IS 
form is tliat of a four-sided stick, each side containing a cj^narter of 
the year, the seasons being sometimes indicated by symbols not 
iinhke those of the Homan tessellated pavements; sometimes by 
events from the Martyrologies, sometimes by the customs of the 
seasons. Thus in one example the beginning of the feasting at 
Ynletide is marked by two cornncopiee, and its termination by a 
cornncopiee with its month turned downwards. 
Aphil 6.— Dr. Procter read a paper ‘‘On the xAi’chmology of 
Zinc and Brass. Zinc is one of the metals which was not known 
to either the Grreeks, Pomans, or Arabians, and no information is 
given of it, or probably allusion even made to it, in their works, 
neither has any specimen of it been found amongst their remains. 
It is not sur^^rising that this metal should have remained unknown 
for so long a time, for indej^endently of the fact that zinc is never 
found native, which has been the case with all the other metals 
with which the ancients were acquainted, the ores are usually 
mixed extensively with foreign ingredients, and the metal itseK is 
readily oxidisable and volatile in the fiumace, so that its metallic 
appearance is readily lost. It is stated that Basil Yalentine fii’st 
used the word zinc, but that Paracelsus, who wrote in the 16th 
century, was the first to associate the word with a metal possessing 
the characters of zinc. It is, however, veiw generally admitted that 
this metal was fii’st discovered in the 13th century, b}^ Albertus 
Magnus. The metal does not seem to have been well known and 
generally used before the latter part of the 17th or the beginning 
of the 18th century. After discussing a passage in Strabo, in 
which some writers have conceived that zinc is indicated. Dr. Procter 
went on to say that whatever doubt may exist as to the antiquity of 
the discovery of zinc, that there can be none as to the fact that 
brass, i. ^., the yellow alloy of copper and zinc, was produced early 
in, if not before, the Christian era. The proof of this statement 
exists in the analysis of objects of known date, and maybe deduced, 
from the description of the process of preparation given by some 
early authors. However, he observed, we may argue on the 
various readings or meaning of ancient authors, it is evident that 
chemical analysis is the greatest and most certain test of their 
knowledge of the manufacture of brass, and the only possible 
objection to conclusions drawn from the results of such examinations 
will exist in the genuine character of the article examined. A list 
of his analysis of 15 ancient coins was then given from b. c. 20 to 
