SPEAR, a weapon of offense, consisting of a wooden shaft or pole
varying in length up to eight or nine feet, and provided with a
sharp piercing point. The spear may be regarded as the prototype
of the various forms of piercing weapons, such as the arrow,
bolt and dart, which are projected from bows, catapults or other
engines, and the javelin, assegai and lance, held in or thrown
by the hand. The longer and heavier spears and lances are mainly
retained in the hand while in use, but there is no absolute
distinction. and the throwing of a spear has in all ages been a
form of offensive warfare. In its earliest form the spear would
naturally consist of a simple pole of tough wood sharp ened to a
point at one extremity, which point might be both formed and
hardened by charring in fire. From this an improvement would con
sist in fitting to the shaft a separate spear head of bone, as
is still practised among primitive races. The war lance of the
mediaeval knights was 16 feet long; the weapon of modern cavalry
regime