ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to describe the history and distribution of the crossbow as it is illustrated by the varied collection of both primitive and highly developed specimens in the United States National Museum. A study of the crossbows in the United States National Museum suggests a problem of real ethnological interest. The crossbow appears to be another example of those remarkable Chinese inventions—such as silk, paper, printing, and gunpowder—which have spread over a large part of the globe and in several regions altered the course of history. The true home of the crossbow is the great land mass embracing the continents of Europe and Asia. Specimens in the National Museum collection come from an island south of Sumatra, the Philip pine Islands, Cambodia, the Nicobar Islands, China, and Siberia; from the West are two examples from Germany and a modern sporting crossbow of unknown origin.
