ANSWERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1382, 25 May 1878, Page 13

ANSWERS.

LEON. — Constantinople has beon besieged twenty -three times — twice by the Greeks; thripe by the Roman Emperors ; once by th« Latins, the Persians, the Avares, the Sclaves, and by one of its dethroned sovereigns, Michael Paleologus ; twice the Bulgarians ; onco by Byzantine rebels ; seven times by the Arabs, and three times by the Turks. It was taken six times — by Alcibiades ; the Roman Emperors Septimus,- Severus, and Constantino ; the Doge Dandolo and Count Baldwin ; the Emperor Michael Paleologuaj and Mohammed 11. In 672, under Constantino 11., it was besieged for seven years by the Arabs. They made the surrounding country a desert, uprooting trees, levelling villages and habitations, and converting the flourishing environs into "vraste. Then came tho Crusaders in 1204!. The devastation committed by the French and Venetian champions of the Cross exceeded even that of the Arabs. They burned the richest and largest quarter of tbe city, and inflicted such a blow on it that it never recovered its former wealth and prosperity. They profaned the Cathedral of St. Sophia, broke into tho tomb of the Byzantine Emperors, dragged out their skeletons, and scattered their bones in the streets. They fired the public libraries, ridiculed the Greek religion by decking their horses with the vestments of the clergy, andtheir heads with the pontifical tiaras. L. M. — To every quart of paste, put a tablespoonful of pulverised alum, and a few drops of carbolic acid or oil of cloves, and the paste will not sour or be infested with insects. Stir the alum in with the moistened flour. Put the paste in a wide-mouthed bottle or glass can, and keep tightly coi # ked when not in use. E. J. W.— We have just found in an exchange the following simple method for testing milk : —A well-polished knitting needle is dipped into a deep vessel of milk and immediately withdrawn in an upright position, when if the sample be pure, some of the fluid will be found to adhere to it, while such is not the case if water has been added to the milk, eren in the smallest proportions. W. T. — Pasha is a Turkish title of rank, originally applied only to governors of provinces, and now to other high officers of State.