568 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 196 2 



My inimersion in archery began in the late 1920's, when a dormant 

 interest in the flight of a projectile was fanned to activity by my 

 undertaking, one summer, to do target practice with arrows. During 

 World War I my work had been largely in experimental ballistics. 

 This may have stimulated a desire to know more about the manner of 

 flight of the arrow, about the way in which energy is stored in the 

 bow, and about the mechanism of transfer of tlie stored energy to the 

 arrow — in short, about the physics of bows and arrows. One of the 

 chief attractions of archery is the opportunity of applying the findings 

 of science and engineering to the design and construction of bows and 

 arrows. 



Because of its venerable age and traditions, a voluminous literature 

 has grown up in archery, especially in English. Less well known in 

 English-speaking countries is the wealth of written records concerning 

 archery in Arabic, Chinese, Persian, Turkish, and other oriental 

 languages. By contrast, little of such writing has been produced in 

 German or French. The collecting of old books and prints and more 

 ephemeral items as well is a possibility not easily matched in any other 

 sport. Its antiquity, its unique role in the history of nations, its 

 science and technology, and its appeal to craftsmanship — the combina- 

 tion of all these is rarely found outside of archery. 



Competent estimates indicate that 6 million or more persons in the 

 United States are serious about some form of archery. To discover 

 reasons for such wide appeal, observe that the bow is one of the first 

 if not the first of propellant devices invented by man. To what epoch 

 in prehistory its genesis may be assigned is not clearly established, 

 but that game was hunted with the bow many millenniums ago is 

 attested by the rock paintings in the Cueva de los Caballos in eastern 

 Spain. Among prehistoric tribes the bow was the steadfast com- 

 panion of the family provider, of the group defender, perhaps even 

 of the tribal aggressor. Without doubt it was the principal imple- 

 ment used in the struggle for existence. To this day it plays the same 

 indispensable role among primitive tribes of Africa and South 

 America. 



The bow is thus an authentic antique. Its antiquity, along with the 

 fact that the modern bow and arrow are in principle unchanged from 

 their prototypes, invests their use with fascination among sports 

 which employ specialized instruments. Appreciation of this and other 

 attractive attributes helps in part to explain its growth and present 

 large number of followers. Archery has always been more a partici- 

 pant sport than a spectator's, which makes its phenomenal expansion 

 all the more noteworthy. Its number of followers will always remain 

 small in comparison with the crowds who are baseball and football 

 enthusiasts. 



