ANNALS OF THE ACADEMY 87 



sentative of the Royal Society of London. To aid the Royal 

 Society in advising the British Government, he desired to be 

 informed of the views of the National Academy, and the other 

 constituent academies of the Association, as to whether it was 

 deemed desirable to promote the project of the international 

 seismological conference held in Strassburg in April, 1901, for 

 the formation of an international seismological association. The 

 object of this association was to be the solution of the various 

 problems of seismology through the establishment of seismo- 

 logical stations in various parts of the world."" 



The matter was referred to the Council of the National 

 Academy, which appointed a committee to consider it. The 

 committee reported in November, 1905. In the meantime, meet- 

 ings of the International Association of Academies were held in 

 1903 and 1904, and at the latter seismology was a prominent 

 subject of discussion. The report which the committee of the 

 National Academy brought in in 1905 was, however, unfavorable 

 as regards the establishment of seismological stations, on the 

 ground that the theoretical basis of the science was very imper- 

 fect. " Seismometry " the committee remarked, " is open to im- 

 provement in two directions. On the one hand, some able mathe- 

 matical physicist should be commissioned to elaborate the theory 

 of vibrations in a sphere in which elastic properties and density 

 vary with the radius; and on the other hand, experimental 

 physicists should make strenuous efforts to devise a seismometer 

 capable of recording the vertical components of small shocks." " 

 The report ended with a recommendation that the matter be 

 brought to the attention of the Carnegie Institution of Wash- 

 ington, and the Home Secretary was instructed by the Academy 

 to send a copy of the report to that institution. 



At the April meeting, 1904, a committee was appointed to 

 consider the preparation of general plans for international work 

 in solar research and to enter into communication with other 



""See Rep. Nat. Acad. Sci. for 1902, pp. 17-19, where the letter and the plan of the 

 seismological conference are given in full. 

 "Rep. Nat. Acad. Sci., for 1905, p. 16. 



