In the preceding pages an attempt has been made to furnish plausible reasons for the horse-shoe’s universal popularity both as an amulet and as a token of good luck. It is evident, however, that this superstition cannot be referred to any one particular starting-point. Just as the sources of a river may be manifold, consisting of numerous springs and tributaries, so, too, the belief in the horse-shoe’s magical virtues is of complex origin, and can be traced to diverse beginnings. It may be profitable, therefore, briefly to enumerate the different theories which have been advanced:— 1. At the _rite of the Passover_, the blood sprinkled upon the lintel and door-posts formed the chief points of an arch. Hence the value of arch-shaped talismans. 2. The magical virtue of the horse-shoe against witches and fiends has been attributed to its _bifurcated form_, and to its resemblance to the _lunar crescent_. Charms of similar shape are known to have been in use among the ancient Chaldeans and Egyptians. 3. _Iron_ and _steel_, metals having traditional power against evil-disposed fairies and goblins. 4. The _serpentine shape_. Serpent-worship was nearly universal among primitive peoples, and amuletic symbols of this form were in use in the days of ancient Rome. 5. The so-called _horse-shoe arch_ as typifying a beneficent, protecting power. 6. The ancient conception of the earth as having the shape of a _round boat turned upside down_ and corresponding to the Egyptian _Put-sign_. 7. _The Horse._ This animal was worshiped among the early Germanic tribes, and an English myth accredits to it luck-bringing qualities. 8. The Scandinavian superstition of the _Demon-Mare_. 9. The old astrological principle that _Mars_, the God of War and the War Horse, was hostile to _Saturn_, the liege-lord of witches. 10. The legend of _Saint Dunstan and the Devil_. 11. _Phallic Symbolism._ 12. The _Aureole_ or _Nimbus_. 13. Supernatural faculties ascribed to _blacksmiths_. 14. The Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol 𓎆, signifying the _mystical door of life_. 15. _Horses’ hoof-prints_ in mythology and tradition. 16. The horse-shoe a symbol of the heathen god _Wodan_. XXI. CONCLUSION Whatever may be the origin of the superstitious employment of the horse-shoe, its adoption as a token of good luck appears to be comparatively modern, its earliest use having been for the exclusion of witches, evil spirits, and all such uncanny beings. Before leaving the subject an extract may be given from an article in the “London World,” August 23, 1753, against the repeal of the so-called Witch Act, wherein the writer offers the following satirical advice to whomever it might concern:—