ABOUT EARTHQUAKES

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 25, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 46.

ABOUT EARTHQUAKES.

EARTHQUAKE science, which attracts little attention in the United States, has made great strides during the last few years. Prof. John Milne observes that only very recently an earthquake was looked upon as a transient phenomenon lasting a few seconds, or at most two or three minutes, while now, by the aid of the seismograph, it is possible to discover and record all the tremors preliminary to and following an earthquake. From his residence in the Isle of Wight, Professor Milne was last year able to take records of two of the most destructive earthquakes in Japan, and in one case to predict that the occurrence of an earthquake at a certain time in Japan would be reported, the only inaccuracy in his prediction proving to be an error of one minute in time.

The earthquakes now recorded in Japan, which is pre-eminently the land of such phenomena, exceed 1,000 a year. Seismology is being taken up in that country with great eagerness, making it certain that earthquake study throughout the world will be revolutionized very soon, and the Japanese have already profited by the work done, to the extent of entirely altering the character of their buildings, and thus greatly reducing the loss from earthquakes. A committee of the British Association for the Advancement of Science is seeking cooperation in an effort to extend and systematize the observation of earth movements.—N. Y. World.