716 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



it gives, in addition to other elements, the dimensions of the 

 disturbed area and the approximate position of its centre. The 

 illustrative map which Milne prepared shows the positions of 

 these centres and incidentally reveals the great law of their dis- 

 tribution, namely, that earthquakes are most numerous on the 

 side of Japan facing the Pacific Ocean, and especially beneath 

 the ocean bed shelving steeply into the Tuscaroora Deeps. 



Shortly after Milne began the study of earthquakes, he 

 received aid from the British Association in the construction 

 of seismographs and for other allied purposes. Money-grants 

 are made by the Association to committees and never to 

 individuals. But when the chairman of the committee lives in 

 England, and the secretary who does the work in Japan, the 

 committee becomes identified with the secretary. Thus, the 

 fifteen valuable reports of the committee were the work of Milne 

 alone. They gave brief, and readily accessible, summaries of 

 the many investigations which he carried out in Japan. 



Milne remained in Japan for nearly twenty years, and 

 during this time collected an extensive library of earthquake- 

 literature and furnished his observatory with numerous 

 instruments mostly of his own design. The close of his 

 residence in the country was i marked by a deep feeling of 

 animosity among the Japanese towards foreigners generally. 

 Though it was by the action of Russia, France, and Germany 

 alone that they were afterwards deprived of the principal fruits 

 of the war with China, there can be little doubt that it was 

 from political motives that almost the whole of his property was 

 destroyed in February 1895. Early one Sunday morning, a 

 fire broke out in a pile of wood in an outhouse and spread so 

 rapidly that, in half an hour, Milne was standing in his night- 

 dress looking at the smoking ruins of his home, with some 

 papers and a few books at his feet to represent all that was 

 saved of the accumulations of twenty years. Great as it was, 

 the loss, though uncovered by insurance, was not wholly 

 irreparable. The library was in part at least replaced, and 

 Milne with his usual energy at once set about the construction 

 of two new pendulums, so as to lose no time in renewing 

 observations when he arrived in England. 



Milne reached this country and began the third period of 

 his life in July 1895. With his Japanese wife, he made his home 

 at Shide Hill House, near Newport, in the Isle of Wight. 



