TIMES AND PLACES OF EARTHQUAKES 541 



There are, however, some lessons of immediate practical impor- 

 tance which have been learnt by seismological study; we may again 

 quote from Professor Milne's Bakerian lecture : 



At the Imperial University of Tokio a platform was constructed which by 

 means of powerful machinery could be made to reproduce earthquake motion of 

 varying intensity. On this table large models of masonry, wood, and metal 

 designed to resist expected seismic accelerations were tested. This table has 

 been to the builders in Japan what a testing tank in a dockyard has been to 

 constructors of large vessels. The ultimate result of these and other investi- 

 gations has been to modify and extend the rules and formulae of ordinary con- 

 struction, and now in Japan, as opportunity presents itself, new types of struc- 

 ture are springing up. These have withstood violent shakings which have 

 materially damaged ordinary types in the neighborhood. While much has thus 

 been done to reduce the loss of life and property, the Japanese government, 

 stimulated by the results of this experience, has been encouraged to extend its 

 support to seismological investigations in general. 



In 1886 the chair of seismology was established at the Imperial University, 

 and since 1892 there has been in existence a seismological investigation com- 

 mittee, which has already issued 70 quarto volumes. At the Central Meteoro- 

 logical Observatory in Tokio records are received from nearly 1,500 observing 

 centers. 



From these paragraphs it will be seen that there are questions 

 which merit the close study of engineers and architects whose work 

 lies in the dangerous regions, though but little attention has been paid 

 to them except by that wonderful little people who have already taught 

 us more than they learnt from us. It is some consolation, doubtless, 

 to reflect that modern seismology owed its origin to Englishmen. It 

 was the little community of Englishmen who were invited in 1880 to 

 ' pitch their tents on the trembling soil of Japan/ in order to teach the 

 Japanese something of western civilization, who began to study these 

 earthquakes, and enlisted the sympathy of the Japanese government in 

 the matter. The sequel in this case as in others suggests comparison, 

 not perhaps between the disciple and his master, but between the treat- 

 ments which they have received at the hands of the world in general 

 and governments in particular. While seismological research has been 

 stimulated and rewarded in Japan in the manner above indicated, 

 Professor Milne's heroic exertions in England have met with very 

 little recognition. Practically single-handed he has organized forty 

 stations all over the world, where records are obtained, and has carried 

 on the correspondence and clerical work necessary to keep them in 

 communication and coordinate the records. Until recently the only 

 assistance accorded him of any kind was a small grant of about £20 

 a year made by the British Association — all they could afford in view 

 of the numerous claims on their small funds — which barely sufficed to 

 buy the paper and chemicals for his own recording station at Shide. 



