68 HORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING. 



contrivance, secured round the pastern or fetlock with 

 straps or thongs, we may refer to the writings of Roman 

 and Greek hippiatrists, who testify to their nature and 

 uses in several instances, and in a more or less explicit 

 manner. 



Columella, the agricultural writer already noticed, and 

 who lived near the time of Augustus, prescribes a shoe or 

 sandal of broom, or wicker-work, for lame oxen, though 

 not for ordinary wear, but only as a surgical appliance, 

 under the designation of solen spartea. Speaking of 

 cattle that had become crippled in the limbs, he says 

 that if it be low down, or in the hoofs, ' you should make 

 a small opening between the digits with a knife, and after- 

 wards apply soft bandages steeped in salt and vinegar; 

 then have the foot covered with a shoe of spartea, let 

 there be great caution exercised to avoid wet, and keep 

 the stable very dry.' ' 



Theomnestus, a Greek veterinarian of the Byzantine 

 empire, of whom extremely little is known, save what 

 is to be casually gleaned from his vivacious writings, but 

 who is supposed to have lived in the 6th century, speaks 

 about excessive abrasion of the hoofs, and the a]:)plication 

 of this rush or wicker slipper. ' If a horse is much ivorn in 

 the hoofs by travelling, and is then neglected, he becomes 

 feverish, and is soon destroyed by the fever if not attended 

 to. To prevent this, you must use warm water in which 

 the roots of althaea or wild mallows have been boiled, and 



' De Re Rust, lib. ii. p. 27. 'At si jam in ungulis est, inter duos 

 ungues cultello leviter aperies, postea linamenta sale atque aceto imbuta 

 applicantur, ac solea spartea pes induitur, maximeque datur opera ne in 

 aquam pedem mittat, et sicce stabuletur.' 



