have been entirely of iron, suspended to the hoof by a bandage, or strap and buckle.
It is satisfactory that Vegetius has so particularly described the mode of attaching this garniture to the limb: ‘et addita fasciola diligentissime colligabis;’ because it elucidates what might have otherwise been an obscure reference in Apsyrtus, a Greek veterinarian who lived more than a century before Vegetius. In chapter 107 of that writer's work, in the Hippiatrica, is found the heading: ‘Apsyrtus on the injuries from foot defences or fastenings of the same.’ And the chapter goes on to relate: ‘It happens that the legs (μεσοκύνια, the parts from the knees to the hoofs) of the horse, from the foot defences or shackles (ἱπποπέδης), or its fastenings by the thong or cord, become injured, so that the skin is torn off or destroyed, and the tendons of the fetlock are laid bare. There is danger of this accident proving fatal if it happen to both joints. It is proper, therefore, in the first instance, to apply wine, vinegar, or brine and vinegar; next, to use the lipara and soft applications of white plasters; and, to complete the cure, of ceruss one part, of ammoniacum one half, of myrtle-berries a sufficient quantity—then triturating the ammoniacum, mixed with the ceruss, pour upon them the myrtle, and use it.’[1]
- ↑ Ruellii (Hippiatr. lib. ii. p. 100) renders this passage from the Greek as follows: Apsyrtus iis aui compedibus aut vinculis collisi vitiantur. Usu venit ut suffragines, quas mesocynia vocant, tricis, pedicis, viuculisque quibusdam loro vel fune districtis plerunque lacessantur, quibus corium procidit, sic ut nervuli hujusce partis aperiantur, ac nudi pateant: id quod vitæ discrimen adfert, præsertim si in utroque flexu articulorum evenerit,' etc.
