72:  Why does Emacs ignore my X resources (my .Xdefaults file)?              -
  
  * Try compiling Emacs with the XBACKWARDS macro defined.  There is a bug
    in some implementations of XGetDefault, which do not correspond to the
    documentation or the header files.
  
  * Make sure you are either using the class name of `Emacs' (oops,          +
    apparently this is buggy in Emacs 18.58!) or the correct instance name.  +
    The instance name is normally the same as the name of the file Emacs is
    in (ie., the last part of argv[0]), but this can be overridden by -rn
    command line option or the WM_RES_NAME environment variable.
  
    WARNING: Reports say using the class name fails in Emacs 18.58.          +
  
    WARNING: The advice the man page gives to use `emacs' is often wrong.
  
    WARNING: Older versions of Emacs got the class name wrong.
  
  * Emacs currently ignores the -xrm command line argument.
  
  * Emacs does not yet handle X11R5 screen-specific resources.
  
  * Emacs has a bug where it ignores color specifications if running on a
    1-bit display (ie. a non-color display).
  
  * I don't think Emacs will use either of the application-specific resource
    files.  Thus these environment variables don't affect it: XAPPLRESDIR,
    XUSERFILESEARCHPATH, XFILESEARCHPATH.  {Correct?}