Historical development of lower-extremity prostheses.

In studying the history of the construction of artificial limbs to sub­ stitute for lost legs, which has been transmitted to us by written words, objects of art and handicraft, objects found in excavations, and so forth, and learning of the development of the artificial leg through the centuries, one gains knowledge of the foundation on which modern prosthetics is based. Such an historical review, furthermore, permits one to appreciate what modern scientific prosthetics and rehabilitation have accomplished to date for the limbless.