Pegleg

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Short description: Leg prosthesis
An articulated wood and leather prosthetic leg of a Slovenian soldier wounded in World War I (1917)

A pegleg is a prosthesis, or artificial limb, fitted to the remaining stump of a human leg. Its use dates to antiquity.[1]

History

By the late 19th century, prosthetics vendors would offer peglegs as cheaper alternatives to more intricate, lifelike artificial legs.[2] Even as vendors touted advantages of more complicated prostheses over simple peglegs,[2] according to a contemporary surgeon, many patients found a pegleg more comfortable for walking.[3] According to medical reports, some amputees were able to adjust to the use of a pegleg so well that they could walk 10, or even 30, miles in one day.[4]

Nowadays, wooden peglegs have been replaced by more modern materials, though some sports prostheses do have the same form.[5]

Notable pegleg wearers

Pegleg of Józef Sowiński
  • François Leclerc (~1554), privateer
  • Cornelis Jol, (1597–1641), privateer and Dutch West India Company admiral
  • Peter Stuyvesant (1612–1672), Dutch Director-General of New Amsterdam[6]
  • Blas de Lezo (1687–1741), Spanish admiral
  • Gouverneur Morris (1752–1816), American politician
  • Brook Watson (1735 -1807), Lord Mayor of London
  • Pierre Daumesnil (1776 – 1832), French general
  • Józef Sowiński (1777–1831), Polish General
  • Billy Waters (1778–1823), aka Black Billy, former African American slave, then sailor in the British Navy until he became an amputee. Also a busker of prolific merit.
  • Vuk Karadžić (1787–1864), Serbian linguist
  • Thomas L. Smith (1801–1866), American mountain man
  • Albert Chmielowski (1845–1916), Polish artist, founder of the Albertine Brothers and Sisters, saint of the Catholic Church
  • Robert McAlpin Williamson (1804?–1859), nicknamed "Three-legged Willie", Republic of Texas Supreme Court Justice, state lawmaker, and Texas Ranger
  • Kushibiki Yumindo (1859?-1924), Japanese impresario
  • Peg Leg Bates (1907–1998), dancer
  • Peg Leg Sam (Arthur Jackson) (1911–1977) American blues musician
  • Joe "Pegleg" Morgan (1929–1993), first non-Hispanic member of the Mexican Mafia, an American criminal organization

References

  1. ↑ Cantos, Mae (2005) "Pirates & Peg Legs: a Historical Look at Amputation and Prosthetics" In: Whitelaw, William A. (2005) (editor) Proceedings of the 14h Annual History of Medicine Days Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, pp. 16–20, OCLC 225558769, page 16
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Marks, George Edwin (1888), A Treatise on Marks' patent artificial limbs with rubber hands and feet, A. A. Marks, p. 47, https://books.google.com/books?id=nh0x_03RfgwC&pg=PA47 
  3. ↑ Tillmanns, Hermann (1895), Stimson, Lewis Atterbury, ed., itle The principles of surgery and surgical pathology: general rules governing operations and the application of dressings, D. Appleton and company, p. 128, https://books.google.com/books?id=BP41AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA128 
  4. ↑ Teale, Thomas Pridgin (1858), On amputation by a long and a short rectangular flap, pp. 29, 31, https://books.google.com/books?id=fB4DAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA31 
  5. ↑ Clarke, Carl D. (1965) Prosthetics Standard Arts Press, Butler, Maryland, OCLC 5083790, page 182
  6. ↑ ""...he lost his leg at Saint Martin.."". http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/B/stuyvesant/stuyvesant.htm. 

Further reading

Books

  • Murdoch, George and Wilson, A. Bennett (1998) A primer on amputations and artificial limbs C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, ISBN 0-398-06800-3
  • Pitkin, Mark R. (2009) Biomechanics of Lower Limb Prosthetics Springer verlag, New York, ISBN 978-3-642-03015-4
  • Seymour, Ron (2002) Prosthetics and orthotics: lower limb and spinal Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ISBN 0-7817-2854-1
  • Warren, D. W. (2001) James Gillingham: surgical mechanist & manufacturer of artificial limbs Somerset Industrial Archaeology Society, Taunton, England, ISBN 0-9533539-5-8

Articles





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