“Man has, as it were, become a kind of prosthetic God. When he puts on all his auxiliary organs, he is truly magnificent; but those organs have not grown on him and they still give him much trouble at times.” – Sigmund Freud (founder of the discipline of psychoanalysis). The American Civil War (1861-1865) marked the first example of modern warfare, and the post-war industrial revolution began the age of entreprenuership. It was fuelled by the ‘Great Civil War Benefaction' by the US Government that fuelled competition by providing prostheses to veterans. This was a government's first commitment to supply prostheses to veterans and whose support plays a major role to this day. New designs of prostheses were constantly being made. Extraordinary claims were made in the name of attracting business and veterans' money. Many of the ideas were only superior in a select number of patient cases. No real systematic prosthetic prescription was as yet devised. There were a great many amputations (30,000 in the Union Army). In 1862 the government guaranteed prostheses for veterans who lost limbs in the war. A southern soldier, J.E. Hanger, who lost his leg in 1861, replaced the catgut tendons of the American leg with rubber bumpers to control dorsiflexion and plantarflexion, and he used the plug fit wood socket. He then opened a clinic in Richmond, Virginia. Later, the rubber foot, the forerunner of the SACH foot, came into use and eliminated the complicated articulated ankle of the Bly leg. In 1863 Dubois D. Parmlee invented an advanced prosthesis that had a suction socket, polycentric knee, and multiarticulated foot. In 1868 Dr August Gustav Hermann of Prague suggested using aluminum instead of steel. In 1885 Heather Bigg wrote a pioneering textbook on amputations and prostheses. In it he details instructions to place the knee joint of the prosthesis posterior to the anatomical knee centre and emphasises the need for correct alignment. During that time, with government money a great many ‘clinics' opened. By 1917 there were about 200 clinics and 2000 skilled workmen. Many extraordinary claims were made at this time such as the Bly leg. Many of the manufacturers were amputees themselves and thought their inventions were a cure all. But in reality, they fit only themselves and a select patient group. The Civil War had affected the history of Prosthetics. For the first time, US federal and state governments paid for prosthetic devices for war veterans to return to independent lives, and companies begin to supply limbs made from wood, metal, and leather. Dear Egyptian Mail readers, Your comments and/or contributions are welcome. We promise to publish whatever is deemed publishable at the end of each series of articles. [email protected]
