Patten (shoe) Patten (shoe) Pattens are protective overshoes that were worn in Europe from the Middle Ages until the early 20th century. Pattens were worn outdoors over a normal shoe, had a wooden or later wood and metal sole, and were held in place by leather or cloth bands. Pattens functioned to elevate the foot above the mud and dirt (including human effluent and animal dung) of the street, in a period when road and urban paving was minimal. The word "patten" probably derives from the Old French "pate" meaning hoof or paw. Women continued to wear pattens in muddy conditions until
Montane guinea pig Montane guinea pig The montane guinea pig, "Cavia tschudii", a type of rodent, is a guinea pig species from the Andes in South America. The montane guinea pig is the likely ancestor of "Cavia porcellus", the cavy or domestic guinea pig. Peruvian wild guinea pigs were first described by E. T. Bennett in 1835, who termed them "Cavia cutleri". Johann Jakob von Tschudi, in an 1845 publication, used the term "Cavia cutleri" to refer to what are now considered two separate entities - the first, Bennett's "Cavia cutleri", which was later (by Oldfield Thomas in 1917) identified as probably a