventor properly lays mnoh
stress, is the fact that the shoe is
grasped firmly to the hoof at every
point. Under the nailing system the
last nails towards the rear are driven
about half way between the .heol and
toe. This leaves one-half of the shoe
on either side unfastened. There is
thus a considerable leverage, and it is
for this reason that so many shoes
come off. If this shoe is caught, say
in traok, at the rear end, it is almost
CPPER FART OF SHOE.
sure to come off. This diffloulty is
obviated in Mr. Reynolds's shoe. In
fact, some persons have objeoted to
thia shoe on the ground that it will
never pull off in an aooident, thus ren
dering the hoof itself liable to injury.
The fattening in the rear is made by
means of ft spring olinob, whioh may
be ot any strength desired. It haa one
end fast to tha hoof of the rear nn-
right extension of the oalk, and tbe
other end has metallio bearing, at
taohed to the hoof an inch or mora
farther baok than where the last nail
is usually driven. The point of the
screws, as they are turned in, press
npon the centre of this spring, and
thus, while the screw presses the clinch
flimly down to hold the shoe and hoof
tightly together, the spring reaote
upon tha screw with equal pressure.
Thia spring eases the solid, dead blow
that is ordinarily given by the hoof
when the ahoa is fastened by means ,
of nails.
The lata M. Stambnloff was ft sol
lector ot postage stamps. He had
about 40,000 o' them, some of great
value.