CURIOUS FACTS AND USEFUL INFORMATION.
AMBERGRIS is largely used by the Mohammedans for incense, and it is also used in some of the costliest perfumes. It is only found in sick or lean whales, generally in the intestines, or floating upon the seas of warm climates, intermixed with the food of the whales. It is thought to be a morbid secretion of the whale's diseased liver, and it is of a bright gray color, streaked with yellow and black. It has a very fine, waxy character, is as soft as the common putty of the glazier, and on being rubbed or heated, exhales a rare perfume. It is only in the lower part of the intestinal canal, mixed with the faeces, that the substance is found, and almost always in spermaceti whales, and in warm latitudes. The sailors think it a product of dyspeptic whales. A day's journey, in Bible language, was thirty-three and one-fifth miles. A Sabbath day's journey was about an English mile. Ezekiel's reed was eleven feet, nearly. A cubit is twenty-two inches, nearly. A hand's breadth is equal to three and five-eighth inches. A finger's breadth is equal to one inch. A shekel of silver was about fifty cents. A shekel of gold was $8.09. A talent of silver was $538.32. A talent of gold was $13,809. A piece of silver, or a denny, was thirteen cents. A farthing was three cents. An epha, or bath, contained seven gallons and five pints. A hin was one gallon and two pints. A firkin was seven pints. The names of the months were given by the Romans. January, the first month, was so called from Janus, an ancient king of Italy, who was deified after his death, and derived from the Latin word Januarius. February, the second month, is derived from the Latin word Februo, to purify, hence Februarius; for this month the ancient Romans offered up expiatory sacrifices for the purifying of the people. March, the third month, anciently the first month, is derived from the word Mars, the god of war. April, the fourth month, is so called from the Latin Aprilus, i. e., opening; because in this month the vegetable world opens and buds forth. May, the fifth month, is derived from the Latin word Majores, so called by Romulus, in respect toward the Senators, hence Maius or May. June, the sixth month, from the Latin word Junius, or the youngest of the people. July, the seventh month, is derived from the Latin word Julius, and so named in honor of Julius Cæsar. August, the eighth month, was so called in honor of Augustus, by a decree of the Roman Senate, A.D. 8. September, the ninth month, from the Latin word Septem, or seven, being the seventh from March. October, the tenth month, from the Latin word Octo, the eighth, hence October. November, the eleventh month, from the Latin word Novem, nine, being the ninth month from March. December, the twelfth month, from the Latin word Decem, ten: so called because it was the tenth month from March, which was anciently the manner of beginning the year.—American Tit-bits.