830 KEPOKT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1897. 



Boston, who, as long ago as February 3, 188(5, i)ublislicd a paper, the 

 title of which indicates his opinion: The Bow aud. Arrow Unknown to 

 Paleolithic Man.' 



II. THE ORIGIN, INVENTION, AND EVOLUTION OF THE BOW AND 



ARROW. 



Griffin unknown — A wonderful contrivance — lU mythology — Its history — 

 Arroic release in antiquity. 



Of the origin of the bow and arrow, history is silent. We know 

 nothing whatever of its origin from any written word or description 

 in any language or of any people. It is entirely prehistoric. Our only 

 knowledge of its beginning comes from such of the remains of human 

 industry belonging to prehistoric times as have been found in modern 

 times. We can easily base our conclusions on comparisons of these 

 remains. We have seen how the spear and harpoon and possibly the 

 javelin belonged to the Paleolithic period or chipped-stone age; and 

 now we will see how the bow and arrow was an invention of the Neo- 

 lithic period or polished-stone age. But both these ages lie far back in 

 the past, earlier than any written history, and were unknown to the 

 world until the discoveries of the nineteenth century. 



A stick or staff sharpened or hardened by fire might make a spear. 

 Herodotus- says, describing the ai^my of Xerxes, that "the Libyans 

 marched clad in leather garments and made use of javelins hardened 

 by fire" (pp. ^'6Q, 847). To tip the staff with a bit of fiint would V)e bat the 

 first step in the evolution of a better weapon, which, once taken, might 

 continue througli all its varieties, from the heaviest and longest si)ear 

 to the shortest and lightest javelin — from one which was too heavy to 

 carry and was simply to be held u]) after the fashion of an abattis 

 protecting the holder against an onslaught, down to a lighter and 

 smaller implement which he could hurl at his enemy. All this is in the 

 natural evolution of an invention. One might grow out of the other. 

 We have no positive Icnowledge that this was the manner of growth, 

 but we may easily surmise it, if not with the Libyans, then with some 

 other and possibly more primitive peo^^le. 



Hence we can see how the commonly accepted law of evolution and 

 progress may be set at naught by observed facts. The Libyans were 

 noted soldiers and formed part of the greatest army of earth, and one 

 would suppose a priori that their arms would have been of the most 

 approved pattern, but their javelins were the most primitive and rude 

 type, the beginning — really the first step — in warfare; the protoplasm 

 of weapons; the stafi' sharpened and hardened by fire. So much for 

 spear and javelin. 



The bow and arrow is a different weapon, and its invention had no 



' Proceedings of tlie Bo.ston Society of Natural History, XXIII, p. 269. 

 '' Book VII, 71. 



