3o2 
that he sacrificed strict truth for the purpose of writing a ro- 
mantic and sensational story. 
Mr J. B. PEARSON, of Emmanuel College, read a short paper 
on Eur. Phoen, 1115—1118, intended to establish its probable 
genuineness. He pointed out that the legend of Argus was an 
old and well-known one, and argued that the grammatical diffi- 
culties occurring in the passage were not insuperable. Admitting 
that the poet was desirous to introduce an elaborate and some- 
what novel scene out of the legend of Thebes, he suggested that 
anything uncouth or extravagant in the passage might well be 
ascribed to poetic licence. Mr Pearson also stated that the 
authority of the MSS. and Scholiasts was unanimous in recog- 
nizing it, as is not always the case with passages intrinsically 
questionable ; and that it was allowed by some, though not all, 
the best editors, especially Porson, who here dissents from the 
opinion of Valckenaer whom he generally follows. 
February 16, 1874. 
The PRESIDENT (PROFESSOR BABINGTON) in the Chair. 
(1) On the geometrical representation of Cauchy's 
theorems of Root-limitation. By Professor CAy.ey. 
There is contained in Cauchy’s Memoir “Calcul des Indices 
des Fonctions,” Jour. de 0 Ee. Polyt. t. XV. (1837) a fundamental 
theorem, which, though including a well-known theorem in 
regard to the imaginary roots of a numerical equation, seems 
itself to have been almost lost sight of. In the general 
theorem (say Cauchy’s two-curve theorem) we have in a plane 
two curves P=0, (= 0, and the real intersections of these two 
curves, or say the “roots,” are divided into two sets according 
as the Jacobian 
d,P.d,Q—d,Q.d,P 
