Volume 1

Report of the Surgeon-General of the Army to the Secretary of War for the fiscal year ending.

  • United States. Surgeon-General's Office.
Date:
[1800s-1952?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Report of the Surgeon-General of the Army to the Secretary of War for the fiscal year ending. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    491/890 (page 11)
    The artificial leg is sho^ra by the ^^^^^.'^[^l^il^^;^^ much more practical value than the arni. Ot bi eases of loss of the leg the limb in kind was called for in 4,421, the monev equiv^'^^^^^^ in 15,703, or in 21.9 and 78.1 per cent respectively At fiTst St it would seen from these statistics that the allowance ot 4 aruL Si leg^ every five years is largely in excess of the needs o?Se mahne'cf soldiers, since so' many elected ^ receive the m^^^^^^^ value rather than the limb; but it must be remembered that m many :.i L' m:account of conditions of the stump, a leg can not be woni, and that imfortunately the financial circumstances of many of the old sol- diei^ are^s^^^^ as to prevent them from accepting the expensive luxury of an artificial leg when its acceptance would cause ^^^m the loss ot the S75 dollars which they would otherwise obtain. Although the names of 5,134 men crippled by amputation are on the rolls, only 4,4.1 artificial leo-s were used during the whole period of twenty years. Hence from these statistics nothing can be gathered concerning the durability of an artificial leg. The manufacturers are under bonds to fiiruish good and satisfactory limbs without extra charge to the soldier, and to make good for five years all defects of material or workmanship without additional charge, subject in all cases to the inspection of such persons as the Surgeon-General may designate; and it must be said to their credit that this ofdce is unaware of any failure on their part in this respect. The care exercised in the manufacture and fitting is such that a complaint of misfit, discomfort, poor workmanship, or inferior materials is hardly known in connection with this service. In amputations of the foot 560 certificates were issued, 24 for the artificial foot and 536 for its money value, $50—4.3 and 95.7 per cent respectively. _ ^, „ ... There were 16,410 certificates issued m cases of loss ot use ot the arm. Few of these were susceptible of benefit by surgical apparatus, only 34 such having been recorded in the twenty years. Commutation was paid in 16,376 cases. Similarly, in loss of use of the leg, benefit was derived from apparatus in only 49 cases while commutation was paid in 11,087. ARMY MEDICAL MUSEUM. The number of specimens received during the fiscal year was 087; total number of specimens in the museum June 30, 1802, 31,228. Tlie following statement shows the additions to the different sections: Pathological section: ■ In miisenin .Jnne 30, 1891 If*' 1^0 Received during the year ^^'^ In museum June 30, 1892 10,30 Anatomical section: In museum June 30, 1891 3, 315 Received during the year - 96 In museum Juno 30,1892 3,411 Section of comparative anatomy: In museum June 30, 1891 1, 717 Received during the year 0 Til iini«'Miiti Jiino ;^0. 1,717