12 HORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING. 



and had attained a comparativ^ely advanced state of civil- 

 ization, in which the horse played no insignificant part, yet 

 in the absence of this craft, even with their favourable 

 climate and soil, the use of this animal must have been but 

 limited, compared to what it is in our own days. It is 

 only when we reach the period in which the ancient Greeks 

 begin to figure in history, that doubts and inquiries arise 

 among modern investigators with regard to a real iron or 

 other metal shoe being employed ; and for nearly two 

 hundred years, various writers have spared neither time 

 nor patience in attempting to arrive at some definite con- 

 clusion as to whether or not the Greeks and Romans were 

 cognisant of this art, or at what period it first became 

 known. 



With the spread of civ^ilization, the demands upon the 

 services of the horse became, doubtless, very much ex- 

 tended ; and the diversity of climate, as well as of races, 

 would lead one to suppose that greater wear and modifica- 

 tions, more or less wrought in the nature and consistency 

 of the hoof, must at an early period have rendered some 

 kind of defence absolutely necessary ; and that this again 

 would be mentioned in the writings of men who largely 

 devoted their attention to the welfare of this animal. 

 Nev^ertheless, the antiquity of shoeing, notwithstanding the 

 well-directed labours of many learned men, is yet a subject 

 admitting of considerable diversity of opinion, simply be- 

 cause of the absence of written documents, or records of a 

 positive character, by which this art could be traced to its 

 origin in any particular part of the world.' True, there 



' Among the principal writers who have occupied themselves in this 

 investigation may be mentioned the following : — 



