Kempner improved artificial leg

History

A device of this name was sold by the surgical instrument suppliers Arnold & Sons in the 1870s. Versions of the device for above- and below-the-knee amputees were sold for between 10 pounds and 10 shillings to 21 pounds. This was a substantial amount of money at the time. The description of the device on the card comes directly from the real advertisement that appeared in Arnold & Sons’ 1879 catalogue. For more on sophisticated prosthetics such as the Kempner leg, see chapter 4 of Ryan Sweet’s free 2022 book Prosthetic Body Parts in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture.