ON THE SO CALLED BOW-PULLER OF ANTIQUITY. 159 



been offered. The ancient spear-thrower of the Komans 

 has long been known from numerous figures of it in clas- 

 sical drawings. It was simply a leathern strap — amentum 

 — secured to the middle of the spear or javelin to assist in 

 giving force to the act of throwing. The amentum is so 

 often figured on ancient vases that the method of spear- 

 throwing is beyond question. The bow-puller shows by 

 its signs of wear no such use as would be indicated by Mr. 

 Cushing's supposition. The single spine, against which 

 the end of the spear is supposed to rest, is, when bent at 

 all, alvvays bent in ward and not outward ; furthermore the 

 two spines, between which the end of the spear is supposed 

 to pass, are usually too close together to permit the pas- 

 sage of even a narrow spear-butt. In mauy cases, as we 

 have seen, the two spines are united nearly to their tips 

 (Plate V, Fig. 12) ; in one instance only the double spines 

 are present (Plate II, Fig. 9) ; in a considerable number 

 there are four spines in pairs. This attribution of its use, 

 therefore, may be dismissed with the other conjectures. 



Other suggestions occur to me as to its probable use, 

 though I confess they have no greater degree of probabil- 

 ity than that of the screw-driver conception. The Japanese, 

 and probably the Chinese, are accustomed to use a device 

 of metal for holdiug down the long pith wicks in the 

 saucer-shaped lamp. This object is in the form of a ring 

 with a single spine rising from one side, or the ring may 

 have a transverse bar from which Springs the metal spiue. 

 Figures of these two forms are here given (Fig. 11). 

 After this idea occurred to me I became acquainted with 

 Friederichs' catalogue of bronzes in the Berlin Museum 

 already referred to. In cataloguing the specimens of Bo- 

 genspanner he describes oneupon which is a steer's head, 

 flanked by two phalli, and adds parenthetically " a con- 

 nection that has already been found in the lamps." The 



