474 



NATURE 



[June 9, 192 1 



by fissures in which houses have disappeared, and 

 are blocked by avalanches which have fallen from 

 the ravines. Father Gherzi estimates the loss of 

 life at more than 40,000, by no means a large 

 figure for an earthquake of this character. Probably 

 the real number will never be known, as it is a 

 custom in this district for families to live in caves 

 hollowed out in the loess along the river-sides, which 

 in many cases were blocked by the fall of avalanches. 



The isoseismal 4, which forms the boundary of 

 the known disturbed area, is incomplete towards the 

 west. Its mean radius, in the portiort drawn, is about 

 a thousand miles. Thus the disturbed area probably 

 contains more than three million square miles, ana 

 is perhaps not much inferior in extent to the whole 

 of Europe. At the present time the largest disturbed 

 areas known to us are those of the Assam earthquake 

 of 1897 (about if million square miles), the Kangra 

 earthquake of 1905 (nearly 2 million square miles), 

 and the Charleston earthquake of 1886 (about 

 2,800,000 square miles). The last area is, however, 

 bounded by an isoseismal line of intensity 2. If the 

 corresponding isoseismal could have been drawn for 

 the Chinese earthquake, the figure given above for 

 its disturbed area would have to be multiplied several 

 times. In any case it is clear that we are dealing 

 with a shock which, if not the greatest, is certainly 

 one of the greatest, known to us since earthquakes 

 began to be studied. 



Since the foregoing was written, a report by a small 

 party of foreign travellers has appeared in the Times 

 of June 4. Though the travellers were unable to 

 examine the whole of the central region, they state 

 that the shock was felt principally within an area of 

 15,000 square miles, bounded approximately by the 

 parallels of 35° and 37° and the meridians of 105° 

 and 107°, thus agreeing with the result deduced from 

 Father Gherzi 's map. The loss of life, however, is 

 estimated at a far higher figure than that given above. 

 "The prefectural Taoyin of Pingliang puts the total 

 loss of life at 180,000, or one-third of the whole 

 population ; 30,000 perished at Kuyuan. Haicheng 

 appears to have been almost completely buried by the 

 surrounding hills tumbling in upon it, about 70,000 

 people being entombed." Such a total has but rarely 

 been approached, and only twice, I believe, surpassed. 

 The number of deaths due to the Messina earthquake 

 of iqo8 cannot fall far short of 100,000. In the Indian 

 earthquake of 8q3 180,000 persons are said to have 

 perished ; in the Japanese earthquake of 1703, 200,000 ; 

 and in the Indian earthquake of 1737 the reported 

 number rises to a maximum of 300,000. 



Stereochemistry. 



AT the seventh Indian Science Congress Prof. 

 B. K. Singh, who presided over the chemistry 

 section, delivered an address on " Recent Advances in 

 Stereochemistry," which has since been published in 

 pamphlet form. 



After reviewing the early development of the subject 

 by Pasteur, the theory of the asymmetric carbon of 

 van't Hoff and Le Bel, and the later researches on 

 asymmetric nitrogen, sulphur, and selenium by Pope, 

 Peachey, and others. Prof. Singh proceeds to discuss 

 the more obscure relations subsisting between the 

 amount of rotation and the constitution of the active 

 substances. In this connection he touched on the 

 work of Pickard and Kenyon, the main outcome of 

 whose researches was to indicate a sudden rise of 

 rotation produced at th^ end of a chain of five or a 

 multiple of five carbon atoms — a phenomenon which 

 was explained by the proximity of the first and fifth 



NO. 2693, VOL. 107] 



carbon atoms in the chain. Reference was also made 

 to the work of H. O. Jones on the activity of 

 quaternary ammonium bases containing different 

 radicals and certain generalisations which followed. 

 The influence of conjugation, as illustrated by the 

 work of Rupe, and the abnormally high rotations pro. 

 duced in the derivatives of ammo-camphor were also 

 reviewed. This was followed by a reference to the 

 relation of optical activity to position isomerism, with 

 a discussion of Frankland's theory. 



Prof. Singh, who has himself contributed certain 

 observations on the subject, comes to the conclusion 

 that neither Frankland's theory nor what he terms 

 "Cohen's rule " accords with the facts; but omits to 

 point out that both his own and Frankland's observa- 

 tions are made with dissolved substances in which 

 the solvent may, and frequently does, modify the 

 rotation, whereas Cohen and his co-workers pur- 

 posely avoided the use of any solvent. Finally, the 

 address dealt with those mysterious changes of rota- 

 tion known as "the Walden inversion," which are 

 effected by certain reagents, when one constituent of 

 an asymmetric group undergoes replacement. The 

 earlier theories based upon change of structure due 

 to the reagent have since been shown to be untenable 

 in the light of the work of Senter and Drew, who 

 find that with the same reagent different solvents may 

 produce a similar inversion. J. B. C. 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



Birmingham. — At the meeting of the Council of the 

 University held on Wednesday, June i, Mr. Walter 

 H. Moberly was appointed to the chair of philosophy 

 to succeed Prof. J. H. Muirhead, who is retiring 

 from the chair in September next. Mr. Moberly is 

 dean, fellow, and tutor of Lincoln College, Oxford, 

 and one of the best known of the younger teachers of 

 political and social philosophy in the Philosophy and 

 History School of that University. His experience of 

 municipal administration as a member of the Oxford 

 City Council and his work with the Workers' Educa- 

 tional Association should contribute to make him a 

 fitting successor to Prof. J. H. Muirhead. 



Dr. H. J. W. Tillyard has been appointed to the 

 chair of Russian, and Signorina L. P. di Castel- 

 vecchio to the Serena chair of Italian. Dr. Tillyard is 

 the first occupant of the chair of Russian in the Uni- 

 versity — a chair founded on the fund collected for the 

 purpose by the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce. 

 Signorina di Castelvecchio is the first professor of 

 Italian to occupy the chair founded on a generous 

 benefaction from Mr. Arthur Serena and on funds col- 

 lected by the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce. 

 She is the first woman to be appointed to a chair in 

 the University. 



The Council has also appointed Mr. E. H. F. Mills, 

 fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, and secre- 

 tary of the University Library, Cambridge, to the 

 office of librarian which will shortly be vacant by the 

 retirement of Mr. W. H. Cope. 



Cambridge. — Dr. G. E. Moore, Trinity College, and 

 Mr. W. E. Johnson, King's College, have been re- 

 elected University lecturers in moral science, and 

 Mr. F. Debenham, Gonville and Caius College, has 

 been re-elected L^niversity lecturer in surveying and 

 cartography. Mr. J. A. Venn, Trinity College, has 

 been nominated Gilbey lecturer in the history and 

 economics of agriculture. Mr. J. C. Wallace has 

 been elected a junior fellow of Emmanuel College. 



Miss F. E. Haines has been elected to a scientific 

 fellowship at Girton College, and Miss M. T. Budden 

 to an associates' fellowship in mathematics at Newn- 

 ham College. 



