PALMER'S PATENT LEG. —(sick page 3.) 
COPIED FROM CUTS IN 
VELPEAU’S OPERATIVE SURGERY, 
Pages 277, 278, and 279, New Edition, 1856. 3 
SPECIFICATION OF PALMER’S PATENT LEG. 
(See Cuts.) 
The articulations of knee, ankle, and toes, consist of detached ball- 
and-socket joints ABC. The knee and ankle are articulated by 
means of the steel bolts E E, combining with plates of steel firmly 
riveted to the sides of the leg D D. To these side plates are im- 
movably fastened the steel bolts E E. The bolts take bearings in 
solid wood (properly bushed) across the entire diameter of the knee and 
ankle, being fourfold more reliable and durable than those of the usual 
construction. All the joints are so constructed, that no two pieces of 
metal move against each other in any part of the limb. The contact of all 
broad surfaces is avoided where motion is required, and thus friction 
is reduced to the lowest degree possible. These joints often perform 
many months without need of oil, or other attention, a desideratum 
fully appreciated by the wearer. 
The tendo Achillis, or heel tendon F, perfectly imitates the natural 
one in use. It is attached to the bridge G-, in the thigh, and passing 
down on the back side of the knee-bolt E, is firmly fastened to the 
heel. It acts through the knee-bolt, on a centre, when the weight is on 
the leg, imparting security and firmness to the knee and ankle joints, 
thus obviating all necessity for knee-catches. When the knee bends in 
taking a step, this tendon vibrates from the knee-bolt to the back 
side of the thigh A, Fig. 2. It descends through the leg, so as to 
allow the foot to rise above all obstructions, in flexion, and carries 
the foot down again, in extension of the leg for the next step, so as to 
take a firm support on the ball of the foot. Nature-like elasticity is 
thus attained, and all thumping sounds are avoided. 
Another tendon H, of great strength and slight elasticity, arrests 
the motion of the knee gently, in walking, thus preventing all disa- 
greeable sound and jarring sensation, and giving requisite elasticity 
to the knee. 
A spring, lever, and tendon I J K, combining with the knee-bolt, 
give instant extension to the leg, when it has been semi-flexed to 
take a step, and admit of perfect flexion in sitting. 
A spring and tendons in the foot L M N, impart proper and reliable 
action to the ankle-joint and toes. The sole of the foot is made soft 
to insure lightness and elasticity of step. 
The stump receives no weight on the end, and is well covered and 
protected to avoid friction and excoriation. 
These joints, springs, and tendons are all patented. No modification 
of any part will enable a person successfully to evade the patents, 
which contain about twenty distinct and combined claims, covering nearly 
the entire mechanism. Fig. 3, is an external view of I almei s perfect 
model. 4 
PALMER’S PATENT ARM AND HAND. 
(See Cut.) 
Fig. 1, represents an arm to be applied above the elbow. The artic- 
ulation A B is a ball and socket, connected by the steel plates C C, 
and turning upon the pinion D. The functions of the bones in the 
Fore-arm are imitated by the conical shaft E, which terminates in a 
ball at the elbow and wrist J J. The wrist is articulated with a ball 
and socket firmly united by catgut tendons F G H, tensely drawn 
over the convexity of the shaft E at the elbow. It has every motion of 
the natural wrist. The hand rotates on the Fore-arm, being suscepti- 
ble of pronation and supination, or any angle or degree of flexion and 
extension desirable. The extensor tendons K L M N 0, acting with 
the springs 1 2 3 4 5, open the hand. The detached ball and socket 
joints of the thumb and fingers are indicated by the figures 1 2, and 
12 3. 
The fingers are ar’iculated on steel rods and pinions imitating the 
bones, as seen in the thumb and the first and third fingers. The ex- 
terior is brought to a perfect imitation of the natural arm (as shown 
in the outline, or in Fig. 5), by a soft elastic substance, which rotates 
around the Fore-arm, preserving anatomical symmetry in every posi- 
tion. It is covered with a delicate skin. 
Fig. 2, is the same arm extended, with the fingers semi-flexed. 
The belt A attaches the arm to the body. The small belt C C is con- 
nected by a tendon to a clasp and pulley D E. The great muscle F 
is the continuity of the flexor tendons G HI J K. These tendons pass 
sinuously over pulleys, or fixed sheaves, 1 2 3 4 5, through the hand 
to the end of the fingers and thumb. The principles of the lever and 
pulley are thus combined, and the maximum power retained at all angles 
of flexion or extension. A slight motion of the shoulders, with exten- 
sion of the Fore-arm, produces an incredible grasp, as seen in Fig. 3. 
An object of any shape, such as a pen, a fork, or an apple is held 
with facility. By a slight motion of the shoulders, the belt A B 
causes the great muscle F, and its tendons, to contract powerfully, 
closing the hand. A movement easily and naturally made, actuates 
the tendon C 0, and fastens the clasp D upon the muscle, so as to re- 
tain the grasp in any position or motion of the arm when in use. 
This is regarded as invaluable for holding reins in driving, or carry- 
ing articles with safety. An easy counter motion unfastens the clasp, 
relaxing the flexor muscle and its tendons, and the extensors open 
the hand. This principle performs most perfectly in an arm applied 
below the elbow as in Fig. 3. 
Fig. 3. In this are seen the belt ABO, the great muscle F and its 
tendons, the clasp and pulley D E, as in Fig 2. A fixed eyelet F 2, 
clasps the great muscle F, and thus guides the flexor tendons of the fin- 
gers. The line 1, shows the union of the natural with the artificial arm. 
Fig. 4, shows a hand holding a fork. The tendon A A 2, passes 
through the clasp B, and around the pulley C, to the side of the clasp 
D, where it fastens or unfastens the clasp by movements before ex- 
plained. The joints of the fingers and thumb are flexed upon the fork 
by powerful tension of the great muscle and its tendons. The sinu- 
osity of the tendons passing over the pulleys, or sheaves, E E E, 
shows the new and useful principle of effectually combining the lever 
and pulley to gain the utmost power, strength, elasticity, and adaptability 
to the various uses of an Artificial Arm and Hand. They are easily 
adjusted by the wearer. 5 
SYNOPSIS 
OF 
PALMER’S PATENT ARM AND LEG. 
Palmer’s Patent Arm and Leg are composed of a great variety of 
such materials as most effectually combine to give perfect imitation 
of the human limbs, I his combination of substances, all experience 
has taught, produces a much lighter, stronger, and comelier artificial 
limb than can be made chiefly of any one material. Wood, metal, 
gutta-percha, and India-rubber, have all been tried, again and again, 
and been abandoned by all mechanicians competent to construct, and 
also by all experienced wearers of false limbs, who can duly appre- 
ciate the qualities of perfect substitutes. 
These inventions differ radically from all other false limbs, and are 
fully protected by various patents. They are so symmetrical and life- 
like in appearance and motion as to be often mistaken, when in use, 
for the natural limbs. The internal mechanism is so perfectly com- 
bined, and the polished exterior so exquisitely colored and finished, 
that silk gloves or hose may be worn without betraying the work of 
art. 
The external skin, though delicate in appearance, is very strong. It 
is indissolubly cemented without perceptible seam, and rendered imper- 
vious to water by a beautiful skin-tinted enamel, which is rivaled only 
by the tints of Nature. 
The mechanism is adapted to all forms of amputation, whether 
above or below the knee, or through the foot, and is successfully ap- 
plied to the shortest and tenderest stamps. It is attached to the body 
in a manner which insures entire comfort. 
The distinguishing characteristics of these Patent Limbs are life- 
like elasticity and flexibility, excessive lightness, durability, adapta- 
bility, and perfection of external appearance. These elements have 
been accorded to them by the first Surgeons of America, England, and 
France, and by nearly three thousand mutilated persons, who are now 
in the daily use of these Inventions. 
The Arm is an original invention, which has cost years of study and 
experiments. It has been duly tested by numerous ladies and gentle- 
men, and pronounced equal to the Patent Leg. See the letter of Prof. 
Thos. D. Mutter, M.D., LL.D., recently deceased, on another page. EXTRACT 
FROM THE WORK ON 
OPERATIVE SURGERY, 
BY ALF. A. L. M. YELPEAU, 
Prof, of Surgical Clinique of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris ; Surgeon of the 
Hospital of La Charite'; Member of the Royal Academy of Medicine, of the 
Institute, etc. 
Fourth Edition, with Notes and Observations, by Valentine Mott, M.D., Emeritus 
Prof, of Surgery in the University of New York ; and Additions, by George C. 
Blackman. M.D., Prof, of Surgery, in the Medical College of Ohio. 
“ Artificial Legs.—After a patient has submitted to an amputation 
of his limb, he very naturally inquires of the surgeon what is the best 
substitute he can suggest for him, and we know that this question 
has often given rise to much perplexity. As to the lower extremity,* 
we now have it in our power to furnish every desirable information 
upon this point, and for this we are indebted to Mr. B. Frank. Palmer, 
the inventor of the artificial leg which has won the admiration of the 
most prominent surgeons in Great Britain, France, and this country. 
“During the Great Exhibition in London, 1851, we had an oppor- 
tunity of inspecting the large number of artificial limbs there pre- 
sented, and we know that there was but one opinion as to the vast 
superiority of Mr. Palmer’s invention to any hitherto offered. In a 
word, Mr. Palmer bore away the palm, the adjudicators being, among 
the rest, no less than the distinguished surgeon of St. Bartholomew's 
Hospital, Mr. William Lawrence, and the renowned veteran of the 
Hotel Dieu, Roux, recently deceased. We confess that, after walking 
some distance with Mr. Palmer, we did not in the least suspect that 
he had himself been provided with one of his own artificial limbs, yet 
such is the fact. This certainly is one of the greatest triumphs of 
American ingenuity. 
“ We copy from a pamphlet issued by Mr. Palmer, the following 
description of its peculiarities, remarking at the same time, that 
through his politeness and liberality we are enabled to present to the 
reader an internal view of this beautiful piece of mechanism. We 
also insert the following views of Mr. Palmer, which have special 
reference to the comfort and usefulness of the mutilated who may desire 
to avail themselves of his substitute.” (See article Compensatory Art.') 
* The arm not then invented. AN AGEAPH8 
ON 
SURGICAL PATHOLOGY AND SURGERY OF THE 
EXTREMITIES. 
E. D. Hudson, M.D. 
Mr. Skey nobly recognizes and commends in the practice of Sur- 
gery, the growth of tenderness and sympathy for patients, and con- 
gratulates the profession on the humanity which is happily beginning 
to characterize every truly great surgeon. Comme il faut. I, too, 
would note and annunciate the fact, as the harbinger of a wiser 
generation and better days. 
It may be proclaimed as a truism, that the quickening exercise of 
sympathy and humanity, have their legitimate correspondences, mani- 
fested in the study and progress of science, and improvements in art; 
the exhibition of one being always commensurate with the tone of the 
other ; hence, wherever “ wisdom is heard crying in the streets,” the 
voice of humanity will respond in sympathetic tones, and philanthro- 
pic assurances. The truly great surgeon, enlightened by wisdom and 
inspired by goodness, receives not the ancient of days as his autocrat, 
nor heeds the esprit de corps in his professional career (the strictest 
construction of the law of necessity alone impelling him); hence, 
mutilations are much less frequent and extreme, and preceded always 
by the most philosophical considerations and deductions, that the 
same wisdom and humanitary spirit which interpose to save life 
(though at the expense of limb), will elaborate mechanical appliances 
for lost parts, so beautiful and perfect in anatomical construction and 
physiological functions as to render nature’s loss comparatively light; 
thus enabling the sufferer to maintain his position in society, both 
usefully and pleasurably. 
It is only when Nature is stricken down and disorganized in such a 
degree as to preclude all enlightened probability of her recovery, that 
amputations are practiced, and then only in extent, as the casualty 
or disease requires. Men are running to and fro, and learning many 
things due to themselves ; consequently, it is daily becoming more 
and more hazardous for any one unenlightened to attempt to practice 
upon others what he would recoil at, as criminal, if performed upon 
himself. A life-long deprivation of an arm or leg is not an event to 
be cursorily considered, or indifferently consummated ; and no amount 8 
of edat should insure the surgeon from extreme reprobation who 
sacrifices limb without cause. 
Every worthy surgeon will appreciate and magnify such a princi- 
ple, and in turn be appreciated and magnified by his own wise efforts 
and power to save ; and if amputation is adjudged indispensable, the 
line of demarkation between the diseased or injured, and the healthy 
uninjured parts, will be fixed upon as the place of election ; not only 
with an eye to the lesser risk of life, but to the greatest length of 
stump possible, which is compatible with the most favorable applica- 
tion of a perfect mechanical limb. 
With the present knowledge of the fact that the shaft of the stump, 
and its muscles, must constitute the lever and power for the propul- 
sion of the substitute, and that its offices, when scientifically con- 
structed, may be performed perfectly (more or less in keeping with 
the functions of the natural leg or arm, depending a priori upon the 
length and power afforded by the stump)—-the place of dedion becomes 
supremely enhanced in importance therefrom. 
When other things are equal, the surgeon of ancient procurement 
and blear-eyed philanthropy is readily distinguished by his living wit- 
nesses of woe, which are characterized by unnecessarily extreme mutila- 
tions at the old place of election, and by an apparent disregard of the 
revolting consequences and destiny with a peg leg, or some other 
equally repulsive device, in striking contrast with the well-studied, 
useful, and beautiful model stumps, dictated by the wisdom and good- 
ness of the modern surgeon, with an eye to an unique substitute. The 
place of election is inferentially indicated by humanity, science, art, 
and domestic and social economy; as affording the utmost capability 
of the stump, with an Artificial Leg at once anatomical in design and 
performances. Beginning at the remotest part of the extremity, the 
surgeon retreats upward, from part to part, only as disease or 
casualty constrains him, and after the phalanges marks the tarso- 
metatarsal line, as first, the place of election (Heys). This election 
(albeit, extended so as to involve a considerable portion of the tarsal 
bones, yet retaining a sufficient amount of the insertions of the flexor 
of the foot and extensor muscles of the toes, to antagonize the extensors 
of the foot) secures a natural advantage to the patient for a very useful 
substitute, which will not be in great danger of a sacrifice. The 
work of art for the lost portion of the tarsus, the metatarsus, and 
phalanges, when aptly constructed and adjusted, capacitates the pa- 
tient to gain the same distance in walking without halting as with its 
fellow, and also to satisfactorily disguise the loss. 
The generally endorsed teaching of the schools, and not unfrequent 
practice of surgeons to amputate the foot (after the manner of 
Chopart) at the medio-tarsal line, and as often to involve in the sacrifice 9 
not only tho five lesser tarsal bones, but also a portion of the cal- 
caneum and astragalus, the entire functions of the flexor muscles of 
the foot and extensors of the toes, thus to subject the stump to the 
exclusive action of the gastronemii muscles, and constant elevation 
of the heel, and other unfavorable sequela?, is now regarded as of 
questionable expediency, to say the least. The frequent pre- 
judicial results of this species of mutilation, too afflictive to 
be borne, often requiring reamputation, of a surety more 
than counterbalance the favorable ; nor does its modification, as 
by Pirogoff, render the result more advantageous. Among the 
numerous instances of mutilated feet through the tarsus, which fall to 
our care for treatment, it is seldom that we are able to designate a 
perfectly satisfactory stump, one to be preferred to what might have 
been made of parts contiguous. Nine-tenths of the mutilations, as 
by Chopart, present one or more of the following diagnostics, to wit : 
First, of an insufficient covering ; caries, more or less, of the remain- 
ing tarsal bones ; ulceration of the surrounding soft parts, or that of 
a thin shining pellicle of covering, exceedingly susceptible, quickly 
inflamed and abraded by the least exposure, which renders it hazard- 
ous or difficult to attempt the application of any substitute. Second, 
a total inability to flex the stump, and to preserve its normal position 
at a right angle with the line of the leg ; a morbid contraction of 
the gastronemii muscles (without antagonism), and retraction of the 
heel; a pendent position of the end of the stump, and exposure of the 
cicatrix to be pressed to the ground by the weight of the body, with 
its general inutility for walking. No possible advantage can be 
obtained by an amputation of the foot which involves in the sacrifice 
the greater portion of the tarsus, but what will be largely enhanced 
by a well-timed operation at the ankle-joint, after the mode of Mr. Syme : 
therefore, by every consideration of humanity and art, I am led to re- 
gard that site as the one which should be designated as the second 
place of election. (See Messrs. Syme, Ferguson, and Skey on Prac- 
tical Surgery.) 
Monographs of American practice, etc. (more especially of New 
York City Surgery), and interesting cases, may be found reported in 
the New York Journal of Medicine, February, I860, November, 1857; 
also May, 1858, from which we extract the following, to wit: 
“ It may fairly be questioned if operative surgery has in any in- 
stance made a more important advance toward the realization of its 
humane purposes of saving life and restoring useless limbs, than in 
this single particular of amputation at the ankle-joint. 
“ Mr. Syme remarks : ‘ Patients who had suffered this operation, 
were able to stand, walk, and even run, without any covering or pro- 
tection of the stump ; and a gentleman present, having had his atten- 10 
tion accidentally directed, a few days before, to some boys who were 
amusing themselves on a slide in the street, discovered that one of 
them had undergone amputation at the ankle joint.’ Mr. Syme seems 
to prefer this operation to that of Chopart. In some clinical remarks 
published in June, 1852 (Monthly Jour.), he remarks: ‘In the girl, 
fourteen years of age, who is now before you, there is extensive dis- 
ease of the tarsus, not leaving room for the performance of Chopart’s 
operation, even if I deemed it expedient; which I have long ceased 
to do, from conviction of its inferiority to that of the ankle, especially 
in regard to the protection afforded against relapse. In one year 
alone, I performed three secondary amputations at the ankle, to 
remedy the sequelae of Chopart’s operation.” 
“A man presented himself at Bellevue Hospital during the last 
winter, who had undergone amputation at the ankle-joint, by Dr. 
Carnochan, a year or more previously. He was a book-peddler by 
occupation, and stated that he not unfrequently walked eight miles 
daily, without fatigue or inconvenience from his mutilated limb. He 
had but a very slight limp. He wore a short shoe, with the sole 
raised sufficiently to compensate for the loss of the foot.” 
We take pleasure in inserting the following case communicated 
to us by Dr. Tewksbury, of Portland, Me., of an ankle-joint amputa- 
tion performed under an adverse condition of the integumentary and 
articular portion of the parts surrounding and constituting the ankle- 
joint, to wit: 
“ Mrs. II is thirty-three years of age—of marked strumous dia- 
thesis, and much emaciated. My attention was first called to her June 
10, 1856. She was then suffering from a disease of the left foot, 
caused, she said, by a sprain received three years before, and com- 
mencing with severe pain and swelling on the outer portion of the 
instep, which continued until suppuration occurred, and small ab- 
scesses, having little sinus-openings, were formed in various parts of 
the foot, like those often seen around^scrofulous joints. Of these 
sinuses there were eleven—each having unhealthy, purple edges, and 
admitting a probe freely into the substance of the tarsal bones, more 
particularly into the calcaneum, cuboid, and the anterior and inferior 
portion of the astragalus. The soft parts around the foot and ankle 
were diseased as above described. Amputation, under these circum- 
stances, appeared the only chance for recovery. The extent of the 
disease rendered Chopart’s operation impracticable ; consequently, 
following the ordinary practice, amputation should have been per- 
formed at the lower part of the leg, above the ankle. The published 
recommendations of Prof. Syme, of Edinburgh, in favor of the ankle- 
joint operation, induced me to select that as the site of the amputa- 
tion. In this case, however, the extensive adhesions of the integu- 
ments over the tuberosity of the os calcis and the numerous sinuses 
around the malleoli, through that portion of the skin that was to form 
the posterior flap, served to render the proceeding somewhat hazard- 
ous. Numerous fears were entertained, both by myself and the pro- 
fessional gentlemen who were in counsel with me, that the malleoli, 11 
and possibly the articulating surface of the tibia, were diseased. 
Notwithstanding these _ objections, I was so well satisfied of the 
advantages this operation would afford, by giving a broader, firmer, 
and better base for supporting the weight of the body, and the greater 
facilities that the thick cushion formed by the heel would give for the 
adjustment of an artificial foot, that I determined to amputate there. 
Having placed my patient in a proper position, and put her under the 
influence of chloroform, I seated myself directly in front of her, and 
holding my scalpel in the left hand, I made an incision from a little 
behind the internal malleolus transversely across the sole of the foot, 
to a point near the middle of the calcaneum. Then, with my right 
hand, I made a similar incision from the corresponding point of the 
external malleolus, to meet the first. Then, after making a curved 
incision from the commencement of the first to that of the second, 
across the superior surface of the foot, I divided the extensor tendons 
and the articular ligaments, and turning the foot down, I carried the 
knife through the tibio tarsal articulation, and separated the tendo 
Achillis from its osseous attachment with some difficulty, owing to the 
strong adhesion of the integuments and their thin and unhealthy 
texture. Great care was taken to avoid cutting the posterior tibial 
artery before its divisions into the two plantars, on a line with the 
articular surface of the tibia. The foot being removed, the ends of 
the malleoli were taken off with the cutting forceps and the flaps 
brought together. The anterior, and a branch of the posterior tibial 
arteries were the only ones that I was obliged to secure. As we sup- 
posed, the malleoli were diseased, but the articulating cartilage of the 
tibia was healthy, and, consequently, was not removed. Owing to 
the unhealthy condition of the integument forming the posterior flap, 
and the difficulty of adjusting the cup-shaped covering of the heel, to 
the square surfaces of the tibia and fibula, I was apprehensive that 
suppuration, and possibly sloughing, would occur; consequently, 
with the knife and cutting forceps, I rounded the stump so as accur- 
ately to adapt it to the concavity of the flap. I also removed the 
synovial membrane covering the articular surface of the tibia, lest its 
secretion should retard the adhesion of the flap. The wound healed 
in fifteen days, with but very little suppuration, and in thirty days 
the patient was able to bear her weight upon the stump. In about 
three months from the operation, she was taken to Messrs. Palmer & 
Co., and an artificial foot was adjusted, giving the whole weight of 
the body upon the end of the stump, and now she walks so well that 
a close observer would never suspect that she was any way 
mutilated. 12 
“ The preceding cuts illustrate the appearance of the foot at 
the time of the operation, with its fistulous openings, the manner of 
operating, and the character of the stump after recovery. 
“ Mr. Syme directs the articular surface of the tibia always to be 
removed. This, certainly, should be done, if the disease has attacked 
the part; but, if healthy, it seems to be unnecessary. In the third 
case, which we report, the extremity of the tibia was removed, but 
without any apparent benefit as respects the result. 
“The following wood-cuts, of reduced size, taken from similar illus- 
trations in the Monthly Journal, 
February,!. 850,of Mr.Syme’s mode 
give a more correct idea of the 
line of incision than can any ver- 
bal description. It will be seen 
that they differ very materially 
from those given in text books. 
“ It is constantly alleged that 
this operation is difficult and 
tedious. We believe, however, that it may be executed with as much 
facility as the circular amputation of the leg. Mr. Syme states that 
he requires less time than a minute to perform it. 
“Accidents.—The principal pre- 
caution to be observed is in the 
dissection on the posterior part 
of the os calcis, in order not to 
wound the posterior tibial ar- 
tery, and thus deprive the flap of 
its nourishment.” 
THIRD PLACE OF ELECTION, 
When compelled by the ravages of disease or 
extreme casualty to recede from the second stand- 
point, and select a position higher up the limb, 
the surgeon will contend heroically for every 
line of healthy space above the middle of the 
lower third of the leg, and obtain for his patient the 
most perfect stump which can be constituted. 
With such amplitude of parts, other things being 
equal, he can hardly fail to secure a model and 
efficient stump in every proportion, which, in con- 
nection with a like model and effective Artificial 
Leg, wfill redeem to the patient apparently every 
whit of loss. Such practical results are now of common occurrence, to the unspeakable gratification of both surgeon 
and patient, and afford the greatest incentive for the exercise of skill 
and humanity. The cut illustrates a model stump, made by a distin- 
guished surgeon of one of the New York City Hospitals. 
THE FOURTH PLACE OF ELECTION 
Is within the space of the middle third of the leg, which affords 
an opportunity of obtaining a very satisfactory and servicea- 
ble stump. A double semilunar flap, anterior and posterior— 
(the incision for the latter being extended upward diagonally to 
remove a considerable portion of the fleshy part of the gastrocnemii 
and soleus muscles when they are largely developed), sufficient to 
invest a length of bone for leverage of five or six inches from the 
patella, will compose a stump but slightly secondary in efficiency for 
the most active service of labor, or natural operations in walking 
with a suitable appliance. We dissent most emphatically from Mr. 
Fergusson’s reasons for preferring the middle third of the leg, when the sur- 
geon has a choice of site! as being faulty in principle, and comparatively 
infelicitous in its practical utility. 
We anticipate the most important and beneficent results from 
the investigations now in progress by the Surgical Society of Paris, 
and its resume, respecting the place of election—when the surgeon has 
the choice of site,—in the improvement of operative surgery, and the 
benefits to the mutilated, for the greatest availability of artificial 
limbs. 
THE FIFTH PLACE OF ELECTION 
Maybe indicated at or near to, the lower part of the upper third of the leg, 
as affording space to obtain a stump of the length of four inches; a 
leverage which will prove invaluable for the application and use of a 
well-made artificial leg, with a socket adjustment. The advantage 
which will be achieved for the patient, by securing the greatest length 
of stump possible at this point, can never be overlooked nor discarded 
with impunity. So intensely desirable is it to retain the use of the 
natural knee-joint with mechanical agencies, that not infrequently a 
demand for the adjustment of a leg with a socket has been created, 
when an adverse length of stump, intentionally, yet. unnecessarily 
made at the middle of the upper third of the leg, prohibited it. The 
benevolent surgeon will consult the natural desire and true interest of 
his patient, prior to an amputation ; nor will pecuniary inability be 
allowed to interfere in the election of site, with reference to any 
inferior mechanical limb, any sooner than to intercept his greatest 
and most humane service. 
With the necessity for extending an amputation higher up, even 
through the head of the tibia, an advantage may be acquired for the 14 
patient with the stump flexed, and retained at a right angle with the 
thigh, on a line with the condyles of the femur, which will prove 
more satisfactory than any truncated part above the knee. To such 
a stump one of the most valuable appliances, with a knee support 
and artificial joint, may be affixed (without elongating the thigh, per- 
ceptibly), which, in its imitative offices, will correspond admirably 
with the natural leg. A knee-supporting Artificial Leg constitutes an 
efficient and natural appearing dependence. 
THE SIXTH PLACE OF ELECTION, 
At the knee-joint (Hoin’s mode, modified by Mr. Syme), has been 
revived of late, and adopted by very many of the more enterprising 
surgeons of both continents, with success. Whenever a good cover- 
ing of the condyles of the femur has been secured, with a perfect 
union of the parts (to procure which, the removal of the articu- 
lar surfaces of the condyles is a safe expedient) an excellent and 
serviceable stump will be the result. The following apposite para- 
graph from “ Fergusson7s Practical Surgery,” will suffice on this point, 
to wit: “ There are many instances of incurable disease of the knee- 
joint, where the serious mischief is limited to little more than the articular sur- 
faces. In such cases, however great the surrounding swelling may be, as also 
in all examples where the whole of the leg must be sacrificed, whether from in- 
jury or disease, Mr. Syme proposes to substitute this operation for the pro- 
ceedings hitherto performed higher up; and in several cases of the kind 
which he has published, and many occurring in my own practice, the 
results have been so satisfactory, that I am disposed to consider the 
operation well worth the attention of the profession.” The Artificial 
Limb designed for the knee support, when the operation has been 
performed below the knee at or near the head of the tibia, will prove 
similarly serviceable in these cases. 
SEVENTH. 
That there is a reprehensible degree of carelessness or igno- 
rance on the part of many surgeons in their operations at the 
thigh, their works testify. Every day’s observation and experience 
witnesseth the unnecessary sacrifice of the bone of the femur, when there 
has been no disease or injury of the leg, so high up as to involve even 
the knee-joint, or to preclude an operation lower down, solely for the 
lack of surgical skill in saving a flap or covering. The many 
ingenious methods which have been devised and executed in 
almost every surgical exigency, for obtaining a sufficient invest- 
ment of muscle and integument of the bone, either of the thigh, leg, 
knee and ankle-joints, can hardly fail of becoming a swift witness 
against the surgeon who fails in any such contingency, at the expense 15 
of his patient. To save for the unfortunate every portion of a wreck- 
ed limb which will prove serviceable, and to ameliorate their condi- 
tion by the most perfect appliances, should be every surgeon’s highest 
aim. Lastly, the election of proper substitutes for lost parts, be- 
comes a matter of weighty concern with every 'practical man of the 
profession. 
The Surgeon-Jurors of the World’s Great Exhibitions in London, 
1851, and New York, 1853, evidently possessed both a scientific 
and humane view, when they congratulated the world on “ the great 
success which had been obtained in supplying the loss of a 
lower limb, in the admirable mechanism of Mr. B. Frank Pal- 
mer’s Artificial Leg,” also the Royal Commissioners, who distinguished 
it from every other device of the kind, of the old world and the new, 
in the bestowal of the Prize Medal’s of each exhibition, “for its 
successful imitation of the motions of the joints” of the natural leg, as 
an unique boon to surgical art and the mutilated, of whom more than 
three thousand persons (of every age, sex, and condition,) are joy- 
fully realizing great advantage in their necessity by the use of this 
substitute for any part of one or both limbs. 
In this mechanism, by Mr. Palmer, we have combined with the con- 
tour and color of the natural leg, great strength, stability, elasticity, 
durability, and lightness; the most perfect imitation of the action of the 
hinge-joints of the natural knee, ankle, and toes. In the internal ar- 
rangement of the representative parts of the more important flexor 
and extensor muscles of the natural limb, and their functions in walk- 
ing and standing which are exhibited, there has, in no other instance, 
been so perfect an achievement, to wit: First, of the quadriceps femo- 
ris for extending the leg in walking, etc.: Second, of the semitendin- 
osus, semimembranosus, biceps, etc., to suspend and antagonize the 
extensor action at the knee, give reliability to the knee-joint in stand- 
ing, prevent the solid parts there from coming in contact in walking, 
and the consequent unpleasant concussion peculiar to other con- 
structions, to prevent which cork and rubber are ineffectually resorted 
to : Third, of the gastroenemii muscles, etc., and the tendo Achillis, 
to sustain the weight without limping in progression, and 
afford a life-like elasticity, and reliability in the action of the 
limb : Fourth, of the tibialis anticus and peroneus tertius, to flex 
the foot when the weight of the body passes from it on to its fellow, 
preserve it at a right angle with the leg, and enable it to proceed over 
any impediment : Fifth, of the peroneus longus, tibialis posticus, and 
flexor digitorum pedes, to compel the toe to hug the ground, while the 
weight of the body is propelled forward, and thus assist in attaining 
an equal distance for its fellow without halting. Such is the 1 aimer 
leg, which, as a mechanical compensation of lost parts, is unpaialleled. 16 
The same principle should govern the surgeon in the choice of site, for 
an amputation of the arm, fore-arm, and hand, as in amputations of 
the inferior extremity, to wit: save even unto the uttermost. 
COMPENSATORY ART. 
B. FRANK. PALMER. 
Surgical Science has hitherto held, as by the law of primogeniture, 
the long-conceded right of precedence and preeminence over its insepa- 
rable ally, subsidiary Art. 
To establish systems and teach important truths within the exact cir- 
cle of medical and surgical science, has been the work of professors in the 
science of Healing, while the important auxiliary and connecting link 
in the chain of beneficent agencies, compensatory Art, has been almost 
wholly ignored as a lower and comparatively unimportant branch, to 
be conducted as the most incompetent artisans, entirely ignorant of 
Anatomy, and even of the laws of Mechanics, might deem proper. 
Thus a profession which theoretically claims equality with the highest 
in the ranges of surgical and collateral science, has been degraded to 
the level of the lowest mechanical vocation, and, indeed, finally left 
without “ a local habitation and a name.” In the ranges of the supe- 
rior arts perhaps there is none in which high originality of design and 
masterly ability to execute are more imperatively demanded than in 
the faithful and efficient discharge of the duties of this profession ; yet, 
in none has there existed so long a palpable manifestation of utter ig- 
norance, as in devising, constructing, and applying automatic mechan- 
ism in reparation of lost parts of the human body. Even so late as 
the year 1846 (when we first introduced the self-acting Artificial Leg), 
there was not to be found on record, in the English language, a de- 
scription of any substitute which could properly claim the name of a 
Limb. We had, therefore, to commence the invention with but very 
little to guide, except unsightly and inadequate appendages, which 
being the terror rather than the comfort of the unfortunate, served at 
best only to show the course we must not pursue in the labyrinths of 
discovery. How well we succeeded may be inferred by the perusal 
of the scientific reports herewith submitted. We had no model indi- 
cating external comeliness or symmetry to imitate ; no internal mech- 
anism giving adequate action ; no articulations resembling the natural 
joints to suggest improvement: but, on the contrary we had, (to divert 
from the legitimate pursuit), an untold number of grotesque and non- 
descript appendages called “ Cork Legs,” and constructed variously 
of iron, steel, tin, copper, brass, sheet-iron, gutta-percha, india-rubber, 
leather, wood, and indeed every workable material except cork, show- 
ing almost an infinite variety of impracticable devices, which having 
fallen into disrepute, indicated but poor promise to the copj'ist who 17 
would attempt to improve any of them, and perhaps poorer still to the 
lrT n ’ d,fcardlI1.S them all should attempt to construct on a 
radically different principle, copying- Nature’s mysterious mechanism, 
the comp exity of which remained alone uncopied in its f unctions and 
seemed to defy aitistic imitation. Without a single important and 
practical advance upon a sound basis, and with no reliable scientific 
guides, the task seemed indeed unenticing in its character and un- 
promising in its results. 
We commenced the invention with many misgivings, as various 
unfinished limbs commenced at different times might testify, till at 
length, proving by personal experiment the inadequacy of the best 
substitute then known—(the Anglesey Leg-)—we determined as a last 
resort to complete the invention, taking the natural limb as the model. 
To imitate successfully a human member (so beautiful in its exter- 
nal form and complex in its internal mechanism) with inanimate 
bones, muscles, tendons, and cuticles, requires no small degree of ana- 
tomical, surgical, and artistic knowledge. For this knowledge we 
have been studying and laboring with the hope, by the aid of efficient 
colleagues, of ultimately placing the profession on a level with the 
highest position to which its importance entitles it. The surgeon 
who skillfully removes the obnoxious limb, and the surgeon-artist who 
successfully repairs so great a loss, should be regarded as filling 
offices of coordinate importance, and each should be the colleague of 
the other. This, however, can only be the case when the latter is fitted 
by education for the responsibilities of the profession—an education 
not easil}' obtained, as the knowledge is taught neither in books nor 
in medical colleges. It is a subject worth the attention of the 
Medical Faculty. Is it not strange that a subject of such paramount 
importance should have been so long neglected in the halls of learn- 
ing ? From the Medicine-god JEsculapiics, or later, from the immortal 
Celsus, or later still, from the learned and beneficent Pare, or from 
some cotemporary mechanicians, it would seem that we might have de- 
rived some reliable instruction in the correct method of supplying 
lost members. But such is not the case. On the contrary, the rudest 
possible form of a substitute, the simple peg, has been allowed to in- 
dicate the place of amputation for its uses, and thus, strange though 
the statement seem (its truthfulness is more so) many eminent sur- 
geons since the time of the illusti’ious Pare (about 1560), have obse- 
quiously followed the advice of a certain Captain Clerk, of that time, 
and not the advice of the great surgeon; for Pare said ‘(you shall cut 
off as little of that which is sound as you possibly can,” being gov- 
erned however, “by the action of the rest of the part, which often 
changes this counsel, for you shall so operate that the patient may 
most fitly use the rest of his leg by walking on an artificial one.” 
The wooden peg was the only useful substitute known in that age, 
and it appears that Pare adopted the old “place of election,” at the 
instigation of Captain Clerk, who having had a foot shot off by a ball 
passing through the ankle, “caused the rest to be cut off some five 
fingers breadth below the knee,” in order to flex the joint and place 
the knee on the socket of the peg in such a manner as to conceal the end 
of the stump. This fact will show that though the art of supplying such 
losses was not understood, yet the wisest of surgeons have always 
amputated with reference to this ulterior treatment. It es a is e 18 
the law of mutual dependency between surgical science and compen- 
satory art, and shows that it is only by the harmonious blending of 
the two offices that the future happiness of the patient can be secured. 
Art is, therefore, the potential ally of Science in works of human 
benefaction, and it is proper, as well as essential, that they should go 
hand in hand. And so they will, as there is an essential fitness of all 
things, and, in the proper time and place, men, and their works find 
their true level in their respective positions. 
The present is an age of inventions and exhibitions. The International 
Exhibition in London was an epoch in the world’s history which dis- 
closed the sinews of power in the arm of the useful Arts. The 
inventor and the artisan were then, for the first time, duly honored, 
and their rights fully conceded. If we may be allowed to express our 
personal feelings, we should unhesitatingly say that our efforts have 
been fully appreciated and our successes generously acknowledged, 
while there seems to exist, on the part of our patients, a desire to 
justly remunerate our arduous labors. 
We have spared neither time, pains, nor money in the prosecution 
of our design ; we have solicited investigation and competition 
before every scientific society and exhibition where such an invention 
could have an impartial examination and award ; we have displaced 
all other forms of artificial legs to apply this ; we have treated every 
conceivable form of amputation, until over three thousand of these limbs 
are in daily use, and at this time there is demand for about four 
hundred to be made annually. To be prepared to the utmost for so 
liberal a patronage, we have secured every facility discoverable by 
the study of works on Surgery and Anatomy, by visiting various 
medical colleges, hospitals, and scientific institutions in this country, 
also in England and France ; and we have become familiar with all 
forms of mechanical limbs which have the least practical value or 
reputation. 
Without a desire to disparage the laudable efforts of others, we 
would direct the considerate attention of surgeons, and the unfor- 
tunate, to the results of all this research and labor, which, we believe, 
are fairly indicated by the scientific and surgical reports herewith 
submitted. 
We commenced the work distrusting our own ability and but half 
appreciating the value of the invention. We have been, all the way 
along, encouraged by finding the leg better and more satisfactory to 
our patients than we, in all the enthusiasm of the first accredited suc- 
cess, dared hope for. This has given, at length, an abiding con- 
fidence in our ability to do to the utmost all that the present light of 
science and art enables man to do in restoring the lost parts of the 
human body which we attempt to supply. It may be that the series 
of discoveries in which we have been for the last twelve years pro- 
gressing, is unending; if so, being always desirous of proving the 
works of the present imperfect by producing those which are better, 
we shall work on and plan on, hoping, while in the midst of such faci- 
lities as were never before enjoyed by any in the profession, to keep 
pace with the march of discovery in the agencies of human ameliora- 
tion. It must be obvious to all that a practice so extensive cannot 
fail to offer the utmost advantages, and as the patents secure to us the 
right to construct the limbs of “ any suitable materials,” we are not con- 
fined to wood, metal, or any other particular substance, but can com- 19 
bine any or all of the known substances that are suitable and yet 
retain the perfect form, and principles of action which are the subjects of 
the patents. J 
For the benefit of surgeons who are not permitted to listen to the 
instructions lelative to amputations as none given by distinguished 
professois, we would say that the rules we have established, which 
are published in this Journal, are generally adopted by the Medical 
Faculty, and we have already, as the result of our efforts in this 
direction, had the pleasure of treating hundreds of long and beautiful 
stumps, perfectly adapted to the best forms of substitutes, yet in which cases 
a lack of this necessary knowledge on the part of the surgeon would 
have left the sufferers hopelessly without the best use of false limbs. 
The heart-felt gratitude expressed by our numerous patients, in such 
cases, gives the most ample and gratifying reward. 
The Cuts of the Arm and Leg, though beautifully executed, give 
but an imperfect idea of the fundamental principles. It would require 
a book of this size to illustrate the various appliances and modifica- 
tions adapting them to the varied requirements, consequently we 
reserve such elaboration for a subsequent occasion. We deem it 
necessary to intimate this, so that our patients may not think the 
mechanism wanting, in any case, if it shall not be found to be the 
same as herein represented., Each particular case will require specific 
treatment, and perhaps not one precisely what is now shown. The 
specifications and drawings in the Patent Office are much more 
elaborate. 
We may safely say that, during the last thirteen years, we have 
constructed at least fifty varieties of arms and legs, each one of 
which might be termed an Invention. But we have found much more 
to reject than to adopt, in the way of novelty. While thus pursuing 
the doubtful labyrinths of discovery, we have for years refused to 
construct the arm, for our friends, even at excessive prices, feeling 
unwilling to imperil our reputation in giving them a limb of doubtful 
utility, however beautiful it might be. This has led to the present 
dilemma, of inability to supply the demand for arms. 
The cuts, we repeat, only indicate a portion of the leading principles, 
their ingenuity and novelty, but not the utility or adaptability of the in- 
ventions. All necessary information, in each case, will be given by 
letter. 
We are eliciting all possible information regarding the best method 
of amputating arms, and will give the results of our experience in 
the next number of this Journal. i 
We have now made apparent the affinity that exists between 
Operative Surgery and Compensatory Art, and believing, as we do, 
that in all coming time there will continue to be a harmonious inter- 
change of correct theoretical views, as well as practical cooperation 
on the part of the two operators, the patient may confidently expect 
to reap largely the growing benefits to be derived from the united 
skill and ingenuity of the surgeon and the surgeon-artist. 20 
INFRINGEMENTS—CAUTION. 
Several persons have opened offices in different sections of the 
country for the sale of limbs which are palpable infringements of our 
patents, and suits at law are being instituted to restrain their illegal 
proceedings. In some of these instances the individuals are those 
who have been in our employ. Workmen who were unable to manu- 
facture the limb in such manner as to gain our confidence, because of 
their inefficiency, or lack of integrity, have the temerity to urge 
upon the unfortunate their clumsy imitations of our limbs as 
improvements or original inventions—thus defying the law, and 
doing great injustice to a class of persons whose misfortunes 
are only rendered the more unendurable by their awkward 
attempts to repair them. To enable them to deceive most effec- 
tually, they publish our name and the fact that they have been in our em- 
ploy, thus abusing our reputation while appropriating most fraudu- 
lently to their own use an invention, to perfect which has cost many 
years of unremitting toil and study, together with an outlay of a very 
large amount of money. If these persons possessed any suitable in- 
ventive or artistic skill, or were honorably attempting to benefit the 
unfortunate, or themselves, by making a more perfect limb, we should feel 
bound by the considerations which first incited our own endeavors, to 
extend to them the hand of friendship and bid them good speed in a 
labor so laudable. But thus far we do not know of an instance, among 
this ephemeral growth of leg-makers springing up all over the land, 
in which it does not appear evident that the incentive to this illegal 
traffic is the hope of pecuniary gain. Such being the object, the un- 
fortunate will see small chance of their being the parties most bene- 
fited if such mechanics are employed to construct for them a copy of 
a human member which requires such exquisite mechanism. These 
infringers being restrained by the United States Courts will shortly 
be obliged to abandon the business, and it may be proper here to state 
that all persons using such limbs are liable at law as well as the per- 
sons making them. A patentee has the same legal right to proceed 
against the user as against the vender of a patented article. Most 
deeply should we regret to subject any person to trouble or expense 
who had thus unknowingly purchased a limb which he had no legal 
right to use, and for this reason we feel it obligatory on us to caution 
the public against the imposition of counterfeiters. 
We have been established in the business more than twelve years, 
during all of which time the most eminent scientific men and surgeons 
of this country, also in England and France, have fully recognized 
the originality of the inventions, and our rights as secured by the patents. 
It is this accredited originality which has elicited the unparalleled num- 
ber of honorary awards and medals which we have received. It has 
also excited the cupidity of lawless infringers, who must not longer 
proceed with impunity. We wish here to cite a series of attempts to 
rob us of what we esteem above gold, and to show also how our 
scientific friends have stood by to protect us from all harm. 
First.—At the Great Exhibition in London, in 1851, an imitation of 
this leg was placed in competition, by an English mechanician. The 
Royal Commissioners (of whom were the eminent Drs. Green and 
Lawrence, of London, and Roux and Lallemand, of Paris), after an 
examination of both limbs, set countei-feit aside without a word of 21 
favorable comment in their report, deciding1 that it was an infringe- 
ment of oui patents, and had no claims to notice, however well it 
might be made. 
Second. At the Triennial Exhibition of the Massachusetts Charita- 
ble Mechanic Association, in Boston, Oct., 1847, the same course was 
pursued by the eminent Drs. Luther Y. Bell, Winslow Lewis, Jr. (and 
others of the committee), in the case of an individual from New 
Hampshire, who had placed a copy of our limb there for competition. 
No favorable report was made for the infringement, and it never re- 
appeared. 
Third.—The same was also done, substantially, by the Scientific 
Committee of the Franklin Institute, of Philadelphia, at four con- 
secutive exhibitions from 1847 to 1850, at which exhibitions several 
individuals of this city had placed limbs that were infringements 
of our patents. Here also no favor was shown to the infringers, and 
they then left the field of competition. Prof. Thomas D. Mutter, Prof. 
B. Howard Rand, and others, were the jurors. 
Fourth.—At the Fair of the Maryland Institute, in Baltimore, 1851, 
similar infringements met with similar failures, and the disappointed 
manufacturers retired from the exhibitions of that Institute without 
commendation by the jury, of which Prof. Smith was the chairman. 
Fifth.—At the Fair of the American Institute, New York, in Octo- 
ber, 1857, the old offenders having left (after so many failures), two 
new specimens were presented in competition, both of which were 
palpable infringements. In this instance, also, as will be supposed, 
the precedent which had been so well established in Boston, and con- 
firmed in London, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, was again reaffirmed in 
New York, by such distinguished surgeons and physicians as Profes- 
sors Carnochan and Cox, and Dr. D. M. Reese, LL.D., who reported 
that they were “ only modifications of Palmer’s, and had no claim to 
any premium.” Those infringements were made by persons in New 
Hampshire and New York, some of whom have now gone West to 
obtain what they failed to secure in the East—encouragement. 
Sixth.—At the State Fair in Lowell, Mass., in 1851, also at Hartford, 
Ct., other imitations were exhibited, and recognized as such—the Gold 
Medal being awarded to us, as at the former exhibitions throughout 
the country. These cases will suffice to show the course which men 
of scientific attainments pursue in such matters, and may properly serve 
as a guide to dishonest copyists in the future. 
It is with great reluctance, and after years of reflection, that we 
now publish these cases, and expose this essential dishonesty, to conect 
the misapprehension of those who may listen to the statements of per- 
sons who, failing of encouragement in the only circles wheie success 
can be reliably established, go out into the highways for patients, and 
make rude remarks about scientific men, who, knowing their duty as 
impartial jurors and the incompetency of these mechanics, speak of 
their work and themselves as they deserve. These disappointed pai- 
ties have, each in turn, grossly censured eminent surgeons who made 
awards in our favor, and now, as a last resort, they threaten to break 
our patents. We purpose giving them ample scope for the exercise 
of judicial knowledge much greater than the skill evinced either in 
their rude attacks upon our patents or upon committees. Y\ e believe 22 
that eminent legal gentlemen are as competent adjudicators in such 
matters as their compeers among the 'surgeons. It has been said by 
these copyists, that the committees transcend their jurisdiction when 
actuated, in making awards, by considerations of a judicial nature, 
as, they say the Courts alone are competent to decide this point. This 
is a most specious argument, and worthy of a person who would rob a man 
of his brain to reach his purse. Suppose for a moment (to show the 
absurdity of such an idea) that the Royal Commissioners of the 
World’s Exhibition in London, and that the very eminent surgeons in 
Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, etc., etc., etc., had acted 
upon the idea that they were to award to every man according to the 
merits of what he presented, and not what he produced, they judging by 
the article exhibited irrespective of the claims by invention or priority 
of manufacture ; is it not too evident that they would all have given 
their names, and the influence of potential societies, to encourage an 
illegal and injurious traffic, and thus, by their official acts, vitiate, if not 
destroy our patents ? Their opinion is of much more practical value in 
such matters than that of Courts. 
We have long had the patronage of Drs. Mott, Parker, Carnochan, 
Bache, Cheesman, March, Hamilton, Gross, Mutter, Pancoast, Gibson, 
Rand, Mitchell, Warren, Hayward, Bigelow, Townsend, Storer, Smith, 
Harris, Gettings, Dugas, Pope, Mussey, Blackman, Palmer, Howard, 
Knight, Thayer, Reese, Cox, Stone, and their compeers in this coun- 
try—of Sir B. Brodie, Drs. Lawrence, Green, Fergusson, Stanley, 
Forbes, Solly, Hilton, Curling, Cooper, Skey, Hawkins, AYakley, Luke, 
Shaw, and Arnot, of London—of MM. Roux, Velpeau, Malgaine, 
Debout, Debois, Lallemand, and Larrey, of Paris ; Prof. Syme, of 
Edinburgh, and many others we might mention. These eminent Sur- 
geons have unequivocally endorsed the originality of this invention, 
and their opinion will not be disregarded by any intelligent jury. They 
have tested the practical value of such mechanism, and are cognizant 
of the improvements made from year to year in the same. In addition 
to these we might give the names of more than three thousand per- 
sons who are now using our limbs, and whose undivided opinion is 
the same. 
If such surgeons and scientific committees are not competent to 
judge of the originality of such an invention, is it justly presumable 
that a jury of twelve men, however intelligent (whose habits of life 
and thought may have been such that they were never any of them 
called to examine a false limb carefully), will be more capable of 
judging after a few hours’ consideration of conflicting claims in 
courts ? These scientific men have brought forward and compared 
more than one hundred different kinds of ancient and modern substi- 
tutes. In the AArorld’s Exhibition, in London, there were about thirty 
varieties of false limbs. The only forlorn hope of these infringers is 
to vitiate our patents by showing want of originality—the superiority 
being conceded by them, even, in their infringements. 
The intelligent reader will see the palpable absurdity that is patent 
on the face of such unblushing assurance and presumptuous ignor- 
ance. The persons who challenge our claims desire notoriety, and 
attempt to provoke us to mention their names publicly, which we are 
not inclined to do. But our statement of their doings will enable the 
reader to know such of them as may fall into their way. Ours was 
the first patent ever taken in this country for a leg, and it is well 23 
known that up to the time that was issued the crudest forms of sub- 
stitutes wore in general use, and thousands who now have our limbs 
would prefer crutches, as they then did, to such appendages. Our in- 
vention was, and is, well appreciated, and the demand is annually in- 
creasing. W"e feel called upon at this time to do and say all we can, 
honoiably, in justice to the cause in which we are engaged, and for 
the benefit of a class of sufferers whose great misfortunes demand our 
just consideration, since their appreciation of our labors has bestowed 
a degree of patronage never by us anticipated, as it is wholly unex- 
ampled, even in the cities of London and Paris. B. F. P. 
TESTIMONIALS OF SURGEONS. 
Believing it will gratify the Profession in this country to know that 
our Inventions are highly appreciated abroad, we deem it proper to 
mention, respectfully, the names of a few eminent European surgeons 
who were foremost in tendering us their influence and patronage at 
the introduction of the Limbs in London and Paris, and whose acts of 
professional courtesy extended to us during our sojourn in those cities 
(in 1851), elicit the profoundest gratitude and*admiration. 
SURGEONS OF LONDON. 
LETTER OF G. J. GUTHRIE, ESQ., 
(Ex-President of the Royal College of Surgeons, London.) 
Berkley Street, Berkley Square, ) 
London, September 30, 1851. J 
B. Frank. Palmer, Esq.,—Sir :—I have no hesitation instating that 
I consider your Patent Artificial Leg to he the best invention I have 
yet seen ; the most useful and the least distinguishable from the 
natural limb. 
I am, Sir, your very obedient servant, 
G. J. GUTHRIE. 
Similar opinions have been expressed by— 
Sir BENJAMIN BRODIE, Bart. 
Prof. FERGUSSON, Surg. to the Queen. 
WM. LAWRENCE, F.R.S., Surgeon to 
St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. 
EDWARD STANLEY, Esq.; Surgeon to 
St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. 
Mr. CAMERON, Surgeon to the Marquis 
of Anglesey. 
Dr. FORBES. 
SAMUEL SOLLY, Esq. 
J. HILTON, Esq. 
J. B. CURLING, Esq., Surgeon to the 
London Hospital. 
B. B. COOPER, Esq., Surgeon to St- 
George’s Hospital. 
F. SKEY, Esq., Dem. of Anat. St. Barth. 
Hospital. 
CiESAR HAWKINS, Esq. 
JOSEPH H. GREEN, Esq., F.R.S. 
THOS. WAKLEY, Esq., Editor Lancet. 
Sir D. BREWSTER. 
Mr. LUKE. 
I. W. TURNER, F.R.S. 
Mr SHAW, Surgeon to Middlesex Hosp. 
Dr. J. M. ARNOTT. 
And many other surgeons in London of great distinction. 24 
ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS. 
Edinburgh, 10th July, 1852. 
Dear Sirs :—I have the highest opinion of the “ Palmer Leg,” and 
shall be very happy if you can extend the benefit of it to Mr. Hixson. 
Very truly, JAS. SYME. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co., London. 
Edinburgh, 26th December, 1852. 
Dear Sir :—The merits of the “Palmer Leg” are so generally ad- 
mitted that I presume my opinion is wished in regard to the particu- 
lar modification of it, which was lately supplied to a patient of mine, 
who had suffered amputation below the knee but could not make any 
use of the joint, in consequence of the effects of previous disease. 
Nothing could be more satisfactory than the ingenious contrivance 
for the purpose, and I therefore have great pleasure in bearing this 
testimony. Yours truly, JAS. SYME. 
Dublin, May 26, 1856. 
Gentlemen :—I have to acknowledge the receipt of the Model of the 
Artificial limb forwarded by you to the Military Surgeons’ Museum, 
and to say that I have never inspected more beautiful work. I do not 
think any improvement can be made upon it. It has been universally 
admired by medical men. 
I have ordered a sketch to be copied on a large scale for the Museum. 
Very faithfully vours, 
" JOLLIFFE TUFNELL, 
Regius Professor of Military Surgery, Dublin. 
To Messrs. Palmer & Co., London. 
SURGEONS OF PARIS. 
invitation of M. Roux and M. Lallemand (Jurors of the World’s 
Exhibition in London), the inventor visited Paris, where he was in- 
vited to go before the Societe de Chirurgie with the Patent Leg. The 
invention was received with an acclamation of approval, such re- 
nowned Surgeons as Baron Larrey, M. Velpeau, and M. Debout, as it 
had been by the international jury of surgeons in London, prominent 
among whom was the world-renowned Roux, for forty years Chief 
surgeon to the Hotel Dicu, in Paris. 
SOClfiTfi DE CHIRURGIE. 
We have been in correspondence with the Secretary of this Society on the subject of 
the place of election for amputation, and have given evidence of the vast superiority of 
the operation low down, both for the immediate safety and the ulterior comfort and 
usefulness of the patient. 
We wait for the report, which will be of vast importance to the mutilated, being 
well assured that the eminent surgeons composing the committee cannot fail of doing 
great service to the Medical Profession throughout the world, and greater still to the 
mutilated, when they shall publish the result of their investigations. 
As we some time since promised this report to the world, we take the liberty to 
publish an extract of a letter recently received from M. Debout, the distinguished 
Secretary of the Society, giving the cause of the great delay, and which, though not 
official, indicates what the report regarding the leg will be when published by the 
Society. Dr. Debout is Chairman of these important committees. 25 
LETTER OF DR. DEBOUT. 
Bulletin General de Th6rapeutique, 
MMicale et Chirurgicale, Paris. 
(Translation.) 
Messrs. Palmer & Co., London, Gents.: 
I have desired Dr. Deville to examine, for me, the various forms of 
amputated limbs in London, and especially those removed at the 
lower third of the leg. The influence which this honorable confrere 
exerts here will make his testimony valuable, added to my own. 
Will you furnish him this information, and accompany him in his 
visits, in order to expedite them ? Without this knowledge it is im- 
possible to make the report on amputations. 
Judge Choiselat, of Meaux, walks marvelously. Ho recently walked 
three miles without any assistance, and with little fatigue. 
This gentleman has offered to come before the Society of Surgeons, 
with his surgeon, who is a correspondent of the learned Association, 
and to testify by his success to the adaptability of your invention to 
the upper third of the leg.* 
Of all the apparatus sent for examination, yours excel in form, 
lightness, and the simplicity of its mechanism. 
Accept, 2:entlemen, the assurance of my distinguished consideration. 
DEBOUT. 
SURGEONS OF NEW YORK. 
I have examined carefully the Artificial Leg invented by Mr. B. 
Frank. Palmer, of this country. Its construction is simple, and its 
execution is beautiful ; and, what is most important, those who have 
the misfortune to require a substitute for the natural limb, and the 
good fortune to possess it, all concur in bearing practical testimony 
to its superiority in comfort and utility 
1 J VALENTINE MOTT, 
Professor of Surgery in the New York University. 
I have seen several of the Artificial Legs manufactured by Mr. B. 
F. Palmer in use, and consider them superior to any with which I am 
a0<luail‘ted' WILLARD PARKER, M.D.. 
Professor of Surgery in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York. 
Doctor Hudson—Dear Sir Your artificial leg is a triumph of ar- 
tistic skill : and the award which it received at the Great Industrial 
Exhibition in London was no more than a just tribute to the inven- 
tive genius and mechanical talents of Mr. Palmer It would be haz- 
ardous to say whether any superior construction of apparatus, toi so 
beneficent an end, will be effected. But the best praise you can re- 
ceive is the entire approbation of all who have adopted your most 
genious and admirable invention. J0HN w. FRANCIS, M.D., 
I have examined the Artificial Leg constructed by Messrs. Palmer 
& Co., and I think it more fully meets its requirements than any 
have before seen. JOHN C. CHESSMAN, M.H., 
* Judge Choisclat had both legs amputated three inches below his knees. See his 
letter, page 36. 26 
I give my unqualified testimony as to its superior merits over all 
other inventions of the kind. I invariably recommend it to the pa- 
tients upon whom I have operated in private practice, and have also 
recommended the State Commissioners of Emigration to supply their 
patients who have been operated upon in their hospitals with this 
most excellent substitute for the amputated limb. 
1 J. M. CARNOCHAN, M.D., 
Professor of Surgery in the New York Medical College, 
Chief Surgeon to the State Emigrant''s Hospital. 
From what I have seen, and from the testimony of those who have 
used your work, I do not now hesitate, nor have I done so for several 
years past, to recommend my patients who have been so unfortunate 
as to lose a limb, to call on your firm for a substitute. 
ALDEN MARCH, M.D., 
President and Prof. Surgery and Operating Surgeon, Albany Med. College. 
My Dear Sir:—I have examined with great care, the artificial limb 
of B. F. Palmer, which you have prepared for my patient. It is ad- 
mirably fitted, beautifully finished, and its adaptation and use, are in 
the highest degree satisfactory. It is superior to any artificial limb 
I have ever seen. I am happy to know that your work is appreciated 
by the eminent men who have testified to its excellence. 
• I am very respectfully yours, 
J J. H. ARMSBY, 
Prof, of Anat., Albany Medical College. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co.—Gentlemen :—I shall be happy to permit you 
to refer to me in reference to your Artificial Limbs ; since, during 
several years, I have been accustomed to direct my patients to you, 
and no one has expressed to me dissatisfaction. I believe them to be 
the best now in use. 
With sentiments of esteem, I remain truly yours, 
FRANK H. HAMILTON, M.D., 
Prof. Surgery, Medical Department University of Buffalo. 
Mechanical ingenuity cannot be turned to a better purpose than the 
supplying of lost members, to those who are so unfortunate as to be 
mutilated by the surgeons’ knife. Messrs. Palmer & Co. have brought 
to such a degree of perfection the manufacture of Artificial Limbs, 
that persons who have lost even both legs, are enabled to trudge 
about with the rest of mankind, nearly as well, on ordinary occasions, 
as the best of them. 
The references which they publish by permission, number some 
of the most distinguished European and American Surgeons, and 
we cheerfully add our recommendation to this triumph of American 
ingenuity. 
AUSTIN FLINT, M.D. 
Prof, of Medical Pathology in the University of Buffalo, and 
Editor Buffalo Medical Journal. 
Buffalo, Nov. 8, 1858. 
Dr. E. D. Hudson—Dear Sir :—It gives me pleasure to say, that I 
have had frequent opportunities of witnessing the operation of Pal- 
mer’s Artificial Leg for the last two years, and do not hesitate to re- 
commend it in preference to all others that I have ever seen. 
C. C. WYCKOFF, M.D. 27 
\r -r) o Geneva, Mew Torlc, Oct. 31,1858. 
Messi s. Palmer & Vo.—Gentlemen :—I have used Artificial Legs of 
almost every device during the past twenty-five years ; and during the 
past eleven years, I have used one of Palmer’s Artificial Legs with the 
greatest comfort and usefulness. 
. Fro.m “y own personal experience and observation, as well as the 
invariable expressions of the highest satisfaction, which the numer- 
ous patients lmve made whom I have sent to you for substitutes, I 
believe your limbs to be the best appliance ever invented for the loss 
of the natural leg. 
Yours, very sincerely and truly. 
H. A. POTTER, M.D., Surgeon. 
SURGEONS OF PHILADELPHIA. 
I have examined, with great care, the Artificial Leg invented by 
Mr. B. F. Palmer, and do not hesitate to recommend it in the strongest 
terms. It is used by my patients with entire satisfaction. 
THOS. D. MUTTER, M.D., 
Prof essor of Surgery in the Jefferson College, Philadelphia. 
Philadelphia, Dec. 14, 1858. 
My Dear Sir:—I am really very much gratified to find that your 
ingenuity and perseverance have at length accomplished what the 
profession has so long waited for in vain—a useful Artificial Hand and 
Arm. The models you showed me the other day appear to accomplish 
every indication, and are worthy companions to your unequaled “ Ar- 
tificial Legs.” After many years’ observation of the working of the 
latter, I am compelled to repeat, what I have already expressed in 
writing, that neither in Europe nor America is there an instrument of 
the kind, in my judgment at least, worthy of comparison with them. 
Trusting that you will continue your efforts to relieve your afflicted 
fellow-creatures. I remain, very sincerely yours, 
THOMAS D. MUTTER, 
Emeritus Prof, of Surgery in the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. 
B. Frank. Palmer, Esq., etc., etc. 
I have examined carefully, the Artificial Leg invented by Mr. Pal- 
mer, and have formed a very favorable opinion of its construction. I 
have also advised my patients to obtain it. 
W. GIBSON, M.D., 
Professor of Surgery in the University of Pennsylvania. 
SURGEONS OF BALTIMORE. 
The Artificial Leg of Mr. B. F. Palmer, is by far the best that has 
fallen under our observation, and worthy of the highest commcnda- 
N. R. SMITH, M.D., Professor of Surgery. CHARLES FRICK, M.D. 
WILLIAM M. KEMP, M.D. wrfrmfSiff'v 
L. MACKALL, M.D. WILLIAM PRATT, M.D. 28 
SURGEONS OF BOSTON. 
The undersigned having witnessed the successful use of the Artifi- 
cial Limbs manufactured by Mr. B. F. Palmer, very gladly recom- 
mend them to persons who have suffered the loss of a lower extremity. 
The very ingenious mechanism which is applied in this invention 
produces an imitation of the shape and motion of a living member, 
much more successful than would seem possible. We recommend 
them with pleasure and confidence to those who may need such assis- 
tance. 
J. C. WARREN, JACOB BIGELOW, J. MASON WARREN, 
GEO. HAYWARD, S. D. TOWNSEND, D. D. STORER. 
Surgeons and Phigsicians to Massachusetts General Hospital. 
The Artificial Leg of Mr. B. F. Palmer is a beautiful contrivance. 
It is far better than any previous apparatus of the sort. 
H. J. BIGELOW, Prof, of Surgery in the Mass. Medical College. 
H. G. CLARK, Surgeon to Mass. General Hospital. 
SURGEONS AND PHYSICIANS OF SPRINGFIELD. 
Palmer’s Artificial Leg is, beyond a doubt, vastly superior to any 
that has preceded it in Europe and America—indeed, so perfect is its 
adaptation to the purpose for which it was intended, that there seems 
to be no room left for improvement. It differs widely from all others 
that have gone before it, in its mechanism and utility. 
ALFRED LAMBERT, M.D., JEFFERSON CHURCH. M.D., 
R. G. W. ENGLISH. M.D., JAS. M. SMITH, M.D., 
EDWIN SEEGER, M.D., N. ADAMS, M.D. 
HON. C. 0. CHAFFEE, M.D., MEMBER OF CONGRESS. 
Springfield, Mass., April 29, 1855. 
To E. D. Hudson, M.D.—My Dear Doctor:—I am free to say of Pal- 
mer’s Artificial Leg that from twenty years’ observation, I have never 
seen anything to equal it as a remedy for surgical deformities. 
Indeed, I know not what there is left in the science of mechanics, that 
can be made applicable for the uses to which this leg is applied. 
To my mind, there is no other artificial limb entitled to a trial 
even ; and, in fine, I regard it as the ne plus ultra of artificial limbs. 
, I am, Sir, very truly yours, 
C. C. CHAFFEE, M.D. 
SURGEONS OF NEW HAVEN AND HARTFORD, CT. 
We have had the opportunity of witnessing the operation of Pal- 
mer’s Artificial Leg in several cases, and do not hesitate to recom- 
mend it in preference to all others with which we are acquainted. 
J. KNIGHT, M.D., 
Prof, of Sura cry, Med. Inst. Yale College. 
P.' A. JEWETT, M.D., 
Fhys. Sf Surg. Gen. Hospital Soe. 29 
YALE MEDICAL COLLEGE. 
E. D. Hudson, M.D.-—Dear Sir:—In behalf of my colleagues, I take 
pleasure in acknowledging the receipt of the beautiful model of one 
of your Artificial Legs. . Please accept our thanks for the same. 
Amongst all the so-called improvements, I have yet seen none to com- 
paie with those jou manufacture. Indeed, I look upon it as nearly 
perfect as it can be. A ours very truly, 
„ rr n , ’ P. A. JEAYETT. 
J\ew Haven, December 12, 1858. 
Hartford, March 11, 1859. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co.—Gentlemen:—Having had frequent oppor- 
tunities of testing the working of your admirable Artificial Leg, we 
cheerfully recommend it to all who may require such assistance, 
believing that no mechanical contrivance for the purpose can be found 
equal to it in beauty of workmanship or perfection of operation. 
P. W. ELLSWORTH, M.D., S. B. BERESFORD, M.D. 
UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co.—Sirs:—I am happy to inform you that the 
case of my patient, Mr. Ballard, far exceeds his expectations in utility, 
and does much better than I expected it would, with so short a stump. 
Mr. Ballard is the third patient I have sent to you from this State 
within the past five years, two of whom were residents of Northfield, 
Mr. King and Mr. Burnham. In each and every case, the artificial 
appliance has been most satisfactory. I think them superior to any- 
thing of the kind I have ever seen. It will always afford me pleasure 
to send you patients whose necessities require such artificial ap- 
pliances. I remain your most obedient servant, 
SAMUEL AY. THAYER, Jr., 
Prof, of Anatomy and Physiology, University of Vermont. 
MEDICAL COLLEGE OE OHIO. 
Cincinnati. 
We are indebted to Mr. Palmer for the Artificial Leg which has 
won the admiration of the most prominent surgeons in Great Britain, 
France, and this country. This is certainly one of the greatest 
triumphs of American ingenuity. 
r GEO. C. BLACKMAN, M.D., 
Brof. of Surgery. 
SURGEONS OF WASHINGTON. 
U. S. Navy Department, 
Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. 
B. Frank. Palmer, Esq.—Sir:—I have carefully examined the Ar- 
tificial Leg of your invention, and find that it seems calculated to 
form an excellent substitute for the natural one, and leaves nothing 
to be desired by way of improvement. 
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
TIIOS. HARRIS, M.D., 
Chief of the Bureau. 
I have seen nothing which approaches it in perfection. 
S. R. ADDISON, M.D., 
Asst. Surgeon, Bureau of Med. and Surgery. 30 
BRITISH AND AMERICAN (MEDICAL) PRESS. 
FROM THE LONDON LANCET, JANUARY 3, 1852. 
The Patent Artificial Leg of Mr. Palmer is a most admirable, in- 
genious, and philanthropic contrivance. It is far superior to all others 
hitherto invented, and is a valuable addition to our means of remov- 
ing the inconvenience arising from a severe mutilation. 
FROM THE NEW YORK SCALPEL, NOVEMBER, 1852. 
The success of this extraordinary piece of mechanism in carrying 
off the great medal at the World’s Fair of London, and the testimo- 
nials of praise from all of the most distinguished surgeons of that 
city, is unprecedented in the history of orthopoedic mechanism. * * 
It is a triumph of inventive skill of which our country may bo 
proud, and places the profession and the unfortunate under the high- 
est obligation to the Mechanic Arts. 
FROM THE BOSTON MEDICAL AND SURGICAL JOURNAL. 
There has been a degree of perfection attained in this branch of 
mechanism in the United States, that surpasses the efforts of ingeni- 
ous artists in Europe. This fact is admitted abroad, and Mr. Palmer’s 
success with his Artificial Limbs in London was a triumph that has 
added to the credit of American ingenuity and skill. His invention 
is indeed the ne plus ultra of mechanism. 
FROM THE AMERICAN MEDICAL GAZETTE, NEW YORK, DEC., 1857. 
AN INTERESTING CASE IN MECHANICAL SURGERY. 
Having occasion to call at the office of Messrs. Palmer & Co. recently, 
our attention was invited to the case of a young man who had suf- 
fered the loss of both limbs by a railroad accident ; one limb having 
been removed by amputation at the middle third of the thigh, and the 
other at the lower third of the leg. Until recently such cases have been 
regarded as past help. The first instance of a successful adjustment of 
Artificial Legs in such a case, was performed by Messrs. Palmer & Co., 
in 1852, for Mr. J. S. Sanford of the Massachusetts General Hospital. 
He is now in active business—an employe on a New England R. R., and 
never uses but one cane, and oftentimes not any. The patient, or M. 
P., at the time we saw him was weak and trembling, not having 
fully recovered from the shock of the accident and operation, and had 
had a pair legs adjusted to his stumps only three days ; and yet it 
was marvelous, the ease and naturalness with which he walked about 
the house, as also the manner with which he ascended and descended 
two long flights of stairs which he was in the habit of doing several 
times in the day, and unaided. Such mechanical operations (for no 
case seems to be beyond their skill to treat successfully), conducted 
on strictly scientific and anatomical principles, and with due atten- 
tion to the pathological condition of the truncated portion of the 
limbs are truly interesting, humane, and praise-worthy, and should 
command the approbation and countenance of every intelligent pro- 
fessional man. What adds to their merit—such cases destitute of 
pecuniary means are never disregarded. 31 
We feel that it is due to the practice of surgery—to humanity—that 
the inimitable operations of Palmer & Co. should not be lost sig-ht of 
or slightly considered by the profession ; that no charlatan alike 
ignorant of science, anatomy, pathology, and art, who may have had a 
little practice with tools in their work-shop should be tolerated when 
he presents as a rival operation, a mere imitation of the beautiful appli- 
ance of Palmer’s Leg, with some trivial or detrimental alterations to 
evade the process of law, and which he has the effrontery to term an im- 
piovepent.* The award that was given to Pnlmer’s limb by such 
experienced enlightened surgeons as Profs. Lawrrence, Green, 
Feigusson, Brodie, Roux, Lallemand, etc., of London and Paris, over 
e\ery appliance of the kind in Europe, and the awards of a similar 
class of men in the United States, should be sufficient to inspire the 
profession and the public with unmeasurable confidence in the supe- 
rior and philanthropic operations of Messrs. Palmer & Co. 
FROM THE AMERICAN MEDICAL MONTHLY, NEW YORK, MARCH, 1858. 
Palmer’s Artificial Leg is so well known, that it is not necessary to 
say a great deal concerning it. But those who are not familiar with 
it, should take the uninterested testimony of the distinguished sur- 
geons who have certified that it is the best yet invented. We have 
lately examined its claims in comparison with those of its principal 
rivals, and it seems clear that it holds the first place. The first pa- 
tient that we ever saw who wore one, was a lady, and it was impos- 
sible to tell, by the gait, which was the artificial foot. This wras then 
a marvel, but now it seems to be rather common to furnish persons 
who have lost both legs, with useful substitutes, even when the am- 
putation is above the knee. It is certainly a great work thus to re- 
store to active life, persons who must otherwise be among the most 
helpless of cripples. Palmer & Co’s “ Artificial Leg Reporter,” which 
is distributed gratuitously to persons wishing for it, contains some 
interesting and valuable information concerning the place at which 
various amputations should be performed, when election is possible. 
HONORARY AWARDS. 
An unprecedented number of First Class Premiums have been 
awarded for “ Palmer’s Patent Leg,” by eminent Scientific Associa- 
tions, and at the Great Exhibitions in the United States and Europe ; 
among which is the Great Prize Medal of the World’s Exhibition in 
London, 1851 ; also the only Silver Medal of the World’s Exhibition 
in New York, 1853, together with more than Forty Gold and Silver 
Medals, or their equivalent, as “Highest Honors” adjudged by Sur- 
geons of the first distinction, as Committees, many oi whose names 
are appended to their reports in the following pages. 
Extract from Report of the Royal Commissioners of the World’s Great 
Exhibition, London, 1851. 
The iurv have the honor of submitting to Her Majesty’s Commis- 
sioners the following report. ■ tin . 
In the mechanical compensation of lost parts (of the human body), gieat 
success has been obtained, and among the contrivances lor supplying 
* The Editor of the Am. Med. Gaz. was Chairman of the Jury on Artificial Limbs, 
at the last Fair of the American Institute, New York. 32 
the loss of a lower limb, the admirable mechanism of Mr. B. Frank. 
Palmer’s Artificial Leg (United States, No. 39, p. 1435), deserves 
particular notice. This Artificial Leg combines lightness and a success- 
ful imitation of the motions of the joints* 
Prize Medal. jurors. 
JOS. H. GREEN, F.R.S., 
Member of the lloyal Collec/e of Surgeons. 
WM. LAWRENCE, F.R.S., 
Pres. Royal Col. Surgeons, and Surg. to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. 
MR. JAMES PHILP, 
Anatomical Mechanician. 
London. 
M. Roux, 
Surgeon (forty years) to Hotel Dieu. 
M. LALLEMAND, 
Member of the Academy of Sciences, etc. 
Paris. 
TIIOS. CHADBOURNE, M.D., 
United States. 
World’s Great “Exhibition of the Industry of all Nations,” 
CRYSTAL PALACE, NEW YORK, 1833. 
E IXZ T ZR, .A. O T OF REPORT. 
“ PALMER & CO. FOR BEST ARTIFICIAL LEG, SILVER MEDAL..” 
JURORS, PROF. J. RENWICK, CHAIRMAN. 
PROF. WILLARD PARKER, New York. 
“ A. CLARK, 
“ CARNOCHAN, 
DR. GAILLARDET, Paris. 
“ PARKMAN, Boston. 
“ E. G. LUDLOW, New York. 
AND OTHERS. 
EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS 
OK 
JDistinguisljei* Scientific Associations. 
FRANKLIN INSTITUTE, PHILADELPHIA. 
“ The Committee on Science and the Arts,” constituted by the Frank- 
lin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania, for the promotion of the 
Mechanic Arts, to whom was referred for examination an Artificial 
Leg, invented by Benjamin Franklin Palmer, report : 
In conclusion, ‘‘That the Artificial Leg of Mr. Palmer is superior to 
ANY THAT HAS YET COME UNDER THEIR NOTICE. It is light, Strong, beauti- 
fully shaped, apparently very durable, self-acting in a greater degree 
than anything they have ever met with ; easy and natural in its 
motion, and possessing apparently all the qualities desirable or 
attainable in such an invention. 
“ Tile Committee would recommend the award to the inventor of 
‘ Scott’s Legacy Medal and Premium/ and also to the Committee on Ex- 
hibitions to award him the First Premium for his model, exhibited in 
the late Exhibition. By order of the Committee, 
« WM. HAMILTON, Actuary ” 
* N. B.—This is the only artificial leg that received special honorary mention in the 
report of the Royal Commissioners. 33 
Franklin Institute. 
LAST REPORT, 1858. 
“No. 585.' Artificial Legs and Arm. B. Frank. Palmer, Philadelphia. 
The Artificial Legs invented and made by Mr. Palmer, are believed 
to be unequaled. They have received the award of the Scott’s 
Legacy Medal and Premium, on the recommendation of the Committee 
on Science and the Arts, as well as a first premium from this Commit- 
tee, at a former exhibition. 
“The Artificial Arm on deposit, a new production of the skill of Mr. 
Palmer, for more careful investigation of its merits, is referred to the 
Committee on Science and the Arts. 
“ Since the last award, Mr. Palmer has made several improvements 
in his arrangements.” 
“A RECALL FIRST CLASS PREMIUM.” 
N. B.—No Premium has been awarded by the Franklin Institute, 
for any other Artificial Leg, since the introduction of “Palmer’s 
Patent,” in 1846. 
MASSACHUSETTS CHARITABLE MECHANIC 
ASSOCIATION, BOSTON. 
TRIENNIAL EXHIBITION, 1847. 
The Committee are of opinion that this invention fulfills the various 
requisites of a substitute for the lower limb, as completely as any 
artificial machinery ever can be expected to do. In imitating the 
various movements j in the mode in which the flexions of the knee, ankle, 
and foot, are connected ; and the apparent reliability and permanence of 
the mechanical details, they do not see any failure to fulfill the highest pos- 
sible requisites. They recommend that Mr. Palmer’s successful im- 
provement be acknowledged by the bestowal upon him of a Silver 
Medal. 
J. WINSLOW LEWIS, M.D.,' 
LUTHER Y. BELL, M.D., 
And others, 
Judges. 
Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association. 
TRIENNIAL EXHIBITION, 1853. 
“ Palmer Sr Co. One Case Artificial Legs.” This article, of which 
are exhibited two very fine specimens, one for loss of limb above the 
knee, and the other below only, has been already fully reported upon 
by former Committees, who had every opportunity, to examine and 
test its merits And the Committee would have simply referred to 
those reports^but for the fact that Messrs. Palmer & Co. have accom- 
plished what has heretofore been deemed ,an 0881^ 
enabling; a person who has lost both legs, as in the case of Mi. b 
ford“ with one adjusted at the thigh, and the other below the knee 
to walk with two substitutes. The young man who exhibits their 
HENRY G. CLARK, M.D., 
WINSLOW LEWIS, M.D., 
GEORGE BARTLETT, M.D., 
HENRY J. BIGELOW, M.D., 
Judges. 
* See cut of Mr. Sanford. 34 
AMERICAN INSTITUTE, N. YORK ; EXHIBITION, 1846. 
In its appearance and in its movements, it so accurately resembles 
the natural limb as to require a careful examination before it can be 
decided to be anything else but the limb provided by nature. It com- 
bines lightness with firmness, and we recommend that a Silver Medal 
be awarded to its inventor. 
American Institute, 1847. 
Palmer’s Patent Artificial Leg.—Although this article received a 
Silver Medal last year, yet its superiority over every other construc- 
tion of the kind, in our judgment merits the still further notice of the 
Institute, and we recommend a Gold Medal. 
D. MEREDITH REESE, M.D., 
ALFRED C. POST. M.D., 
S. RUSSELL CHILDS, M.D., 
Judges. 
American Institute, 1850. 
Palmer & Co. For the best Artificial Leg. A Gold Medal. 
“ As now improved, it is superior to any other ever constructed, and 
merits, for science and humanity, the highest testimonial of the In- 
stitute.”—Am. Institute Fair, 1852. 
Last Report of the American Institute, 1857. 
“Best Artificial Leg—No. 225. Palmer’s Artificial Leg still retains 
its superiority over all others.” “Gold Medal certified,” as twice before 
awarded. 
“No. 840.—A modification of Palmer’s, and has no claim to a pre- 
mium.” 
D. M. REESE. M.D.. LL.D., 
PROF. J. M. CARNOCHAN, M.D.. 
PROF. H..G. COX, M.D., 
Judges. 
Metropolitan Mechanics’ Institute. 
Washington City. 
“The Patent Artificial Leg, manufactured and deposited by B. 
Frank. Palmer, merits our highest commendation. It is beautifully 
finished, and is, without doubt, the most perfect artificial limb ever 
invented.” Medal. 
THOMAS MILLER, M.D.. 
W. P. JOHNSON, M.D., 
And others, 
Jurors. 
Maryland Institute, Baltimore; Exhibition, 1852. 
Palmer’s Patent Leg—by far the best of this kind of mechanical 
contrivance that has ever fallen under the observation of the Commit- 
tee, who report it as the article worthy of the highest commendation. 
A Gold Medal. 
N. R. SMITH, M.D., 
LEONARD MACKALL, M.D., 
C. A. HARRIS, M.D., 
WM. M. KEMP, M.D., 
CHAS. FRICK, M.D., 
WM. PRATT, M.D., 
Judges. 35 
CORRESPONDENCE, MONOGRAPHS, ETC. 
Letter of Col. THOS. W. WARD, Ex. U. S. Consul at Panama. 
Dr. E. D. Hudson, 318 Broadway, N. Y. MarCh 12’ 1859‘ 
Dear Sir Your favor of the 10th inst., has been received, and 
however unpleasant to me to allude to my misfortunes, I cannot in 
justice withhold an expression of my opinion regarding the Artificial 
Legs made for me by Palmer & Co., at their manufactory in Broad- 
way. Therefore, I give the assurance that the legs which you made 
foi me, have given me great satisfaction, and although light (which 
is a great desideratum), are strong and durable, and have lasted 
without repair much longer than any others which I have worn. 
With much regard, I am your very obedient servant, 
THOS. W. WARD. 
From Rev. WM. REDDY, Presiding Elder, etc. 
Auburn, N. Y., March 22, 1859. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co.—Having used your Artificial Leg for several 
years, with the various improvements you have made upon it 
from time to time, and having had experience in the use of at least 
three other kinds, I am free to say, that I regard your Patent Artifi- 
cial Leg as the best adapted to the purposes of comfort and conven- 
ience, as well as for beauty and symmetry, of any one in known use. 
WM. REDDY. 
From S. H. HAMMOND, Esq. 
Albany, March 15, 1859. 
My Dear Doctor :—I take great pleasure in recommending “ Pal- 
mer’s Artificial Leg,” as the best substitute now in use for the natural 
limb. I have worn one for more than four years, and it has given 
entire satisfaction, in the essentials of durability, reliability, and com- 
fort—features which commend themselves to the appreciation of those 
compelled to resort to this kind of help to locomotion. Truly yours, 
S. H. HAMMOND. 
Dr. E. D. Hudson, New York. 
From A. J. POST, Esq., Civil Engineer, Surveyor, etc. 
No. 4 Hamilton Place, Jersey City, February 23, 1859. 
To whom it may concern:—This certifies that I have worn one of 
“Palmer’s Patent” Artificial Legs for over eight years ; during which 
time I have been engaged on heavy work in machine shops, and in 
civil engineering and surveying, in the most difficult places and 
on every grade, with perfect reliability and naturalness. 
The ease and facility with which I walk, surprises all my friends 
and acquaintances, and I would not part with my artificial limb for 
anything short of the original one. 
I think I am qualified to recommend Mr. Palmer’s Limb to any one 
who may be so unfortunate as to need one, and would be most happy 
to give any information in my power, to every one who may ask it. 
ANDREW J. POST. 36 
BOTH FEET AMPUTATED THROUGH THE INSTEPS ! 
(See Cut.) Newtown, (Iowa), May 30, 1855. 
B. F. Palmer, Esq.—Dear Sir:—It is with profound sentiments of 
gratitude and thankfulness, that I now beg leave to give you my ex- 
perience thus far with the two artificial feet which you applied to me. 
My case has always been considered a hopeless one, and my friends 
endeavored to dissuade me from what they considered a useless effort, 
and foolish expense. But your encouraging voice inspired me with 
hope. I went to your city, and from the first application of the artifi- 
cial feet I walked again with ease and comfort. The result is a com- 
plete triumph. I am now, thanks to your unequaled skill, enabled to 
move again in the society of my friends, to attend to my business, and 
in short, am “ made whole.” 
I am gratefully yours, 
J. C. MOSS. 
Salisbury, (Lakeville), Ct. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co.—Gents:—In the winter of 1836, both my feet 
were frozen, so that I lost the use of my limbs entirely, except as I 
moved about on my knees. 
In March, 1849, one of my legs was amputated. In October the 
other, and on the first of December following I commenced walking 
on two legs made by Messrs. Palmer & Co. I was enabled to walk at 
the first attempt, with the aid of a walking cane, and on the fourth 
day which I wore them, ascended a long flight of stairs with the as- 
sistance of one cane only, using my feet alternately in ascending, as 
though I had natural feet and legs. 
JOSEPH B. IIINE. 
BOTH LEGS AMPUTATED, ONE ABOVE THE KNEE. 
West Medford, near Boston, Mass. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co.—Dear Sirs :—I now seat myself to inform you 
how I get along with my artificial legs. I find that I improve daily. 
I walk with perfect ease. I have been to Boston six times within 
three weeks, and traveled about with the use of one cane, at one time, 
a mile or more. My townfolks consider me a walking wonder, and 
the getting of my limbs no “foolish experiment.” When I arrived at 
home my mother was overjoyed to see me walking. The hospital* sur- 
geons say, there is no room for improvements ; and every body con- 
siders it a wonderful operation and without a precedent. 
Yours truly, J. S. SANFORD. 
BOTH LEGS AMPUTATED. 
Canandaigua, N. V, August 9, 1856. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co.—Dear Sirs:—I have deferred writing to you 
till this time, that I might inform you truly concerning the artificial 
legs you made for me. Now, I have given them a good trial, and am 
prepared to speak in the highest praise of them. They far exceed my 
expectations, and that is saying much ; for I had high anticipations, 
and expected to be able to walk in a first-rate manner, and I assure 
* Massachusetts General Hospital. J. C. MOSS. 
J. B. HINE. 
One Amputated above the Knee-Joint.—See Certificates, page 36. 
mm nan aea 
J. S. SANFORD. 
WM. P. CARSON. 
LE GRAND WELLS. 
E. WIGHT. 38 
you I do. All that I regret is, that I had deprived myself of them 
so long, which I should not have done, had it not been for the advice 
of one or two interested persons. You cannot think how pleased my 
friends are at my being able to walk and appear so naturally. All 
other artificial legs appear to me now to be nothing but sticks, com- 
pared with yours. I wish every one in want of a limb to enjoy one 
of yours. Yours truly, 
WM. P. CARSON. 
BOTH LEGS AMPUTATED—(Weight, 185 Poilnds.) 
Stratford, January 6, 1859. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co.—Gents:—I have used a pair of your patent 
leys for two years, and am prepared to say that they have surpassed 
my own expectation. At first I was necessitated to use two canes. 
Now I walk firmly and steadily, with greater ease and comfort, with 
only one cane. 1 am able to do considerable labor, of different kinds. 
My neighbors are surprised, and I am more than satisfied. No money 
could tempt me to be without them. No one can sufficiently esteem 
the importance of such an invention to mankind, save those whom 
misfortune compels to wear them ; as one such, I know their value 
to be inestimable. With great esteem, I remain Yours, 
LEGRAND WELLS. 
Springfield, Mass., August 25, 1858. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co.—Gents :—I have worn a pair of “ Palmer’s 
Patent” Artificial Legs, nearly six years; during all of which I 
have given my personal attention to a very extensive business, that 
has required me to be constantly getting in and out of railway cars, 
also all kinds of carriages, and to walk any distance from a few rods 
to miles, over every kind of road, and to be almost constantly on my 
feet. My business has been deemed amply sufficient for any robust 
and healthy man, with two good natural legs. I have always used 
the limbs with a degree of comfort and satisfaction that is surprising 
to myself, as well as my friends. 
I am able to take my place in the active affairs of life, contribute 
my full share to the accomplishment of its duties, and participate 
largely in its pleasures. 
EMERSON WIGHT. 
TESTIMONIAL OF AN EMINENT FRENCH JUDGE. 
BOTH LEGS AMPUTATED. 
Meaux, Seine et Marne, France, July 16, 1856. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co., London.—Gentlemen:—I have received this 
morning in very good condition, the Artificial Legs. I tried them im- 
mediately, and they operate well. I can already walk around my 
chamber. 
February 20, 1858. 
Gentlemen :—I am able to walk better and better with my artificial 
legs. I desire you to construct a new pair, and send them to me at 
Meaux, as I expect to remain there during the month of March. 
I am entirely satisfied with the limbs, and I beg of you to receive 39 
anew, with my thanks for the service you have rendered me, the 
assurance ot my highest esteem. 
A. CHOISELAT, 
Rue St. Nicholas, 54, Meaux. 
BOTH LEGS AMPUTATED. 
East Bloomfield, N. Y., April 6, 1854. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co.—Dear Sirs:—Having used a pair of your ar- 
tificial legs constantly during the three years past, to my very great 
comfort and satisfaction and the admiration of my friends, I am pre- 
pared to say unqualifiedly, that they are the greatest blessing ever 
conferred on mutilated man. I regard them as the most perfect and 
useful substitutes for the natural limb ever devised, and the only ones 
worth having. I feel keenly on this subject, and speak strongly, but 
advisedly. I wish to warn every one so unfortunate as to need an 
artificial limb, to be on guard against the worthless limbs that are 
offered in various parts of the country, and to advise all to procure 
none but the very best, which an extensive experience and the 
numerous critical investigations of men of Science and the Arts, in 
almost every part of the civilized world, have proved yours to be. 
Yours respectfully, 
E. S. JUDD. 
P. HUBBELL, ESQ., PRESIDENT OF THE MONUMENT BANK. 
* Charlestown, Mass., November 11, 1858. 
B. F. Palmer, Esq.—My Dear Sir:—After ten years of practical 
experience, I desire to record my testimony to the surpassing excel- 
lence of your truly valuable improvement of the Artificial Leg ; and I 
thank you in behalf of the sorely stricken and afflicted of mankind 
(whom your patent is designed to relieve), for the world-wide benefit 
you have so earnestly and successfully sought to extend. * * * 
The external appearance of your leg, may be judged of by any super- 
ficial observer. The real beauty, however, of an artificial leg to the 
unfortunate \yearer, lies in its utility/ and in the consciousness of 
doing justice to other leg makers, whom I have patronized as well as 
yourself, I feel constrained to say that in covifort of wearing, and in 
durability, your limb as far surpasses every other kind, as the mid-day 
sun surpasses the moon in brilliancy ; and in the fullest confidence of 
your desire to give comfort to the greatest number of the wounded 
and suffering, I remain ever truly and sincerely yours, 
Jr. JjLULi. 
From DANIEL KELLOGG, Esq. 
Colchester, Ct.. February 14, 1859. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co.-Gentlemen .—Having been in the constant 
use of your Artificial Leg for eight years, and signally benefited by 
it, I esteem it no less a duty than a pleasure, to state lor the benefit 
of those in want of artificial legs, that I have seen a number of other 
kinds none of which appear to me so well adapted to supply the loss 
of the natural limb as yours ; and that I consider it, as far as my 
knowledge extends, much the best of any now m use ; combining 
strength lightness, and durability, all of which qualities are desirable 40 
and the first two indispensable, in order to render the wearing of the 
limb easy and comfortable. My limb was amputated five inches above 
the knee ; as soon after as my stump was in a proper condition, I pro- 
cured the leg which I now wear, and during the time I have worn it, 
have never expended for repairs upon it a sum exceeding five dollars. 
I can walk so well, that no person not acquainted with the fact, would 
ever suspect the cause of my lameness. People often inquire if I am 
lame, and the cause, and when told that I wear an artificial leg, they 
express great surprise that a substitute has been found which so well 
supplies the loss of a limb. It is not quite equal to the natural limb, 
but comes as near it, as it is possible for art to imitate nature. 
Respectfully yours, 
DANIEL KELLOGG. 
New York City Hospital, July, 1856. 
Having suffered the loss of my leg by amputation, and having had 
ample experience with various kinds of artificial limbs (among them 
the “Anglesey Leg”), I feel it a pleasure, as well as a duty which I 
owe to those alike afflicted, to say, that I have never worn, or seen, 
any kind of artificial leg so essentially and eminently useful, so 
ingenious and natural in its operations, and that will so perfectly 
restore or disguise the loss of the natural leg as “ Palmer’s Patent 
Leg.” As an assistant eight years of the surgical wards, I have been 
made acquainted with many very bad cases of mutilation, where the 
loss of limb has been rendered comparatively small by the application 
of this useful and beautiful work of art. I know of none so useful 
and economical. 
JAMES McGRATII, Gen’l Nurse. 
THIGH AMPUTATION. 
Lowell, Mass., August 1, 1856. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co.—Gentlemen:—I have worn Palmer’s Patent 
Artificial Leg, for nearly four years, with the best of success. I can 
walk from three to five miles at one time with but little inconvenience. 
I generally have my limb in constant use from 8 o’clock, A. M., until 
II o’clock, P. M., in the store ; and I find my stump feels much bet- 
ter while standing on my limb, than while sitting with or without 
the limb, as it seems to remove that twitching nervous affection that 
always attends an amputated limb. I have examined many limbs 
from other manufactories, with the hope of finding something bet- 
ter ; but I must say that for lightness, strength, and durability (and 
its not being liable to get out of order), I regard it the best substi- 
tute in the world. Yours respectfully, 
E. A. STANIELS. 
THIGH AMPUTATION. 
Office of Watertown and Rome R. R., ) 
Rome, N. Y, January 18, 1859. ) 
Messrs. Palmer & Co.—Gents.:—Would that I could do justice 
in recommending1 your artificial leg to those in need of such. I have 
worn my leg nearly six years, with only a slight repair. I find no 
difficulty in walking very naturally and with the utmost ease, and in 
performing all the duties connected with my active business, with the 
most perfect reliability and entire satisfaction. Yours truly, 
H. H. GLINES. 41 
ARM AMPUTATION. 
Altoona, Pa., December 7, 1857. 
B. Frank. Palmer, Esq.—Dear Sir:— * * * “With the 
hand I am peifectly satisfied. I can do every thing I expected to with 
it, and a great deal more ; indeed, almost anything. Every person 
who has seen it, thinks it surpasses anything of the kind ever before 
made, and I assuie you, Sir, I would not take ten times the amount 
it cost me, and do without it. * * * * 
“ Yours very truly, 
HENRY CARR. 
THIGH AMPUTATION. 
Ballston Spa, N. Y., July 9, 1858. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co. :—With the limb you manufactured for me I 
am highly pleased ; it in fact exceeds my highest anticipations. I 
have never yet seen anything in the line of artificial limbs which 
would compare with yours, either for ease, movement, mechanism, or 
beauty. I have had some little experience in the matter, having worn 
(or attempted to wear) one of the Anglesey Legs, which I consider not 
to be compared with the article you manufacture. I have now worn 
my limb nearly ten years, and experienced no inconvenience what- 
ever ; it being perfectly easy to the stump, and beautiful in all its 
movements, no person not acquainted with me would for a moment 
suppose I was walking on anything else than the limbs which nature 
provided. Thanking you cordially, gentlemen, for your kindness, I 
am, with esteem, Your obedient servant, 
PERRY BURNHAM. 
THIGH AMPUTATION. 
Bucksport, Maine, August 5, 1850. 
This certifies that I am now wearing one of B. F. Palmer’s Artificial 
Legs, which I have used since the first of March last past, and am 
constrained to say that I did not believe it (before the trial) in the 
power of man to make a limb so perfect. I have only four and a 
half inches of thigh from my body ; but with the above, leg,. I am 
enabled to walk with comfort and ease (with very little limp in my 
gait), and with all the natural motion of knee, ankle, and foot, to- 
gether with sound of step of the well and natural leg. I cheerfully 
make this public declaration. 
F NATHAN WHITE. 
Mr. L. MUNSELL, Artisan. 
This is to certify that I am now wearing one of B. F. Palmer’s arti- 
ficial limbs, which is far superior to any other article of the kind now 
in use. I have worn two substitutes previous to Mr.. P.’s, which were 
considered very good, but they will bear no comparison wit 1 ns. 
enables me to walk with perfect regularity. I take pleasure m recom- 
mending it to all who have occasion to wear an artificial limb. 
L. MUNSELL, 
In Cliickering’s Piano-Forte Establishment, Boston, U. S. 42 
THIGH AMPUTATION—Horace T. Cook, Esq., Attorney at Law. 
Auburn, N. Y., April 5, 1850. 
Gentlemen :—Your letter under date of the 3rd inst. has just been 
received, and in reply I will state that I have worn, since October, 
1849, a full length Artificial Limb made by you, and known as “ Pal- 
mer’s Patent.” Experience has proved it to be a good substitute for 
the natural limb ; it has, if anything, exceeded my expectations, and 
it comes nearer perfection than any artificial limb which has fallen 
under my observation. I give the artificial limb made by you the 
preference over all others, to those who apply to me for advice in 
such matters. 
You are permitted to use my name as a reference, and are at liberty 
to use this letter in any manner you wish. In haste. Yours truly, 
HORACE T. COOK. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co. 
J. M. CHESBROUGH, ESQ.—A distinguished business man. 
Whealfidd, Niagara Co., N. Y., Sept. 4, 1856. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co.—Gentlemen :—Some nine years past my left 
leg was amputated by Dr. Miller, of Providence, Rhode Island, four 
and a-half inches below the knee ;—four months from that day I left 
home to go to Meredith, N. H., to get one of your Patent Legs. About 
ten days after I was walking about as good as new (as my friends 
would say to me on meeting them). In some instances they would 
say, “ I am very glad to see that you have not lost your leg, as I heard 
you had.” More than one person has lived three months or more in 
my family and did not know I had lost a limb, and when they were 
told seemed very much surprised that it was possible to walk so well. 
I am now wearing the first leg I got. I have had one new socket, 
also, have a duplicate, but have not had occasion to use it much. I 
have never been sorry that I went to Meredith and obtained one of 
your Patent Legs. Yours, with respect, 
J. M. CHESBROUGH. 
AMPUTATION AT THE THIGH. 
Lowell, Mass., August 2, 1856. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co. :—I am every way satisfied with your limb. 
I am in the grocery business, and on my legs from morning till night. 
I get out of and into a wagon many times a day, in delivering goods 
to customers ; and can roll and lift barrels and boxes of goods in and 
out of the wagon and cellar. I have never walked with a cane. Con- 
sidering that I have a limb amputated above the knee, I think I have 
all I bargained for ; and I take pleasure in recommending your sub- 
stitute above all others. 
STEPHEN CASTLES, JR. 
CASE OF THIGH AMPUTATION.—(Little girl five years old.) 
Norwich, Cl., September 23, 1856. 
I)r Hudson—Dear Sir .‘—The leg you made for the little Daley girl 
is an admirable substitute for nature’s ; she runs, plays, and goes to 
school, and seems scarcely to realize her misfortune. Yours, etc., 
ED. BENTLEY, M.D. 43 
Rome, Oneida Co., March 28,1859. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co.—Gent:—I wish to express to all, who, like 
myself, have, been unfortunate, my unqualified conviction that Mr. 
Palmei s Artificial Leg is the best one extant. I have examined many 
ol the so called improved legs, and tried some, my leg having been 
amputated thirty-seven years. I have used one of yours during the 
past five .years, in standing and walking continually during each day. 
It has afforded me the highest satisfaction, and cannot be too highly 
recommended. I remain yours, 
WM. McPHEE. 
[3tu8 ber „£urn=3citung."] 
S3 e i Id e 53 e t n e ctbgelofl. 
SluSjug cuts einent Sriefe bon 2)1. Speterfon (129 britte ©trafje, SBifliamSburg, 91. ?).) an 
ben GentraLSorftanb bcS SturaerbunbeS (2Baff;ington, 2). (£.). 
. . . ,,@d?tiefjticl) bin id? ittt Stanfce, Gudj 91ad?ric$t ju geben in Setreff ber fiinftticfyen Seine, ioeltpe 
bon Dr. §ub f on nac§ palmer's patent (palmer ttnb Clomp., 378 Sroabtoap) fur unfern 
ungliitflicpett Smber 3. S3 a I f e r angefertigt toorben finb. Gr ift faljig, mit benfelben alle Se= 
toegungen ber natiirlicpen Seine ju macpen, !ann ofme .'piilfe eineS ©tocfeS gepen, nnb, toenn 
erforberlich, beittape tanjen. 2>ie freubigett ©efiiple S3 a I f e r ’ S finb nicpt ju befcpreiben. Gr ift auf 
eintnal toieber ein Slant:, nttb im ©tanbe, in ber 3ufunft fiir fid; felbft git forgen. . . . 
Gner trener 
$. 9)1. $eterfon." 
Extract of a Letter of J. S. ROBINSON, Esq. 
Corning, March 23, 1859. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co.— * * * * I must say that the 
leg you made for me is far superior to anything I have seen. I get 
about in my business with comfort, usefulness, and satisfaction. No 
one can appreciate the value of such a limb, save those who have 
lost the natural one, and been subjected to the use of crutches. The 
leg is yet good, though having been in constant use over four years. 
I remain yours truly, 
J. S. ROBINSON. 
Northampton, Mass., December, 1858. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co.—Gentlemen :—It is now nearly five years 
since I procured one of your Artificial Legs. The amputation ol my 
leg being below the knee, I was told that I could do almost, or 
quite as well with one of yours, as with my natural leg ! I did not 
then credit the statement, considering it overdrawn ; but the use and 
thorough trial of the limb, has since convinced me that the statements 
were very truthful. I am a carpenter and joiner by trade, and since 
I have worn your limb, I have always been able to perforin as much 
labor as any of my comrades. I can take my bunch of shingles, with 
perfect ease, to the roof of any building, as quickly as any one. * 
can, and often do, carry the heaviest timber-ends. In raising budd- 
ings some fifty feet in hight, I have frequently gone upon the ridge 
and nailed the rafters, when older and able-bodied men ha\ e si nun c 
from the task. I drove a team for several months, for Frary A Ban- 
nister, of Williamsburgh, Mass., and used to load and unload the 
bags of grain and corn, weighing one hundred and twelve pounds, 
taking the bags from the floor to the wagon. These statements 1 make, 
and without exaggeration, to inspire others who are in a like condi- 44 
tion, and also in justice to yourselves and the valuable invention, by 
which I am restored to my former activity and usefulness. 
I have seen other so called improved limbs, made by persons for- 
merly in your employ, who try to get a name therefrom, and to palm 
off an inferior compilation of tenon and mortise limbs, and others, 
with Palmer’s exterior to hide the fact, and their lack of originality, 
with pain ; feeling that the misfortune of losing a leg should suffice 
without any such additional imposition. We, who have tested Artifi- 
cial Limbs by hard toil, can well judge of their merits. I have worked 
side by side with men in the workshop, who for months knew not that 
I had any other than natural feet. I find your limbs to be strong and 
durable, capable of enduring heavy labor and strain. I have not paid 
a dollar for repairs during the four years I have had the limb. “ A 
good artificial limb is cheap at any price, truly, arid a poor one is dear 
at any price.” I remain yours for artificial legs, 
W. W. LE BARRON. 
LADIES’ CORRESPONDENCE AND MONOGRAPHS. 
[published by permission.] 
From Mrs. Wm. H. Richardson, Jr., daughter of the late lion. Wm. Barrett, of 
Malden, Mass. 
Dr. B. Frank. Palmer.—Dear Sir:—Many years have elapsed since 
I was first induced to avail myself of the use of your wonderful In- 
vention. It is with unfeigned satisfaction and heartfelt gratitude that 
I embrace this opportunity to give you the result of my experience in 
the use of your artificial limb. In the Winter of 1846, I was obliged 
to submit to the amputation of my left limb, above the knee-joint. 
You were then a “ youth, to fortune and to fame unknown.” I sup- 
posed I should be obliged to plod my weary way through the world 
upon the uncomfortable crutch. The prospect was, indeed, dark and 
desolate. My husband and friends were unceasing in their efforts to 
procure for me a substitute. At length we heard of an Artificial Leg 
manufacturer, whose mechanism was highly recommended. He was 
sent for, grievously was I disappointed. But now, a new light appeared 
from the distant hills of New Hampshire. It was, indeed, a “Star 
of Hope.” The fame of your excellent mechanism had reached Bos- 
ton ; and although a very few had been made by you, still enough 
was developed to convince those who had witnessed the almost mar- 
velous operation of your Artificial Limbs, that a new era in that 
branch of science had dawned. We speedily procured one for my use. 
For nearly nine years I wore the first limb you made for me, and not 
until within a few months have I been induced to order a duplicate ; 
and even now a very slight expense will put it in such repair as will 
enable me to continue its use for years longer. Durability, lightness, 
anatomical beauty and naturalness of motion, are the crowning excel- 
lencies of your Invention. I walk everywhere, and am frequently 
complimented for the ease and naturalness with which I walk. Permit 
me, in closing, to congratulate you upon your well-won honors and 
your world-wide fame. Only those who have passed through the 
severe ordeal can fully appreciate the priceless value of your Inven- 
tion. Without it, life would indeed be “a waste of wearisome hours.” 45 
Wtih it, I feel that my loss, although among the greatest of afflictions, 
is shorn of its most trying features through your providential skill 
and genius. 
Long may you live to carry hope to the heart of the unfortunate 
and joy to the desponding. With assurances of high appreciation, 
I am, my dear sir, gratefully yours, 
AUGUSTA M. RICHARDSON. 
FROM MISS M. COX. 
New York, August, 1859. 
Dr. E. D. Hudson.—The perfect satisfaction with which I have 
thoroughly tested, for four successive years, your invaluable Artifi- 
cial Limb, convinces me that I am depriving you of your just 
desert, and doing the suffering community injustice by wrapping its 
appurtenances in the mantle of self. You will forgive unintentional 
neglect however, when I add, that while miracles of mechanical inven- 
tion crowd upon me, and I cast a thought over the whole field of sci- 
entific mechanical improvement taught by the consequences of my 
affliction, I truly feel that in application to human wants, as well as 
the facilities and comfort given to man—Mr. Palmer’s invention stands 
preeminent, and that its symmetry of form, its finish, life-like action, 
and natural appearance, are rivaled only by its utility. 
Gratefully to express, dear sir, the various deep sensations which 
swell my heart, would be to extol in strains of loftiest panegyric ; 
with me despair no longer claims affinity. Taking a review of the 
peculiarities and disadvantages of my own case, I shall ever hold in 
proud and grateful remembrance your untiring energy, intrepidity, 
kind attention, and generous sympathies ; and to all who like me have 
been suddenly plunged into the depths of misfortune cannot say more 
than that I stand a living monument of the triumphant success of 
your efforts. Proud of this, my particular prosperity (yet never for 
a moment losing sight of the draught in sorrow’s cup), I will always 
feel it incumbent on me cheerfully to impart to those who pause upon 
the brink of doubt, all of my experience relative to the efficacy, action, 
and practical results of this redeeming power ; assuring them that 
the most sanguine expectations will be fully realized. 
Heath, Mass., February 26,1853. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co. :—Agreeably to promise, I will now inform 
you concerning the Artificial Leg you made for me. I have never 
been sorry that I exchanged my useless limb and crutch foi one of 
your limbs.* I like it very much, and have given it a pietty thorough 
trial in the constant use I have made of it during the twenty-two 
months since I had it adjusted. I taught school live months last 
year, and walked to and from my boarding place, hall a mile, and 
church and back, one mile, and the same distance and farther as olten 
as I pleased, without fatigue. My friends, who opposed the operation 
and application of an artificial limb, are not only happily disappoint- 
ed but rejoice with me in my very natural and highly satisfactory 
outgoings and incomings with two good limbs, though one is artifa- 
cial‘ Yours very gratefully, LlJCRETIA KENDRICK. 
* Amputation submitted to for au artificial limb. 46 
Buffalo, N. Y., August 21, 1852. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co. :—I wish to inform you of the invaluable 
blessing you have conferred upon me by your artificial limb. Prior to 
last May, I had never been able to walk on two limbs ; one having 
been useless from infancy.* I submitted to amputation that I might 
avail myself of one of your artificial limbs, and now I find myself 
blest with two natural-appearing and operating limbs, with which I 
walk, labor, and appear as if both were truly natural. No one not cog- 
nizant of the fact would suspect that I am in the use of an artificial 
limb. I have no wrords with which to express my joy and gratitude, 
both for the limb and to you, for your great kindness to me. 
I am yours with the greatest esteem for your work’s sake, 
ELIZABETH MOORE. 
Perry, Schuyler County, N. Y., August 8, 1856. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co. With reference to my Artificial Limb, it 
pleases me to inform you that, on my arrival at home, my parents and 
friends were completely overjoyed to see me walking so naturally. It 
was far beyond anything they ever anticipated. I have worn it daily, 
and have experienced no inconvenience whatever. Just one week 
from the day I put it on, I walked over half a mile in Syracuse, and, 
although somewhat fatigued, was not much more so than I have fre- 
quently been in the use of my natural feet; I can ascend and descend 
a pair of stairs with perfect ease, alternately using them. What a 
blessing it is to suffering mankind. Gladly will I do all in my power 
to relieve those who are so afflicted as to lose a limb. 
Yours with much esteem, 
MARY E. HOAG. 
Newbury, Vt., July 8, 1856. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co. :—Ten years of experimental knowledge have 
furnished me with indubitable proofs that the merit of “ Palmer’s 
Patent Limb” cannot be exaggerated, or its superiority over all 
others now in use questioned. Previous to possessing it, I wore 
several manufactured at different places, but they were so cumber- 
some, so unnatural in their movements, that the effort required to 
wear them seriously impaired my health, and I seemed doomed, in 
their use, either to an early grave, or a life of comparative retirement. 
When I heard of “ Palmer’s Patent Limb,” I resolved to try again, and 
my highest hopes have been more than realized in its use. Art seems 
to have perfected herself in this substitute for Nature’s own, so perfect 
in symmetry and natural in its movements, that strangers, and even 
surgeons, seldom detect it. I have made many an excursion in com- 
pany, and am proud to say that in ascending mountains I was among 
the first to reach the summit, never hesitating, however rugged a 
path, if accessible to others, and performing with perfect ease the 
duties that devolve upon any one in active life. I confidently recom- 
mend it to all who may be in need of such aid, believing they will in 
no case fail of receiving perfect satisfaction. Yours respectfully, 
SARAH J. OWEN. 
* Amputation submitted to for an artificial limb. Lowell, Mass., August 4,1856. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co. :—I have the greatest pleasure in testifying 
my heartiest approval of the limb you made for me some time since. 
1 have used it months, and in that space of time have had ample 
opportunity of testing its capability, and can assure you it has proved 
successful far beyond my sanguine expectations. I walk with perfect 
ease, and the utmost reliability, and think I have a great many years 
of life, health, and usefulness, to attribute to your beautiful and 
philanthropic invention, for with it I suffer but very little from the 
loss of my natuial limb. I hope all who have been alike afflicted will 
avail themselves of your invention, for it needs but a trial to make 
one decidedly pleased with it. With sentiments of the highest respect, 
I remain yours very gratefully, 
AGNES WINNER. 
West Newton, September 11,1856. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co.—It gives me pleasure to inform you 
of the satisfaction I have experienced from the use of my artificial 
limb. No one except a person who has been similarly afflicted, can 
tell how we poor cripples rejoice over the fact that we can have our 
loss so well compensated by the ingenuity of man. 
Thus far, my limb has served me well, and I look forward with a 
pleasing hope into the future. Yours, truly, 
SARAH R. BASSETT. 
THIGH AMPUTATION. 
Waltham, Mass., September 8,1856. 
Messrs. Palmer & Co.—Sirs:—It is with great pleasure I inform 
you that, so far, my daughter’s leg has more than realized our 
expectations. She is enabled to walk with perfect ease and comfort, 
seldom using a cane, and to wear it all the day most wonderfully 
without pain. Permit me to offer my sincere thanks for the beautiful 
and useful limb, and the sympathy shown the little girl * while she 
was with you to have it fitted. I subscribe myself yours, 
MRS. G. HAYNES. 
NEW YORK STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
In addition to all of the ordinary honors conferred by this Institute, 
upon Mr. Palmer’s Leg', the following extraordinary award was made 
by its President and Executive Committee, to wit: 
EXTRACT OF A SPEECH 
Bii Hon. J. Delafield, President of the New York A. Society, upon presenting the 
Gold Medal to B. Frank. Palmer, in 1851. 
And now we turn from thoughts soothing and pleasurable to an ob- 
ject—important, ’tis true—an object foreign to the eye of most who 
are here present; an object, the sight of which carries a chill to the 
heart, beating back the warm blood ; an object which I have no ability 
to treat with the encomium due to its merits. 
It has been said that the medical profession is “ a melancholy atten- 
dance on misery.” There is another class of men alive to human woe, 
whose skill in mechanism entitles them to rank among the benefac- 
* Eleven years of age. 48 
tors of their race, and by the happy application of that skill, pointing 
to a position having a connecting link with those men (physicians and 
surgeons), whose habits lead preeminently to the indulgence of deep 
and comprehensive thought. 
These remarks, thus connected, are brought to mind by the award 
of a Prize Medal by the Royal Commissioners of the World’s Fair to 
our countryman, Mr. B. F. Palmer, for an Artificial Limb—a work of 
art approaching (as I am informed), a symmetry of form equal to the 
models of ancient or modern sculpture, possessing, as a mechanism, 
a beauty of action and a finish hitherto unapproached, and as an ob- 
ject of utility to be appreciated as it deserves only by those who need 
the aid of this ingenious work. 
To you, Mr. Palmer, we have the satisfaction of presenting the Gold 
Medal of this Society, as a testimony of your skill, and your benevo- 
lence to man—for their successful application in alleviating misfor- 
tune and restoring comfort and usefulness to suffering humanity. 
PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS TO 
PERSONS WISHING TO PURCHASE LIMBS. 
As free and perfect action of the stump as is possible should be ob- 
tained ; a joint never should be allowed to remain flexed or semi- 
flexed if it can be avoided. 
The stump should be bandaged tightly, to compress and solidify the 
cellular substance and adapt the shape to a conical socket. 
To avoid an unnecessary journey to us, and detention, write, stating 
the nature of the case clearly and minutely, and await an answer. A 
Blank for measurement will be sent, with full instructions regarding 
the application of the leg or arm. 
TO THE LADIES. 
References concerning the limb will be furnished to any lady desir- 
ing information. More than five hundred ladies, in different parts of 
the country, are now wearing this Limb. 
HOW TO DIRECT-PATENT RIGHT. 
The Right to manufacture Palmer’s Patent Leg and Arm in the States 
of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con- 
necticut, and New York ; also, in Canada East, and Nova Scotia, is 
owned by Messrs. Palmer & Co. All persons who reside permanently 
in either of those States, or countries, (and no others,) must apply to 
Messrs. Palmer & Co. 
The Patent Right for all other portions of the United States, also, 
Canada West, the West Indies, Great Britain, France, etc., is owned 
by the Inventor, whose Office is located at No. 1320 Chestnut Street, 
Philadelphia, where all applications (except from the places above 
mentioned) must be directed, and the limbs manufactured. No 
departure from this rule is allowed. 
Communications answered without charge. 
Address, PALMER & CO., 
318 Broadway, New York, or 19 Green St., Boston. 
B. F. Palmer. 
E. D. Hudson, M.D. 
W. II. Richardson, Jr.