Wellingto7i Philosophical Society. G37 



dent, Sir James Hector, referred, amongst other defects in our 

 scientific and practical knowledge, to the very unsatisfactory 

 condition of our information on the subjects of magnetic varia- 

 tions and our ocean tides and currents. I fear that, since 

 that date, nothing has been done to remove this lamentable 

 state of ignorance, which really is equally discreditable and 

 dangerous to a colony like this, having such very large ship- 

 ping interests. 



I sincerely hope that the Government, with their fine sur- 

 plus of revenue, will now take action in these important 

 directions, and also in that of completing our apparatus for the 

 observation and record of earthquakes. 



Eaethquakes. 

 The question has been asked. Are there any peculiar meteoro- 

 logical conditions of the atmosphere wdiich are connected 

 with earthquakes? And lately the subject was discussed here 

 with reference to wind. It did not appear that wind and 

 earthquakes were directly connected, although it has been 

 observed on several occasions in New Zealand that, when it 

 has been blowing hard at the time of an earthquake, the wind 

 ceased during the short period occupied by the shock or 

 shocks, and then burst forth again. Possibly this effect may 

 have been due to the rapidly-moving earth-waves having 

 retarded, for a time, the motion of the air in contact with 

 the surface of the earth, the directions of motion having hap- 

 pened to be opposite ; and the subject is worthy of further 

 investigation. But in some parts of the world it has been 

 noticed that previous to an earthquake there has been a 

 peculiar condition of the atmosphere, similar to that preceding 

 a thunderstorm, causing disquietude to animals and giving 

 ■warning to men, and that this condition of the atmosphere 

 has disappeared immediately after the earthquake. I have not 

 been able to trace any record of such a condition of the atmo- 

 sphere having been noticed in connection with earthquakes in 

 New Zealand, but in California it is a well-recognised pheno- 

 menon, and I believed it has been observed in other countries. 

 It has occurred to me that the explanation may be found in the 

 geological conformation of the country where this phenomenon 

 has been observed, together with the facts that are known 

 concerning thermo-electric batteries and electrical induction. 

 If the geological structure of the ground underlying great 

 plains be horizontal strata of varying materials, and in which 

 either the lower strata are more heated than the upper strata, 

 according to the known laws of increase of temperature with 

 increased depth below the earth's surface, — or in which the 

 upper surface is excessively heated by the sun, — then we may 

 have the conditions required for the production of great elec- 



