114 MILITARY SCIENCES. 



Other implements, employed by the besieged in defence, were those called 

 the tongs and the crow. 



The tongs or forceps {fig. 9) were double shears, which were let down 

 from the wall by a rope, and which as soon as this struck the ram, opened 

 and grasped it, when the head was pulled upwards and the ram thus rendered 

 useless. The simple crow was a frame, like that for the draw-basket {pi. 

 35, fig. 10), but having at the point one or more hooks. It stood upon 

 the terreplein behind the wall, and when the foe attacked it was swung 

 downwards into the thick masses, catching in its hooks one or more persons, 

 who were thus drawn upwards, and either made prisoners or dashed to the 

 ground. The double crow was a stand with two arms, to which a long 

 beam was attached horizontally, so that it could be let down upon the hostile 

 ram, and thus by destroying its balance render it ineffectual. 



The Middle Ages. 



The earlier period of the Middle Ages, immediately following the times 

 of Antiquity, shows us, in general, the same arms and implements then in 

 use which we have already described, yet we find them constantly more 

 and more improved by art, and, above all, rendered more movable. The 

 projectile engines, in the main, were the same; yet the catapults had 

 already undergone an important alteration ; the wooden arms, represented in 

 pi. S3, fig. 5aa, having been exchanged for steel {pi. S^,fig. I), which were 

 fastened into the frame, and by their great spring power could work more 

 effectually than the arms stretched by the twisted rope. These so-called 

 springels were afterwards altered, by welding the two spring arms into a 

 middle piece, and thus making a complete bow. The setting was effected 

 by raising the upper part of the stock, which moved on a pivot, until the 

 lever of the trigger caught over the string, when the trigger was pressed 

 down, and then the stock depressed until it came into its place, when the 

 arrow was laid on, and discharged by loosing the trigger-catch. These 

 springels were subsequently made still smaller and more portable, and 

 became the cross-bow, of which we have already spoken. A simple kind 

 of springel is represented at fig, 2. To a post having notches on one side 

 a brace is attached, resting in one or the other of the notches, and held 

 by a pliable band, so that the arrow which lies upon the post and on this 

 brace, can have its point depressed or elevated by setting the latter in 

 a lower or higher notch. Behind the post a strong spring of wood or 

 steel is fastened, at the bottom, and set b}^ drawing the upper end down- 

 wards and backwards by means of a winch, so that when this upper end is 

 let loose, the spring flies up and strikes with great violence against the 

 arrow, thus driving it forth. Such springels drive arrows of six to eight 

 feet in length, and of considerable weight, to several hundred paces' dis- 

 tance. 



With the invention of gunpowder the whole warfare changed, and an 

 entirely new weapon came into use, the firearm, which, being effective at 

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