628 HORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING. 



of the nails are also round, and the shoe is light. This 

 analogy, says Megnin, gives rise to the conviction that 

 with the Gauls, the Gallo-Romans, the Greeks of the 

 lower Empire, as well as with the Arabs of now-a-days, the 

 horses' feet were scarcely pared ; that they were as fre- 

 quently without shoes as with them, and that the dete- 

 riorations of the horny case, and the infirmities of the 

 inferior extremity of the limbs, were unknown to them. 



The settlement of certain Germanic races in France 

 and Britain after the departure of the Romans, and the ex- 

 tension of their rule, caused the gradual substitution of the 

 German for the Celtic method of shoeing. Instead of 

 the narrow shoes, with the flat upper surface and undu- 

 lated border, heavier plates with a wider surface, and con- 

 cave towards the sole of the foot, began to be introduced, 

 and, adds M. Megnin, at this period the houtoir, or ' but- 

 tress,' commenced its functions, and reckless paring of the 

 hoofs began/ From this time up to the present, this at- 

 tendant curse of shoeing has prevailed. Ctesar Fiaschi, one 

 of the earliest writers on farriery, gives us a long catalogue 

 of foot diseases, directly or indirectly due to paring, and he, 

 and all enlightened men who have succeeded him, and who 

 have written on this subject, have protested against this 

 wanton destruction and unmitigated cruelty. Whenever 

 the sole began to be pared, the heels opened, and the frog 

 mutilated, it became necessary to adopt shoes with the 

 foot surface concave ; no pressure could he borne by 

 those parts which had been deprived of their natural pro- 

 tection.- Therefore were the shoes dished — made like a 



' It iinist nol be forgotten that in the ancient laws of Wales a 

 paring-knife is mentioned, as well as a 'groover' for the nail-holes. 



