_Jeroboam of Claret, &c._ (Vol vii., p.528.).--Is a _magnum_ anything more than a bottle larger {422} than those of the ordinary size, and containing about two quarts; or a _Jeroboam_ other than a witty conceit applied to the old measure _Joram_ or _Jorum_, by some profane _wine-bibber_? H. C. K. _Humbug_ (Vol. vii., p. 631.).--The real signification of the word _humbug_ appears to me to lie in the following derivation of it. Among the many issues of base coin which from time to time were made in Ireland, there was none to be compared in worthlessness to that made by James II. from the Dublin Mint; it was composed of anything on which he could lay his hands, such as lead, pewter, copper, and brass, and so low was its intrinsic value, that twenty shillings of it was only worth twopence sterling. William III., a few days after the Battle of the Boyne, ordered that the crown piece and half-crown should be taken as one penny and one halfpenny respectively. The soft mixed metal of which that worthless coining was composed, was known among the Irish as _Uim bog_, pronounced _Oom-bug_, _i.e._ soft copper, _i.e._ worthless money; and in the course of their dealings the modern use of the word _humbug_ took its rise, as in the phrases "that's a _piece of uimbog_ (humbug)," "don't think to _pass off_ your _uimbug_ on me." Hence the word _humbug_ came to be applied to anything that had a specious appearance, but which was in reality spurious. It is curious to note that the very opposite of _humbug_, _i.e._ false metal, is the word _sterling_, which is also taken from a term applied to the _true_ coinage of the realm, as _sterling_ coin, _sterling_ truth, _sterling_ worth, &c. FRAS. CROSSLEY. _"Could we with ink," &c._ (Vol. viii., pp. 127, 180.).-If Rabbi Mayir Ben Isaac is the _bona fide_ author of the lines in question, or the substance of them, then the author of the _Koran_ has been indebted to him for the following passage: "If the sea were ink, to write the words of my Lord, verily the sea would fail before the words of my Lord would fail; although we added another sea unto it as a farther supply."--_Al Koran_, chap. xviii., entitled "The Cave," translated by Sale. The question is, Did Rabbi Mayir Ben Isaac, author of the Chaldee ode sung in every synagogue on the day of Pentecost, flourish before or since the Mohamedan era? J. W. THOMAS. Dewsbury.