THE SLING, BOW, AND OTHER WEAPONS 137 



bow is held about its midpoint in the left hand, the arm fully 

 extended. The arrow is laid upon the first finger of the hand 

 that grasps the bow, the notch of the arrow is placed upon the 

 bowstring at its midpoint. Three fingers of the right hand are 

 laid upon the string, one above the base of the arrow, two 

 below. Just the tips of the fingers are on the string. The string 

 is then pulled back, the base of the thumb going back against 

 the cheek. The bowman then quickly sights along the arrow 

 and releases the arrow by a movement of the wrist, turning the 

 hand slightly to the right. 



It requires a strong arm to pull back one of these bows until 

 the head of the arrow is drawn back to the bow, and when 

 released the arrow flies with great speed. The archer ordinarily 

 wears leather caps for the fingers of the right hand that hold the 

 bowstring and wears on his left arm a leather protector so that 

 the bowstring when released will not injure the arm. The archer 

 must of course allow for the direction and force of the wind and 

 for the drop of the arrow in response to the pull of gravity when he 

 is shooting at long range. The sport is a very attractive one 

 and may be begun in a very simple way. Directions for making 

 the beginner's bow and arrow, the crossbow, and the target are 

 given in the Field and Laboratory Guide in Physical Nature-Study. 



When a bow is bent, then springs back to its original shape 

 when released, the wood is manifesting what is called elasticity. It 

 is a familiar property of many substances. It is the elasticity 

 of the steel in the watch spring that keeps the watch running, 

 the elasticity of a rubber ball that makes it bounce, the elasticity 

 of the air in the automobile tire that makes the machine so 

 springy, the elasticity of the wood that makes the springboard 

 toss one into the air. The molecules of solid substances are 

 definitely arranged and spaced in relation to each other, so that 

 the solid in many cases seems to resist any distortion of this 

 arrangement. This does not mean that the molecules are fixed, 

 for they are moving with tremendous rapidity in a tangle of 

 interweaving pathways, yet on the whole the general pattern 



