152 BULLETIN OF THE ESSEX INSTITUTE. 



method of release. The savage releases which I have termed 

 primary and secondary are out of the question. The only 

 other release which could have occurred in the regions 

 where the bow-pullers are found is the release which I 

 have termed the Mongolian, and this method wonld have 

 been used by some Mongoloid race such as the Turks, or 

 the modern Persians, who, though not Mongolian, early 

 acquired the Mongolian release, and here the thumb-ring 

 would have appeared. Had the so-called bow-puller been 

 used in the way conjectured we should expect a certain 

 uniformity in that part presumably engaged in pulling the 

 cord of the bow, but we have seen that the spines vary 

 in number from two to five, and in length from two mil- 

 limeters to sixty. The Variation in the space between the 

 spines is equally great, in one case wide enough to admit 

 a rope as big as one's finger, and in another example so 

 constricted that a thread would hardly be admitted. If now 

 we examine the thumb-ring used in the Mongolian release 

 we find the greatest uniformity in its shape, even among 

 widely separated peoples, and even in ancient times, as 

 shown by a bronze thumb-ring dug up near Palmyra, 

 by the distinguished classical archseologist Dr. Felix von 

 Luschan. 



I have not been able to find any early references in re- 

 gard to the bow-puller and do not knowon whatgrounds, 

 or at what time, the name bogenspanner was first applied, 

 but one may easily conjecture the origin of its name. In 

 a vague sort of way it was known that the Asiatic archer 

 used a thumb-ring in drawing the bow ; little attention, 

 however, seems to have been given to the exact method 

 in which it was used. As an illustration of this vagueness 

 in regard to archery one may find in the art galleries of 

 Europe many pictures, particularly by Italian artists, of 

 the martyrdon of Saint Sebastian. In nearly every case 



