Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

The foregoing account is conformed to the designations made use
of by American type founders, but is substantially correct for
England. Agate, however, is called ruby, in England, where,
also, a size intermediate between nonpareil and minion is
employed, called emerald.

   {Point system of type bodies} (Type Founding), a system
      adopted by the type founders of the United States by which
      the various sizes of type have been so modified and
      changed that each size bears an exact proportional
      relation to every other size. The system is a modification
      of a French system, and is based on the pica body. This
      pica body is divided into twelfths, which are termed
      ``points,'' and every type body consist of a given number
      of these points. Many of the type founders indicate the
      new sizes of type by the number of points, and the old
      names are gradually being done away with. By the point
      system type founders cast type of a uniform size and
      height, whereas formerly fonts of pica or other type made
      by different founders would often vary slightly so that
      they could not be used together. There are no type in
      actual use corresponding to the smaller theoretical sizes
      of the point system. In some cases, as in that of ruby,
      the term used designates a different size from that
      heretofore so called.