302 HORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING. 



quently the three models are collected on the same site, 

 and at the same depth, and with them have also been 

 found the usual Gallo- or Romano-Celtic horse-shoes. 

 Antiquarians have been greatly puzzled how to designate 

 them ; for some time they were stands or supports for 

 lamps ; afterwards they were stirrups ; and then they 

 figure as temporary shoes or sandals for horses with 

 diseased or hoof-worn feet ; as slippers that the Romans 

 have strapped on their horses' limbs at night after long 

 journeys ; and as real defences for ordinary work — a step 

 in advance of the sock with its "metal sole ; and lastly, as 

 busandals, or bullock-slippers. 



As the subject is one of more than ordinary interest, 

 on account of the various hypotheses raised, and from 

 the fact that these articles are now becoming somewhat 

 common in museums, where they are duly labelled 

 ' Hipposandals,' we will glance at the description and 

 probable uses of some of them at least. 



Dalheim affords a good instance of a locality in which 

 all three forms have been discovered, accompanied by 

 Roman remains of every description, as well as the ordin- 

 ary nailed horse-shoe. In the first report from Professor 

 Namur,' amongst other relics, he mentions having dug 

 up several ordinary horse-shoes, and beside them were 

 five pathological shoes. The latter are described as having 

 their base oval, with a hole in the middle, and on each 

 side towards the front a clip i^ inches high, ending 

 in a hook-like process. Behind was a prolongation, also 

 terminating in a hook. These strange articles were sub- 



' Public, de la Soc. "pour le Recher. des Monumens Luxembourg, 

 vol. vii. 



