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LIEUT. -COL. G. MACKINLAY^ E.A., ON 



However, I only intend dealing with one point submitted to me 

 by the gallant Lecturer, and that is in connection with the origin of 

 the device displayed on the Turkish ensign, namely, a crescent and 

 star. In a note sent me. Colonel Mackinlay says: "I cannot help 

 thinking it may be due to the morning star — it seems possible the 

 ancients knew it was sometimes horned — as it appears in the 

 telescope, and that the origin of the Turkish emblem is not the 

 moon ; but I have no proof of this supposition." 



Having consulted various works of reference, it would seem that 

 the emblem in question was instituted in honour of Hecate, a 

 Greek moon-goddess. At the siege of Byzantium by Philip of 

 Macedon, in the fourth century B.C., it is stated that the 

 Byzantines were saved from a night surprise by a flash of light 

 which revealed their approaching enemies. According to one 

 authority, this light was a new moon which suddenly appeared in 

 the heavens. If a moon did appear, probably it was the crescent of 

 an ordinary moon which showed itself unexpectedly between dark,, 

 heavy clouds on a dirty night — the sort of night that would be 

 chosen for a surprise attack. Anyhow, out of gratitude to Hecate 

 for their escape, the Byzantines erected an altar in her honour and 

 stamped a crescent on their coins. A star was added then or 

 subsequently, but whether in recognition of the morning star or of 

 Hecate's alleged female parent, Asteria, the starry sky of night, I 

 have not been able to ascertain. 



Thus the crescent became and remained the official eml)lem of 

 Byzantium, and afterwards of its successor, Constantinople, when 

 that city was founded by Constantine the Great, a.d. 324 ; and 

 when Constantinople was taken by Mahomet II., in 1453, the 

 Sultan assumed the badge by right of conquest, and it has ever 

 since been the distinguishing sign of the Turks. 



It is noteworthy that the national flags of other Mohammedan 

 States, such as Morocco, Muscat, Zanzibar, and one or two indepen- 

 dent colonies of Arabs, although red like the Ottoman ensign, are 

 innocent of any device ; while the Persian emblem is the Lion and 

 the Sun. 



We have seen that the crescent, pagan in its origin, was the 

 recognised mark of a great Christian city for upwards of eleven 

 hundred years, and it is nonsense to say that when Constantinople 

 fell into the hands of the Turks the Cross was replaced by the 



