100 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



Eastern Asia, and with reference to their chronological pe- 

 riodicity. In the latter chapter he distinguishes nine de- 

 grees of severity, from the slightest shock to the severest 

 shock accompanied with tidal waves, lie finds groups of 

 earthquakes following each other at intervals of G and 11 

 years, with possibly others of 24 or 25 years, lie also finds 

 considerable analogy between groups that occurred in the 

 9th century and those of the 19th century. With some cer- 

 tainty, he says, we may conclude that after a period of 490 

 years, there occurs a considerable increase in the frequency 

 of earthquakes, with some indications of a 980-year cycle. 



He endeavors to compare his record with Falb's theory 

 of the connection between earthquakes and the attraction of 

 the sun and moon, by taking advantage of the fact that the 

 Japanese use a lunar year in their chronology, and concludes 

 that the occurrence of an earthquake must depend upon the 

 position of the moon. The connection between earthquakes 

 and sun-spots he does not clearly make out ; but in reference 

 to the connection between showers of shooting-stars and the 

 frequency of earthquakes, he gives very many coincidences, 

 and claims an agreement of eighty per cent. In the course 

 of this discussion he enumerates several showers of meteors 

 from Japanese records, which are probably new to English 

 readers, as also several miscellaneous phenomena, as comets, 

 etc. Possibly, however, he does not sufficiently estimate the 

 importance of the fact that meteors and earthquakes are of 

 such frequent occurrence that their coincidences are easy to 

 find and have but little significance. As a contribution of 

 facts, however, Dr. Naumann's memoir cannot be too highly 



7 7 O / 



estimated. Numerous smaller articles of interest have ap- 

 peared during the year in the papers published in Japan. 



Dr. Wagener gives, in the same number of the Mittheilun- 

 gen 9 and following Dr. Naumann's memoir, a short article on 

 the Measurements to be made on the Occasion of Earthquakes, 

 and describes a proposed new apparatus which shall auto- 

 matically register every shock both its time, intensity, and 

 direction. This apparatus differs, he claims, from others in 

 the following points: first, the shocks are not made visible 

 by the difference in motion of two bodies, both of which are 

 exposed to its influence; but one part of the apparatus is al- 

 most entirely free from the effect of the shock, while the oth- 



