SLING (from M. Eng. slingen, to fling, throw with a jerk, Icel. slyngva, cf. Ger. schlingen, to twist)  , an implement for casting missiles, also from its resemblance in form to the implement, a hanging loop used as a support for a wounded limb, a chain with hooks used for raising or lowering heavy goods or objects, &c . The sling as a weapon is probably the earliest form of device known to mankind by which an increase of force and range was given to the arm of a thrower of missiles . Sling stones from the stone age have been frequently found (see ARMS AND ARMOUR) . The form of the weapon is of two kinds; the sling proper consists of a small strap or socket of leather or hide to which two cords are attached; the slinger holds the two ends in one hand, whirls the socket and missile rapidly round the head and, loosing one cord sharply, despatches the missile; the other type is the staff sling, in which the sling itself is attached to a short staff, held in both hands . This was used for heavier missiles especially in siege operations during the middle ages . There are many references to slings and to slingers in the Bible; the left-handed slingers of Benjamin were famous (Judges xx.16) . The Assyrian monuments show the sling of the ordinary type and slingers were used in the ancient Egyptian army, but not before the 8th century B.C . The sling (Gr. vrPevS6vl7, Lat. funda) is not mentioned in Homer; Herodotus (vii . 158) speaks of the slingers in the army offered by Gelon to serve against the Persians; it seems to have been a weapon chiefly used by barbarian troops . The Acarnanians, however, were expert slingers (Thuc. ii . 81), and so also were the Achaeans, who later invented the sling which discharged a shaft with an iron bolt head (Livy xlii . 65, from Polybius) .

In the

Roman army by the time of the Punic Wars the slingers (funditores) were auxiliaries from Greece, Syria and Africa . The Balearic islanders, who were in Hannibal's army, were always famous as slingers . In medieval times the sling was much used in the Frankish army, especially in defending trenches, while the staff-sling was used against fortifications chief industries, and there is an important butter-market . Monthly fairs are held . Sligo is a centre of, salmon and sea-fishing industries . The Dominican Abbey, founded in 1252 by Maurice Fitzgerald, Lord-Justice, is one of the finest monastic ruins in Ireland . It was partly destroyed by fire in 1414 and again in 1642 . Three sides of the cloisters remain, and the lofty quadrangular tower at the junction of the nave and chancel is entire . The east window is of the date of the original structure . The principal modern church is the Roman Catholic cathedral (1869) for the diocese of Elphin in the Norman style with a finely sculptured doorway . There is also a Roman Catholic college . A castle was built at Sligo by Maurice Fitzgerald in 1242, which in 1270 was taken and destroyed by O'Donnel; in 1310 it was rebuilt by Richard, earl of Ulster, and was again partly destroyed in 1369 and 1394 .

Of this and the walls with which the

town was fortified there are no remains . Early in the reign of James I. the town received a market and two annual fairs; in 1613 it was incorporated and received the privileges of a borough; and in 1621 it received a charter of the staple . In 1641 it was besieged by the Parliamentary forces under Sir Charles Coote, but was afterwards evacuated, and occupied by the Royalists till the termination of the war . In ,688 it declared in favour of James II., and, after being captured by the Enniskilleners, was retaken by General Sarsfield, but ultimately surrendered to the earl of Granard . The borough was disfranchised in 1870 . Under the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898 it retains its mayor and corporation, but the latter has practically the status of an urban district council . in the e4th century . They were used down to the 16th and 17th centuries to throw grenades .