BOW (AS. bogs, a bow to shoot with, because it is bent or bowed: cf. Ger. Bogen, bow, from bettfun, to bend). A slender piece of elastic wood, with slight lateral projections at the ends be tween which is stretched a quantity of horse hair, used to set into vibration the strings of instruments of the violin class. The oldest in strument played with the bow is the xebec (q.v.). The stick forming the bow was at first greatly curved, and a string, or cord, was tied from one end to the other. As the earliest fig ure of the bow is found in the Anglo-Saxon man uscripts, it is thought to be of British origin, and may have been used in the Sixth Century with the meth. but this is not certain. The bow has been subject to various changes, the most significant of which were effected by Co relli (q.v.). until Francois Tourte (1747-1S35) brought the art of bow-making to perfection, and created a model which has given him the name of the 'Stradivarius of the bow.' This combines all qualities to follow every degree of tone and expression—lightness, firmness, power, and elas ticity. Tourte fixes the length of the violin-how at 29-293/4 inches: that of the viola at 29 inches, and that of a 'cello at 283/4-2831 inches. The stick is usually of Brazilian lancewood. or snake wood, cut to follow the grain, and slightly bent inward by exposure to heat. The nut is of ebony, or tortoise-shell, and contains a screw by which the hair may be tightened or loosened. From 80 to 250 hairs from the tails of horses arc used, white for the violin, viola. and violoncello. and black for the double bass. The friction is in creased by application of rosin to the hair. For a brief but interesting account of the history and construction of the bow consult Heron-Allen. Violin-Making as It Was and Is (London and New York, 1884).
BOW, bou (same word as hough, AS. bog. bough, shoulder, Icel. bogr, shoulder) OF A Snip. A general name for the fore part. or that which bread.tsi the waves. Very .often the word is used in the plural. the ship being considered to have starboard and port, or right and left, bows, meeting at the prow or figure-head. A narrow or lean bow, and a broad or bluff bow, are sea men's phrases for different shapes of bow, each of which has its own peculiar advantage at sea; the narrow bow will cut more smoothly through the water, but a broad how bears up more firmly in a high sea. Other forms are the overhanging
bow, receding or ram how-, clipper bow, flaring bow, etc. "On the bow," in sea language. is the position of a distant object when seen over the bow; it implies a sweep of one-quarter of the horizon, embracing about 45 degrees on each side of the prow or head. See BEARING; also SHIPBUILDING.
BOW (ho) CHINA. A peculiar kind of por (Thin, manufactured originally in England. at Stratford-le-Bow, whence the name. It is of a fine, milky-white color, and is decorated with imitations of Chinese figures. Many pieces are colored in the style of Dresden china. and a characteristic decoration is a sprig of hawthorn in high relief. There were also reproduced a number of statuettes or small groups of figures modeled more or less upon German designs. The marks on Bow porcelain are usually an arrow, an anchor, a dagger. or a bow and arrow. Bow china dates from 1744, when Edward Heylyn and Thomas Frye obtained a patent for the manu facture of porcelain at Bow. They used an American clay called ?maker, "the produce of the Cherokee Nation," which seems to have been a kind of kaolin. After grinding and washing to separate the sand and mica, powdered glass was added to the clay in proportions varying from equal parts of clay and glass to one-tifth of glass. The later Bow porcelain sometimes con tained as much as 40 per cent. of bone-ash. For the glaze, which was a similar mixture. less of the clay was used. In 1748 Heylyn and Frye obtained another patent for a softer kind of porcelain, which was characterized by a more fusible lead glaze in which :maker was not used at all. hut a pipe-clay instead. In 1750 Messrs. Weatherby and Crowther obtained possession of the Bow works, and gave them the name of New Canton. The works succeeded for a time, em ploying 300 operators; in 1703 Crowther, the sole surviving partner, became bankrupt, but he continued to carry on the business till 1775. In that year William Duesbury bought the Bow works and transferred them to Derby. Con cult: Bemrose, Bon, Chelsea, and Derby Por celain (London. 1898) ; Wallis, Pottery Porce lain of Derbyshire (London. 1870) ; Nightingale, Contributions Toward the History of Early Eng lish Porcelain (Salisbury. 1881) ; Church, Eng HA. Porcelain: A Handbook (London. 18851. See POTTERY.