Page:Horse shoes and horse shoeing.djvu/326

 CHAPTER VII.

connection with the archæological discoveries which have enabled us to fix, approximately, the period when shoeing was first introduced into, or practised in, Europe, I have deferred alluding, until now, to another matter which has excited much interest among antiquarians; this is the discovery of what are generally termed 'hipposandals'—objects in iron, of somewhat different shapes, but all apparently designed for the same purpose. In various museums in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Britain, these curious-looking instruments are exhibited under the designation of  'hipposandals,'  or  'soleæ ferreæ,'  owing to its being supposed,—because the Romans did not employ nailed-shoes, and these articles usually