Among famous diamonds of the world should be mentioned the Koh-i-noor of the British crown, which, Hindu legend relates, was worn five thousand years ago by one of their national heroes. The largest known diamond, weighing three hundred sixty-seven carats, was found in Borneo, and is now owned by the Rajah of Matan. FEBRUARY. FEBRUARY,--fortnights two-- Briefest of the months are you, Of the winter's children last. Why do you go by so fast? Is it not a little strange Once in four years you should change, That the sun should shine and give You another day to live? May be this is only done Since you are the smallest one; So I make the shortest rhyme For you, as befits your time: You're the baby of the year, And to me you're very dear, Just because you bring the line, "Will you be my Valentine?" --_Frank Dempster Sherman._ The snow had begun in the gloaming, And busily all the night Had been heaping field and highway With a silence deep and white. Every pine and fir and hemlock Wore ermine too dear for an earl, And the poorest twig on the elm-tree Was ridged inch-deep with pearl. From sheds new-roofed with Carrara Came Chanticleer's muffled crow, The stiff rails were softened to swan's-down, And still fluttered down the snow. --_Lowell._ LICORICE. (_Glycyrrhiza glabra L._) DR. ALBERT SCHNEIDER, Northwestern University School of Pharmacy. But first he cheweth greyn and _licorys_ To smellen sweete.--_Miller's Tale, l. 504; Chaucer._ The licorice yielding plant is a perennial herb with a thick root-stock, having a number of long sparingly branched roots and very long runners or rhizomes. It belongs to the same family as the peas and beans (_Leguminosæ_). It has purplish flowers with the irregular corolla characteristic of the family. The pods are rather small, much compressed, each with from two to five seeds. The plant is in all probability a native of the warm parts of the Mediterranean region. There are several varieties of _G. glabra_, all of which are more or less extensively cultivated and placed upon the market.