474 
THE VETERINARIAN, AUGUST 1, 1854. 
Ne quid falsi dicere audeat, ne quid veri non audeat. — Cicero. 
THE HORSE-SANDAL IMPROVED. 
The sandal, the invention of Mr. Percivall four and 
twenty years ago, has recently undergone improvement of a 
kind which, now that it is made, appears so obvious and 
simple, that the only surprise is, it should so long have 
remained in the comparatively ineffective condition in which 
it was originally constructed. Passing, one day, by a shop 
where caoutchouc and gutta percha articles were exposed in 
the window for sale, the sight struck the inventor with a 
notion that caoutchouc, with or without gutta percha, might 
possibly be made available for his sandal, in attaching it to 
the foot in a readier and firmer manner than was done by 
the web-straps and buckles and pads before employed for that 
purpose. A yard of vulcanised India-rubber, of the width 
of strapping, was forthwith purchased, and experiment made 
with it, which resulted in the expediency there seemed to be of 
having the ends of the caoutchouc united so as to form an end- 
less or circular land ; this was, at first, effected by splicing with 
w r ax-end ; afterwards, in a neater and more effectual manner, 
by copper rivets ; though, still, the contrivance did not pos- 
sess to the eye that compactness and neatness which was 
desirable, and into which it appeared quite susceptible of 
being converted. The caoutchouc manufacturer was con- 
sulted, and he at once brought forth an endless strap or 
band out of the factory, which so completely answered the 
purpose required that it seemed to be the ne plus ultra of our 
desires. With an endless band of this description have our.ex- 
periments been proceeded with, and the results obtained have 
been satisfactory to a degree to warrant us in recommending 
the sandal, in its improved form, as a much more efficient sub- 
stitute for the horseshoe than it was in its original construc- 
tion, and as such, so far as we are able at present to judge, 
to be nearly or quite all we could desire, or had any right to 
expect. 
