SHOES^ OF SPANISH BROOM. 71 



several times alludes to the soiece spartcpci, or shoes of Span- 

 ish broom, particularly for the ox when foot-sore, or when 

 disease was present ; and to show that this animal some- 

 times wore this, or something analogous, when travelling or 

 at work, he writes : ' If the sock has hurt his pastern or 

 hoof, wrap up hard pitch and hog's lard,' etc. 'But if 

 the sock has entered into it, the sea-lettuce, which the 

 Greeks call Tithymallos, mixed with salt, is put upon it. 

 Also wdien his feet are worn and bruised underneath, they 

 are washed wdth ox's urine made w^arm ; then he is forced 

 to tread upon the burning-hot embers of vine twigs, and 

 his hoofs are anointed with tar, together with oil and hog's 

 lard. Nevertheless, they do not go so lame if, when they 

 are unyoked from their work, their hoofs be washed with 

 cold water, and their pasterns and coronets, as well as the 

 cleft of the hoof itself, be rubbed with old hog's lard.' 

 ' If he has trodden upon a nail, or pierced his hoof with a 

 sharp tile or stone .... Then having a shoe of Spanish 

 broom put upon it for the space of three days,'' etc. 



With regard to the horse, we often find the words 

 ' animal calciabis,' ' calciatis pedibus per multos dies ;' and 

 when describing the treatment for a horse that has bruised 

 or inflamed his foot, he finishes by adding, ' you shall take 

 care to put a shoe of Spanish broom upon it, that, after 

 the evacuation of the humours, the hoof may be repaired.'^ 

 (Sparcia calciare curaHs, ut post egestione liumore iingula 

 reparetur.) 



From this veterinarian, then, we might be led to think 

 that the Romans did not generally shoe their horses, mules, 

 or oxen ; and that when they were impelled to do so from 

 ' Lib. iii. cap. i. "^ Lib. i. cap. 26. 



