Page:Horse shoes and horse shoeing.djvu/332

304 have been found others which are distinguished by a singular form, and which we may designate hipposandals or "hippopodes pathologiques." The base of these shoes is oval in shape, and in some there is an opening in the middle. On each side, and near the front part, there is a clip (rebord) furnished with a round ear, and another rebord at the heel is terminated by a hook turned towards the ground. These shoes (ƒers) were attached by means of straps, which passed through the two ears and under the hook behind. It appears that it was made use of when the hoof was diseased or worn by journeying, particularly in mountainous countries. Such at least is the opinion of distinguished veterinary surgeons who have examined these shoes.' M, Namur then quotes the evidence of Fischer, who alludes to the writer in the 'United Service Gazette' we have already noticed, in saying: 'These shoes present much resemblance with the ancient shoes of Lycia,' &c.: showing how error is perpetuated and spread. We have no evidence to prove that horse-shoes were ever worn in Lycia; the resemblance of the Triquetra on a Lycian coin, to a shoe, was merely the fancy of a writer full of surmises and conjectures. Namur continues: 'The use of shoes and straps (ƒers à courroies) is evidently much anterior to that of the nailed shoes.' Then reference is made to the new discovery. 'The excavations at Dalheim in 1854-5 have furnished two additional specimens. One, with clips, differs from those I have described, in that there is no hook behind. There is only a rebord pierced with two holes, in which are two oxidized nails with flat heads (fig. 115). The other specimen differs most essentially from