![]() Wood’s books were best sellers during his lifetime and went through many editions. And what he wrote entered the public discussion. While Wood was never the first person to write on some new topic, he was often the second. Instead he excelled as a popularizer of scientific thought. Yet Wood was not really a research scientist. Born in London in 1827, and educated as a member of the clergy (at Oxford), he gained a fair amount of fame in his lifetime for his writings and innovative lectures on the natural world. Wood was deeply interested in natural history, and he dedicated much of his life to researching, studying and writing about the varieties of biological and social life. ![]() That is precisely what makes his early, and often overlooked, accounts so interesting to students of martial arts studies. In this case I am very happy to say that the Rev. When discussing sources such as these I find that there is a tendency to dwell on the rediscovery of “the first” account of some sort of behavior or art. The following post introduces a few accounts of the Chinese (and other Asian) martial practices taken from a book first published in the United Kingdom during the 1860s. Wood and the Popularization of the “Oriental Obscene.” Note the hudiedao (butterfly swords) carried by both individuals. The crossbow was made for the Discovery Channel-program "Weapon Masters", and was based on the Cho-ko-nu.A studio image of two Chinese soldiers (local braves) produced probably in Hong Kong during the 1850s. In 2007, Chad Houseknecht made a modern-day repeating crossbow. The Chinese Repeating Crossbow was weaker in draw strength compared to other crossbows, so the arrows were often dipped in poison to cause death from even mild wounds. The machine features the earliest recorded chain drive in the history of technology. Two flat-linked chains were connected to a windlass, which by winding back and forth would automatically fire the machine's arrows until its magazine was empty. This siege engine, a repeating ballista, was called a Polybolos and was reputedly invented by Dionysius of Alexandria in the 3rd century BC. In Korean it was called sunogung (Hangul: 수노궁 Hanja: 手弩弓).Ī more complex device was described in the works of the Greek engineer Philon of Byzantium. The repeating crossbow was introduced into Korea by King Sejong (1418–1450), who during a trip to China saw the weapon and was impressed by its mechanism. The basic construction of this weapon has remained very much unchanged since its invention, making it one of the longest-lived mechanical weapons. ![]() The repeating crossbow saw its last serious action as late as the China-Japan war of 1894–1895, where photographs show repeating crossbows as common weapons among Qing Dynasty troops. Non-recurved versions of the repeating crossbow were often used for home defense. The Chinese repeating crossbow had a maximum range of 120 meters, with an effective range of 60 meters, far less than that of a non-repeating crossbow. ![]() The recurved repeating crossbow is generally still weaker than the regular recurved crossbow, and was mainly used for sieges or behind shield cover. The weapon used by the ancient militaries was developed into a composite-recurve variety for more power. Such action could fire 10 bolts in 15 seconds, after which the magazine would be reloaded. The bolts of one magazine are fired and reloaded by simply pushing and pulling the lever back and forth. Other repeating crossbows fired as many as 10 bolts before exhausting the magazine. Zhuge Liang improved the design of the repeating crossbow, and made a version which shot two to three bolts at once and was used in massed formations. Also known as the lián nǔ (simplified Chinese: 连弩 traditional Chinese: 連弩 literally "continuous crossbow"), the invention is commonly attributed to the strategist Zhuge Liang (181–234 AD) of the Three Kingdoms period, but those found in Tomb 47 at Qinjiazui, Hubei Province have been dated to the 4th century BC. The bow string consisted of animal sinew twisted into a cord of suitable strength. The Chinese repeating crossbow (Chinese: 諸葛弩 pinyin: zhūgě nǔ Wade–Giles: chu-ke nu literally "Zhuge crossbow" sometimes romanized as "chu-ko-nu") is a device with a simple design. ![]()
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