never serve such a purpose, as they would no more preserve the animal wearing them from sinking than the shoe of the present day.
Other authorities have not only decided that these antique contrivances were fastened on the feet of solipeds during the time of the Romans, but that they were in use until a comparatively recent age. Baron de Bonstetten remarks: 'The employment of horse-shoes of this form (modern) was only introduced by the Romans at a late period; those we see at Rome and in the "Museo Borbonico" at Naples are a kind of shots (souliers) which were attached by straps to the horse's feet, as the "induere" of Pliny attests.'[1] And the Abbé Cochet writes: 'I also know that when a very distinguished Belgian archæologist, M. Hagemans, the author of "The Cabinet d'Amateur," was at Milan in 1858, he saw in the collection of the Chevalier Ubaldo an iron hippo-sandal in magnificent preservation, and which did not appear to him to be very old. Prince Biondelli, a learned Milanese archæologist, who accompanied him, assured him that this horse sabot ought to belong to the 10th or 11th century. The Italian antiquary was also of opinion that the employment of shoes without nails was in vogue up to a late period of the middle ages.'[2]
With all due deference to the deservedly high reputation of the many authorities who have inspected and pronounced these iron utensils 'sandals,' after carefully examining and measuring them, and perusing the evidence brought forward to support that opinion, I cannot but conclude that the general opinion is an erroneous one, and for
