Minutes of Proceedings, 
XXV 
of some seventy eclipses which occurred between b.c. 1250 and B.C. 950, 
the extreme limits of date which seem to be compatible with the inscrip- 
tion, and finds that three of these only appear to satisfy the prescribed 
conditions of having been visible from the neighbourhood of Babylon at a 
time of year corresponding with the twenty- sixth day of the month Sivan, 
viz., those of —1217 June 5th, —1123 May 18th, and —956 May 31st. 
The identification of this eclipse is of importance as bearing on the theory 
of the moon's motion, as well as in relation to doubtful points concerning 
the chronology of the earlier kings of Babylon. 
Sylvester's Axisymmetric Unisignants," by T. Mum. 
Ordinary Monthly Meeting. 
June 21, 1911. 
Dr. Marius Wilson in the Chair. 
Nominations : E. D. McLeish, Kimberley, by J. E. Sutton and 
L. Peringuey. 
Elections : J. E. Devlin ; Dr. Simpson-Wells. 
"A Note on the Principal Systematic Work and Publications dealing 
with the South African ProteaceaB," by E. P. Phillips. 
The first recorded publication of a member of this order was by 
Clusius in 1605. In 1720 Boerhaave attempted a systematic study of 
the order, but it was not until 1809 that a really scientific monograph 
was published by Salisbury ; in the following year appeared the classic 
work of Eobert Brown. The standard work on the order is a monograph 
by Dr. Meisner, which appeared in De Candolle's Prodromus in 1856, 
where 279 species are described. The writer undertook to revise the 
order, and has recorded between 300 and 400 species. The genera Dia- 
stella, Salisb., and Orothamnus, Pappe, sunk by Meisner, have been re- 
established, and one new genus, SpatalloiJsis, Phillips, founded. 
"The Spectrum of the Euby," Part II., and the "Artificial Euby," by 
J. MOIR. 
BjT- examination of the ruby with better instruments, the complete 
spectrum of 8 hair lines has been discovered ; they are best seen in 
the artificial ruby, which is identical with the natural ruby in all respects, 
and when free from flaws is actually superior to the natural gem. 
" Notes on the Spectrum of the Precious Emerald, and other Gem 
Stones," by J. Moir. 
The emerald spectrum contains three very difficult hair lines in the 
red. Sapphires have no hair lines in their spectrum. Artificial emeralds 
are green sapphires, and have an indefinite spectrum, as is also the case 
