{{Short description|Leg prosthesis}} {{other uses}} {{redirect|Wooden leg|the Cheyenne warrior|Wooden Leg}} [[Image:MWP Sowinski.JPG|thumb|right|Peg leg of Józef Sowiński]] A '''peg leg''' is a prosthesis, or artificial limb, fitted to the remaining stump of a human leg, especially a wooden one fitted at the knee.<ref>{{cite web |title=Peg leg |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/peg-leg |website=Cambridge Dictionary |access-date=16 December 2023}}</ref> Its use dates to antiquity.<ref>Cantos, Mae (2005) [https://www.ucalgary.ca/uofc/Others/HOM/Proceedings%202005.pdf#page=28 "Pirates & Peg Legs: a Historical Look at Amputation and Prosthetics"] ''In:'' Whitelaw, William A. (2005) (editor) ''Proceedings of the 14h Annual History of Medicine Days'' Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, pp. 16–20, {{OCLC|225558769}}, page 16</ref>
==History== By the late 19th century, prosthetics vendors offered peg legs as cheaper alternatives to the intricate, lifelike artificial legs available at that time.<ref name=marks>{{citation |first=George Edwin |last=Marks |publisher=A. A. Marks |year=1888 |title=A Treatise on Marks' patent artificial limbs with rubber hands and feet |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=nh0x_03RfgwC&pg=PA47 |page=47}}</ref> Even as these vendors touted the advantages of more complicated prostheses over simple peg legs,<ref name=marks/> according to a contemporary surgeon, many patients found peg legs more comfortable for walking.<ref>{{citation |first=Hermann |last=Tillmanns|editor-first=Lewis Atterbury |editor-last=Stimson |publisher=D. Appleton and company |year=1895 |title=Title The principles of surgery and surgical pathology: general rules governing operations and the application of dressings |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=BP41AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA128 |page=128}}</ref> According to medical reports, some amputees adapted so well to using a peg leg that they could walk 10 or even 30 miles in one day.<ref>{{citation |first=Thomas Pridgin |last=Teale |year=1858 |title=On amputation by a long and a short rectangular flap |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=fB4DAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA31 |pages=29, 31 }}</ref>
Nowadays, wooden peg legs have been replaced by more modern materials, although some sports prostheses still maintain the same form.<ref>Clarke, Carl D. (1965) ''Prosthetics'' Standard Arts Press, Butler, Maryland, {{OCLC|5083790}}, page 182</ref>
==Notable peg leg wearers== * François Le Clerc (died 1563), privateer * Cornelis Jol, (1597–1641), privateer and Dutch West India Company admiral * Peter Stuyvesant (1612–1672), Dutch Director-General of New Amsterdam<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/B/stuyvesant/stuyvesant.htm |title="...he lost his leg at Saint Martin.." |access-date=2012-02-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110312050908/http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/B/stuyvesant/stuyvesant.htm |archive-date=2011-03-12 |url-status=dead }}</ref> * Blas de Lezo (1687–1741), Spanish admiral * Gouverneur Morris (1752–1816), American politician * Brook Watson (1735–1807), Lord Mayor of London * Pierre Daumesnil (1776–1832), French general * Józef Sowiński (1777–1831), Polish General * Billy Waters (1778–1823), aka Black Billy, former African American slave, then sailor in the British Navy until he became an amputee. Also, a prolific busker merit. * Vuk Karadžić (1787–1864), Serbian linguist * Thomas L. Smith (1801–1866), American mountain man * Albert Chmielowski (1845–1916), Polish artist, founder of the Albertine Brothers and Sisters, saint of the Catholic Church * Robert McAlpin Williamson (1804?–1859), nicknamed "Three-legged Willie", Republic of Texas Supreme Court Justice, state lawmaker, and Texas Ranger * Kushibiki Yumindo (1859?–1924), Japanese impresario * Peg Leg Bates (1907–1998), dancer * Peg Leg Sam (Arthur Jackson) (1911–1977), American blues musician * Bill Veeck (1914–1986), American baseball executive * Joe "Pegleg" Morgan (1929–1993), the first non-Hispanic member of the Mexican Mafia, an American criminal organization
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== ===Books=== * Murdoch, George and Wilson, A. Bennett (1998) ''A primer on amputations and artificial limbs'' C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, {{ISBN|0-398-06800-3}} * Pitkin, Mark R. (2009) ''Biomechanics of Lower Limb Prosthetics'' Springer verlag, New York, {{ISBN|978-3-642-03015-4}} * Seymour, Ron (2002) ''Prosthetics and orthotics: lower limb and spinal'' Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, {{ISBN|0-7817-2854-1}} * Warren, D. W. (2001) ''James Gillingham: surgical mechanist & manufacturer of artificial limbs'' Somerset Industrial Archaeology Society, Taunton, England, {{ISBN|0-9533539-5-8}}
===Articles=== * {{cite book|doi=10.1515/9783110809008-009|chapter=Prosthetics in Classical Antiquity: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Prosthetics|title=Philosophie, Wissenschaften, Technik. Wissenschaften (Medizin und Biologie [Forts.])|year=1996|last1=Bliquez|first1=Lawrence J.|editor1-first=Wolfgang |editor1-last=Haase |isbn=9783110809008}} * Cantos, Mae (2005) [https://www.ucalgary.ca/uofc/Others/HOM/Proceedings%202005.pdf#page=28 "Pirates & Peg Legs: a Historical Look at Amputation and Prosthetics"] ''In:'' Whitelaw, William A. (2005) (editor) ''Proceedings of the 14h Annual History of Medicine Days'' Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, pp. 16–20, {{OCLC|225558769}} * {{cite journal|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60190-6|pmid=21341402|title=The ancient origins of prosthetic medicine|journal=The Lancet|volume=377|issue=9765|pages=548–549|year=2011|last1=Finch|first1=Jacqueline|s2cid=42637892 |doi-access=free}} * {{cite journal|doi=10.1177/000331978703800207|pmid=3548491|title=Acquired Amputation and Prostheses Before the Sixteenth Century|journal=Angiology|volume=38|issue=2|pages=133–141|year=1987|last1=Padula|first1=Patricia A.|last2=Friedmann|first2=Lawrence W.|s2cid=37784673 }} * Reeves, Nicholas (1999) "New lights on ancient Egyptian prosthetic medicine" In: Davies, W. V. (editor) (1999) Studies in Egyptian Antiquities. A Tribute to T.G.H. James British Museum Press, London, pp. 73–77, {{ISBN|0-86159-123-2}} * {{cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.1445-2197.2007.04330.x|pmid=17973673|title=Paré and Prosthetics: The Early History of Artificial Limbs|journal=ANZ Journal of Surgery|volume=77|issue=12|pages=1114–1119|year=2007|last1=Thurston|first1=Alan J.|s2cid=10255728 |doi-access=free}} * Wilson, Philip D. (1922) [http://www.ejbjs.org/cgi/reprint/4/2/224.pdf "Early weight-bearing in the treatment of amputations of the lower limbs"]{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} ''The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery'' 4: pp. 224–247
Category:Prosthetics Category:Foot Category:History of medicine Category:Maritime culture