JOHN MILNE 715 



Seismological Society. He certainly did most of its work. 

 Of the sixteen volumes of Transactions published by the Society 

 and of the four volumes of the Seismological Journal which he 

 afterwards edited, he wrote not less than two-thirds. But his 

 labours did not end with his actual contributions. It was under 

 his guidance and led by his enthusiasm that many of the other 

 papers were written, and that native investigators, and in par- 

 ticular the present eminent professor of seismology at Tokyo, 

 were trained to carry on the work after his return to Europe. 



The papers which Milne contributed to these twenty volumes 

 vary widely in their subjects. There were indeed few branches 

 of the science with which he did not at some time or other deal. 

 Occasionally he would touch on the lighter side, such as the 

 effects of earthquakes on animals and the emotional and moral 

 effects of earthquakes on human beings. He made many experi- 

 ments on artificial earthquakes caused by the fall of heavy iron 

 balls or by explosions of dynamite. The minute, and some- 

 times almost incessant, tremors of the ground attracted much of 

 his attention, and he was probably correct in attributing them, 

 in part at least, to the pressure of the wind on the mountains of 

 Central Japan. He soon recognised that the vibrations of a 

 given earthquake varied in strength and period in different parts 

 of Tokyo, and this led him to carry out what he called a seismic 

 survey of that city. Of still greater importance were his survey 

 of the whole of Japan and his determination of the districts 

 in which the principal earthquakes originated. His mode of 

 working was characteristic. Enlisting the aid of numerous 

 observers in all parts of the country, he provided them with 

 bundles of postcards, one of which with the necessary details 

 was sent to him whenever an earthquake was felt. In this way 

 he was able to determine the region beneath which each earth- 

 quake occurred, and thus to ascertain and map those parts of 

 the country that were most liable to be shaken. But the method 

 had other and more permanent results, for it led to the forma- 

 tion of the network of nearly a thousand observing stations 

 which are now scattered over the empire of Japan. Of this 

 valuable system Milne was able to avail himself in the last work 

 which he published before leaving the country. The concluding 

 volume of the Seismological Journal consists of his great catalogue 

 of 8,331 Japanese earthquakes during the years 1885-92. The 

 volume, however, is no mere list of dates. For each earthquake 



