Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/113

ARTIFICER. work. Similar liraiiclies are a part of the organization of all (itlier European armies.

AR'TIFI'CIAL BUT'TER. See Butteb.

ARTIFICIAL COT'TON. See Cotton, Arti- ficial.

ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS. See Flowers, Artificial.

ARTIFICIAL HORI'ZON. A rellecting sur- face, usually of moicury. used with the sextant (q.v.) or rettecling circle in measuring altitude when the natural horizon is indefinable, and in determining the zero for all instruments by which altitude is measured.

ARTIFICIAL LIMBS. The art of replacing lost limlis by artilicial ones made of some appropriate material is very old. In the Jluseum of the Royal College of Surgeons, in London, there is an artificial leg of bronze, wood, and iron, exhumed from a tomb at Capua, Italy, in which, together with the skeleton of the wearer, were found three vases assigned to the year B.C. 300. Herodotus relates the tale of an Elean, captured by the Spartans and confined with one foot in the stocks, who secured his release by amputating his own foot, and who afterwards wore a wooden foot. Pliny declares that JI. Sergius, about B.C. 107, made and wore an artificial hand, with which he fought in battle. The celebrated artificial hand of the German knight, Gotz von Berlichingen (1480-1.502), 'the Iron-handed,' weighed three pounds, and was so constructed as to grasp a sword or lance. It was invented by a mechanic of Nuremberg, and is preserved at .Taxthausen, near Heilbronn, a duplicate being in the castle at Erbach, in the Odenwald. According to Scott's Border Aiifiqnitics, the family of Clephane, of Carslogie, "have been in possession from time immemorial of a hand made in the exact representation of that of a man, curiously formed of steel," and that it was given by one of the kings of Scotland to a laird of Carslogie, who had lost a hand in the service of his country. Ambroise Pare described, in 1504, an iron arm constructed for a Huguenot captain, with which he could hold his shield as well as his bridle-rein. Lorrain, a French locksmith, manufactured artificial limbs, under Fare's sug- gestions, with much success. Father Sebastian, a Carmelite monk, is credited with being the next to construct such limbs, with less success. Verduin, a surgeon of Holland, invented an artificial leg in 1090, which bore his name, and which was amended in later years by Serre. It is claimed that, early in the Nineteenth Century, Baillif, of Berlin, constructed a hand which did not exceed a pound in weight, and in which the fingers, without the aid of the natural hand, not only exercised the movements of fiexion and extension, but could be closed upon and retain light objects, such as a hat and even a pen. In 1790 and 1810 patents were taken out by Thomas jVIann, and in 1800 by James Potts, both of England, for artificial legs of wood. Potts's leg was used by the Marquis of Anglesea (who lost a leg at Waterloo), and was hence called the 'Anglesea Leg.' In 1818 von Griife invented a mechanical appliance for artificial legs, which is largely used with modifications, by European makers. William Selpho, who worked w'ith Potts in England, introduced the 'Anglesea Leg' in America. It was superseded by the 'Palmer Leg,' a lighter and more adaptable invention by B. F. Palmer, an Ameri- can cripple. Palmer's leg was patented in 1846, 1849, and 1852. Other American makers have been George W. Yerger, W. C. Stone, J. Russell, 0. D. Wilcox, J. S. Drake, and A. A. Marks. Marks was the first to suggest rubber feet and hands, and his artificial limbs are now the most commonly used of any in America. His first patents were issued in 1850 and 1800. In 1845 a Dutch mechanic, van Peeterssen, invented a hand which could be used by an actor, M. Roger, to i)ick up a pen or hold a leaf of paper, draw a sword from the scabbard, etc. Van Peeterssen's conceptions have been extended and improved by the Messrs. Charri6re, the celebrated surgical me- chanics of Paris, aided by M. Huguier, the well- known surgeon. A very marvelous arm has also been constructed by il." Beehard. The utility of an artificial arm depends much on the nature of the stump. A stump above the elbow is best suited for an arm when it gradually tapers to its lowest end, and terminates in a rounded surface. When an arm is removed at the shoulder-joint, and there is no stump, an artificial arm can still be fixed in its proper place by means of a corset. In amputation below the elbow-joint, the best stump is one which includes about two-thirds of the forearm; while a stump formed by amputa- tion at the wrist is very unsatisfactory. The simplest form of artificial arm intended to be attached to a stump terminating above the elbow "consists of a leathern sheath accurately fitted to the upper part of the stump. The lower end of the sheath is furnished with a wooden block and metal screw-plate, to which can be attached a fork for holding meat, a knife for cutting food, or a hook for carrying a weight" (Heather Bigg). The arm should be so carried as to represent the position of the natural arm when at rest. It is retained in its position by shoulder and breast straps, and forms a light, useful, and inexpen- sive substitute for the lost member. More com- plicated and therefore more expensive pieces of apparatus are made, in which motion is given to the fingers, a lateral action of the thumb is obtained, and the wrist movements are partially imitated; and a degree of natural softness is given to the hand by a covering of gutta-percha and india-rubber. Artificial rubber hands are now made in America that will write with a pen, manipulate the lever of a locomotive, row with an oar, cancel tickets, hold papers, work telegraphic keys, hold reins in driving, as well as use a pickax, carry a heavy weight, etc.

Artificial legs, having fewer requirements to perform than artificial arms, are comparatively simple in structure. We borrow the description of the ordinary bucket-leg in common use among the poorer classes from ^Ir. Bigg's Orthopraxy. "It consists of a hollow sheath or bucket, accurately conformed to the shap'e of the stump, and having — in lieu of the more s^inmetric proportions of the artificial leg — a 'pin,' placed at its lower end to insure connection between it and the ground. This form of leg is strongly to be recommended when expense is considered, as it really fulfills all the eonditionsexceptingexternal similitude embraced by a better piece of mechanism. It is likewise occasionally employed with benefit by those patients who, from lack of confidence, prefer learning the use of an artificial leg by first practicing with the commonest substitute" — as, when the body rests on a single leg, the centre of