OF THE IVxn OF DECEMBER, 1896. 207 



"quite half a minute" is pjiven (Mr. W. P. "VVillson). Two shocks, 

 with scarcely any interval, were felt near Waltham Cross. 

 Mr. John "Wilson writes of a movement lasting three or four 

 seconds at Reed. 



It will be seen that the duration of the movement as a whole is 

 variously estimated from one or two or a few seconds only up to 

 fifteen seconds (Bayfordbury), twenty seconds (Dr. John Attfield, 

 iMl.S., Watford), thirty seconds (Ardeley Eury), to " quite half 

 a minute" (Hertford), and even to three minutes (AldcnhamV 



As to the time, very little satisfactory and exact information is 

 available. Unfortunately no recording instruments of any kind 

 help us on this point. Mr. Mawley's meteorological instruments 

 at Berkhamsted show no trace of any disturbance, and at the 

 Cambridge Observatory, where the East Anglian earthquake of 

 1884 was (almost accidentally) noticed, the shock that we are now 

 considering passed unobserved. 



Many observers, however, note the time, and there are (as might 

 be expected) considerable variations. Out of 47 notes, three are as 

 early at 5.25, one as late as 5.45. Between these two extremes 

 the largest number (23) give 5.30, and 13 give 5.35 as the time. 

 In general we may take it that these are round figures. 



Exact observations appear to be given by : — Mr. Sidney Martin, 

 "Watford, 5.25 " as nearly as possible" ; Miss Ormerod, St. Albans, 

 5.30 " as near as I could tell " ; Mr. W. Clinton Baker, Bayford- 

 bury. 5.32 ; Mr. G. H. Haywood, Watford, 5.33 to 5.34 ; Mr. W. 

 Hill, Hitchin, 5.34; Dr. Attfield, Watford, 5.34 "Greenwich 

 time"; Miss Grace Jones, Kensworth, 5.35; Mr. E. W. Arnold, 

 Iledbourn Buiy, 5.55 ; and, on the whole, the balance of proba- 

 bility seems in favour of 5.34 as being the nearest minute, for the 

 western side of the County at all events. 



Finally, some materials have accumulated pointing to the direction 

 of propagation of the undulatory or wave-like movement which 

 seems to have traversed Hertfordshire in the superficial crust of 

 the earth. The sketch -plans incorporated in the text are princi- 

 pally published as helping to elucidate this point. The results, 

 however, are by no means clear. Where there are personal observa- 

 tions as well as the movements of inanimate objects in the same 

 locality, they do not always agree. For instance, it will be 

 seen on referring to Plan jS'o. 1, p. 189, that while the observer 

 thought that the movement was from S. to N., the wardrobe doors 

 were opened by a motion which, it would seem, must have been 

 approximately from W. to E., or E. to W. At Watford also the 

 observer was shaken from W. to E., but the bell which was rung, 

 if it swung as it Avould naturally swing, would move on a north-and- 

 south line. It appears, however, that the bell could be made to ring 

 if shaken in any direction. It is possible to bring into harmony the 

 movement experienced by Miss Brunner at Aldenham with the 

 opening of the door reported by her, by assuming a movement from 

 a south-westerly direction, though the door would apparently be 

 most liable to be affected in the way stated by a movement from 



