eo 
" 
1805.] On the Antiquity 
When this previous deficcAtion has 
been effefted, the feathers are conveyed to 
adry airy places where they -are flirred 
every day. By thefe means the pith con-: 
tained in the barrels is dried ; the grealy 
and membrangous parts of their furface 
are diffipated in duit. The quill may 
then be kept for centuries: but. if thefe 
précautions be neglected, if the quill is 
not reduced to the itste of pure paren- 
chyme, and if it contains half-dried juices, 
it will then become a,prey to infects., In 
this caie it muft be. bleached in foap- 
water, and then wafhed feveral times 3 a 
fecondary operation, which determines the 
elaftic quality of the quill, and occafions a. 
lofs. What has been (aid of feathers, { i ap 
plicable to wool. If badly fsoured, th 
yolk and fat matters with which it ¥ fe 
pregnated attract infects. It mult then be 
wafhed to prevent its. total deftruétion, 
and be treed from this natural fat matter, 
which is liable to corrupt. 
The matters em ploy ed in beds in 
country-houies muft Se put into a hurdle, 
fupported by a-trefile, in the middle of a 
well-daired apartment ; they muf then be 
ftirred and beat from time to time as a 
fait h; expofed often to the open air 
to the cold during the fine days of winter, 
and to the fan inthe beginning of fpring, 
to remove that kind of infect-of the clafs 
of the phalenze which is propagated only 
in the fhade and in a {tate of repofe. -Day- 
light and agitation are means far preter-. 
able to the aromatic plants propofed for 
producing the fame effect. 
‘The proceis of purification confifts in 
putting into three pints of boiling water 
# pound and a half of alum and as much 
cream of tartar, which are diluted in 
twenty-three pints more of cold water.— 
The wool is then left immerfed in- this 
liquer during fome: days, after .which it 
is wafhed and dried. . After this operation 
it willno longer be fubje&t to be attacked 
by infeéts. 
‘The purity of feathers and wool em- 
ployed for mattrefles and cufhions ought to 
be confidered as a firit obje& of falubrity. 
Animal emanations may, under many cir- 
cumftances, be prejudicial to the health ; 
but the danger is {till greater when the 
wool is impregnated with fweat and the 
excrementitious parts of perfons who have 
experienced putrid and contagiousdifeales. 
Bed-clothes, and the wool of mattrefles, 
therefore, cannot be too often beat, card- 
ed, cleaned, and wathed. ‘This is a cau- 
tion which cannot be too often rvcom- 
cain 
. of ir On, 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
HE following obfervations, relative 
to the ufe of harfe-thoes, if you deera 
the fubject worthy of any farther atten- 
tion, may not be unacceptable to your 
correfpondent. Veterinarius. 
If the hoof. of a-horfe, mule, or any 
beaft of burden, was injured, it was ufual, 
among the Greeks and Perfians, te bind 
round ita kind of fock, made of the plant 
called Spartiumjuncenm, or the Stipa tena- 
cifima, afhvub capable of being manu. 
faétured, like our hemp, inte bafkets, 
ropes, and fhoes. Ariftotle, in his Hift. 
Anim, ii. 6, calls thefe focks xopGcliuas 
aterm fignificant ef the fhoes worn then 
by the common people ; whence fome 
have inferred, that they were, like them, 
made of ftrong ox-leather. What was at 
firft uled as a remedy, was afterwards. 
employed asapreyentive, In the time of 
Catullus, it is evident, that a plate of 
iron, Ca. folea, was faltened to the 
hoof (moft probably by a piece of cord), 
for the purpofe of defending it from in- 
jury. 
Et fupinum animumn in gravj derelinquire 
cesno, 
Ferream at foleam tenaci in voragine mula, 
CAT. xvil, 23. 
Suetonius informs us (Ner. Vit. cap. 
30), that the fhoes of Nero’s mules were 
made of flver; and Pliny (lib. xxxiit. 
re 30) tells us, that Poppza’s mules 
were tho’ with gold. Theit thoes, it ap- 
pears, from a paflage in Suetcnius (Velp. 
Vitek cap p. 23) were only s fed for fhow, or 
when necellity required. 
The firft intimation which we have of 
the modern horfe-fhoe, is in the Tadéica 
_of Leo VE. Emperor of Conttantinople, a 
work compofed inthe ninth century. In 
enumerating the various articles of fur- 
niture for a horfe, he {pecifies norfe-fhoes 
with horfe-fhoe nails. The 
words in the original are, ceanvase oenpee 
fetle xepGiwy. “Fhat the moderna Greck 
term ceAnvasa can have no other meaning 
than that here afigned to it, is fufficient- 
ly evident from an obférvation of Eutta- 
thius, who informs us, that the ceanvare 
were placed under the hoofs of hories, 
and faftened with nails. The term was 
probably adopted from the refemblance 
which a horfe-fhoe bears to a crefcent.— 
How long they exited before the ninth 
century we have no evidence. 
Dr. Carey quotes the xornomon tamara 
(Hiad Vili. 41.)5 as a provi, that, m the | 
‘ days 
a aren 
as 
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Sewerage 
