52 



KNOWLEDGE 



Iaech, 1903. 



probably with a view to raising its columns to a higher 

 level ; the mosque being progressively buried in the 

 ground, through the gradual flattening of the adjacent 

 hill of the acropolis. 



The Boor of the South-Easf. Window. — In addition to the 

 entrance of the Samaritan Well, Fig. 5 shows a door, still 

 preserved, and opened in the great south window of the 

 east front, in the first floor level, or Catechumfna. Oq 

 the 14th September, date of the Exaltation of the Cross, 

 the emperor "guided* bv the officers of the cubicle and the 

 royal attendants," says Porphyrogenitus, " passes through 

 the Mannaura and its higher corridors, and, having 

 ascended the wooden staircase, enters into the catechumena 

 of the great church. "f Inasmuch as no other window of 

 the southern and eastern galleiy is pierced by a door, this 

 entrance of the emperor into the Catechumena could have 

 been effected only by the window in question. The wooden 

 stairs proliably began at the portico of the Holy Well, 

 being crowned by a little platform just before the door of 

 the first floor level. The idea of a wooden staircase has 

 l)een shown to have originated in the desire of furnishing 

 to the sovereign an easy escape in case of riot — a means 

 of communication which could easily be destroyed or 

 burned, so as to leave isolated the palace walls. 



The Horologion.— This was a very important annex of 

 St. Sophia. Whenever the emperor wanted to go in great 

 ceremony to the cathedral, he used to accord six receptions 

 to various deputations from the city, the last reception 

 taking place by the Horologion of the great church. 

 "And from thence [the Horologion]," says Porphyro- 

 genitus, " the sovereigns enter by the beautiful gate, and 

 have their crowns removed liv the praepositi within the 

 curtain hanging in the recess, that is the vestibule of the 

 narthex."J On the other hand, the Anonvinous speaks of 

 the Baptistery as being " by the Horologion." Now, to 

 fulfil these conditions, the Horologion must have been 

 outside the main entrance, to the south-west, and close to 

 the Baptistery. It can, therefore, be no matter of mere 

 coincidence that, precisely at this spot, at the extreme 

 western angle of the mosque, but facing r?4° west of south, 

 the writer has always seen a sundial of Turkish workman- 

 ship Bearing in mind bow unchanging everything is in 

 the East, it would not h^ imprudent to assume that the 

 idea of the Asiatic dial struck its roots in the presence, at 

 this very point, of the sundial erected by Justinus II. and 

 his wife Sophia in the sixth century. 



Like Eome, the Mohammedan civilization of Constan- 

 tinople could not help feeling the influence of Greek art 

 and learning. Neither the difference of race, nor the 

 disparity of manners, nor the contrast of religion could 

 avert a decisive subjugation of the Moslems to the empire 

 of thought bequeathed by the vanquished. The adoption 

 of Byzantine architecture by the Suitans for their religious 

 buildings ; the unaltered appearance of the city under the 

 new rule ; and the choice, for the national standard, of a 

 Greek emblem, the crescent and star,* resting on an 

 astronomical observation twenty-two-and-a-half centuries 

 old, are thus all easily to be accounted for. Imbued with 

 feelings of admiration and reverence for Hellenic genius, 

 the victorious Ottomans soon felt the difficulty of improving 

 upon its masterpieces, and perceived that the real channel 

 for their artistic tastes lay in a close observance of the 

 precepts laid down by the superior science and weightier 

 experience of their enlightened predecessors. 

 (To be continued.) 



* Ajipiyevofiei-os, from derigo. 



+ Ceremonies, I., p. 125. 



X Vide Oman, The St/zantine Empire, London, 1892, pp. 4 and 7-8. 



ANIMAL WIND-BAGS-USEFUL AND 

 ORNAMENTAL.-III. 



WIND-BAGS AS DANGER-SIGNALS AND LIFE- 

 BUOYS. 

 By W. P. Ptceaft, a.l.s., f.z.s., etc 

 In concluding this brief survey of the various types of air- 

 sacs to be met with in the animal kingdom, I propose to 

 deal with those which serve the purpose either of 

 terrifying enemies or transforming their possessors into 

 morsels too large and sometimes too dangerous for 

 prowling carnivores to swallow ; and, lastly with those 

 which perform the duties of organs of locomotion. These 

 are, perhaps, the most wonderful and interesting of all, 

 inasmuch as they re])resent. not parts of, but whole 

 animals, strangely modified for a stranger purpose. 



In some cases the whole body is involved in this inflation, 

 whilst in others only certain regions are affected. 



The expedient of baffling their would-be devourers by 

 inflating the body with air is a device practised by the 

 globe-fishes of the tropical Atlantic and Indian Oceans. 

 These extraordinary creatures, when hard {pressed by some 

 hungry shark, and not too far from the surface, rush up, 

 and thrusting the mouth Ijevond the water, draw suflicient 

 air into the gullet to inflate the body to such an extent 

 that the fish-like form is exchanged instanter for that of 

 the globe, from which they take their name. This done, 

 thev perforce " turn turtle," and float at the surface with 

 the inflated belly well above the water. By this means, 

 like the flotsam of the sea, they are blown along for great 

 distances, the projecting portion of the body catching 

 every breeze that blows, and thus eventually they reach a 

 place of safety. Not always, however, do they escape the 

 fate they flee from, for it occasionally happens that some 

 more than usually greed}' shark swallows them, as the 

 sturgeon did Hiawatha. No friendly sea gulls, however, 

 are at hand to effect a rescue, so the globe-fish, left to his 

 own resources, promptly gnaws a hole through the walls 

 of his prison, and, escaping, leaves his misguided enemy a 

 mere lump of carrion. It seems that when too far from 

 the surface to gain the much desired light cargo of air, the 

 globe-fish effects the necessary distension of the body by 

 taking in great gulps of water. Probably only certain 

 forms of globe-fish can be thus swallowed, for it should be 

 mentioned that the skin of some species is armed with 

 enormous bony spines, so numerous as to form a comj>lete 

 investment for the body. 



Frogs and toads, when threatened with danger, generally 

 inflate the bodv. Some common toads, which the writer 

 has had under observation for some months, when alarmed, 

 ci'ouch down, and su<ldenly blow themselves out till the 

 flanks rise on either side above the level of the back like 

 two great air-cushions. Apparently this increased bulk is 

 intended to act as a danger signal. If this first line of 

 defence is broken through, then they fall back upon the 

 acid secretions of the skin glands, and their effect upon 

 dogs, for example, is well known. 



Some species of frogs have acquired extraordinary 

 powers of inflating the body, so that they look more like 

 bladders than frogs. One species, inhabiting the hills of 

 Perak, like the globe-fish, can inflate the body and float 

 on the surface of the water, remaining motionless with 

 arms and legs outstretched. Possibly this habit is a 

 device meant to deceive their enemies, who mistake the 

 inflated body for a decomposing and unsavoury corpse. 



The chamaeleon, when its safety is threatened, appears 

 to adopt two diametrically opposed methods to ensure its 

 escape. Pacific methods are first attempted. WTien it 

 perceives itself to be discovered it first attempts to escape 



