Pegleg

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Nowadays, wooden peglegs have been replaced by more modern materials, though some sports prostheses do have the same form.^[5]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

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[]

• Bliquez, Lawrence J. (1996). "Prosthetics in Classical Antiquity: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Prosthetics". Philosophie, Wissenschaften, Technik. Wissenschaften (Medizin und Biologie [Forts.]). doi:10.1515/9783110809008-009. ISBN 9783110809008.
• 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
• Finch, Jacqueline (2011). "The ancient origins of prosthetic medicine". The Lancet. 377 (9765): 548–549. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60190-6. PMID 21341402.
• Padula, Patricia A.; Friedmann, Lawrence W. (1987). "Acquired Amputation and Prostheses Before the Sixteenth Century". Angiology. 38 (2): 133–141. doi:10.1177/000331978703800207. PMID 3548491.
• Reeves, Nicholas (1999) "New lights on ancient Egyptian prosthetic medicine" In: Davies, W. V. (editor) (1999) Studies in Egyptian Antiquities. A Tribute to T.G.H. James British Museum Press, London, pp. 73–77, ISBN 0-86159-123-2
• Thurston, Alan J. (2007). "Paré and Prosthetics: The Early History of Artificial Limbs". ANZ Journal of Surgery. 77 (12): 1114–1119. doi:10.1111/j.1445-2197.2007.04330.x. PMID 17973673.
• Wilson, Philip D. (1922) "Early weight-bearing in the treatment of amputations of the lower limbs" The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery 4: pp. 224–247