January 21, 19 15] 



NATURE 



565 



C. S. Prosser, Ohio State University; F, Zoology, 

 Prof. V. L. Kellogg, Stanford University; G, Botany, 

 Prof. W. A. Setchell, University of California; H, 

 Anthropology and Psychology, Prof. G. M. Stratton, 

 University of California; I, Social and Economic 

 Science, Dr. Geo. F. Kunz, of New York; K, 

 Physiology and Experifitental Medicine, Prof. F. P. 

 Gav, University of California; L, Education, Prof. 



E. P. Cubberley, Stanford University; M, Agriculture, 

 Prof. Eugene Davenport, University of Illinois. 



Permanent Secretary : Dr. L. O. Howard, Smith- 

 sonian Institution, re-elected for a five-year period 

 from August 20, 1915. 



General Secretary: Dr. Henry Skinner, Academy 

 of Natural Sciences. Philadelphia, Pa. 



Secretary of the Council : Prof. W. E. Henderson, 

 Ohio State University. 



Secretaries of the Sections : A, Forest R. Moulton, 

 University of Chicago, Chicago, 111. ; B, \V. J. Hum- 

 phreys, U.S. Weather Bureau, Washington, D.C. ; 

 C, J. Johnston Geophysical Laborator\-, Carnegie In- 

 stitution of Washington, Washington, D.C. ; D, A. H. 

 Blanchard, Columbia University, New York ; E, G. F. 

 Kay, State Universitv of Iowa, Iowa Citv, Iowa ; 



F, H. V. Neal, Tufts College, Mass; G, W. J. V. 

 Osterhout, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. ; 

 H, G. G. MacCurdy, Yale University, New Haven, 

 Conn. ; I, S. C. Loomis, 69 Church Street, New 

 Haven Conn. ; K, C. E. A. Winslow ; L, S. A. Courtis, 

 Liggett School, Detroit, Mich. ; M, E. W. Allen, 

 Office of Experiment Stations U.S. Department of 

 Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 



Treasurer : R. S. Woodward, Carnegie Institution 

 of Washington, Washington, D.C. 



Assistant Secretarv : F. S. Hazard, Office of the 

 A.A.A.S., Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 



THE EARTHQUAKE IN CENTRAL ITALY. 

 "T^HE earthquake of January 13 was by no means 

 -L one of the first order of magnitude, but it 

 was the most destructive of which we possess 

 any record. In Avezzano, which formerly con- 

 tained 11,000 inhabitants, the death-rate amounts 

 to 90 per cent. , while it rises still hig-her in some 

 of the adjoining villages, in Cese to 94 per cent., 

 and in Lapelle to 97 per cent. Before this, the 

 highest known death-rate was 81 per cent, at 

 Avendita during the Norcian earthquake of 1703. 

 There can be little doubt that the disastrous 

 character of this earthquake was as usual due to 

 the faulty construction of the houses, which con- 

 sisted of stones with little or no binding of cement. 

 Partly, also, it was due to the comparative im- 

 munity of the central district from great earth- 

 quakes in the past, which has allowed such 

 buildings to survive. 



Few details of scientific value have as yet 

 reached this country. The earthquake occurred 

 at 7.53 a.m. (or 6.53, Greenwich mean time). At 

 Rome, it lasted from 15 to 20 seconds. Near the 

 epicentre, there was one shock of great violence, 

 followed by three others. In other neighbouring 

 places, two prolonged shocks were felt. The 

 principal epicentre was no doubt close to Avez- 

 zano, probably within five miles of that town. It 

 was in this district that the high death-rates 

 occurred. There was apparently, however, a 

 secondary epicentre including Sora, where 500 

 persons lost their lives, and Isola Liri ; and it is 



NO. 2360, VOL. 94] 



possible that the double shock noticed at some 

 places was due to impulses in two corresponding 

 foci, about twenty or twenty-five miles apart. 

 The area of perceptible damage to buildings 

 extends almost across the peninsula, from Rome 

 on the west to Chieti on the east, these places 

 being no miles apart. Towards the north, the 

 shock was felt at Ancona, Perugia, and Grosseto, 

 and, towards the south, at Naples and Potenza ; 

 that is, over an area roughly 300 miles long, 240 

 miles wide, and containing about 56,000 square 

 miles. The shock was recorded at many distant 

 observatories, including those in this country and 

 at Washington. The after-shccks must have been 

 very numerous in the epicentral area. More than 

 120 were registered at Rome during the first two 

 days, all of them slight, with the exception of one 

 at 8.14 a.m. on January 14. 



Earthquakes are neither frequent nor severe in 

 the district chiefly affected. Dr. Baratta, in his 

 "I terremoti d'ltalia," defines in it two distinct 

 seismic zones, one including Sora and Isola Liri, 

 the other, less important in the past, extending 

 from Avezzano to Anticoli. To the former zone 

 belong the strong earthquakes of August 19, 1777, 

 and May q, 1891 ; and, to the latter, the earth- 

 quake of April 10, 1885. The recent shock must 

 have been far stronger than any of these earth- 

 quakes, and, as pointed out above, it seems to 

 have consisted of almost simultaneous impulses 

 in both the Avezzano and Sora centres. 



C. Davison. 



VICE-ADMIRAL SIR GEORGE NARES, 

 K.C.B., F.R.S. 



BORN at Aberdeen in 1831, G. S. Nares entered 

 the Navy on board H.M.S. Canopus, an old 

 battleship captured from the French, in 1845, ^'^^ 

 was transferred to the Havantiah, a frigate for 

 service in the Pacific, in 1847. He passed his 

 examination for lieutenant in 185 1, and, coming 

 home shortly afterwards, was appointed to the 

 Resolute, and sent to the Arctic in the expedition 

 under Captain Sir E. Belcher in search of the 

 Franklin Exf>edition. His service up to the time 

 he was a lieutenant was entirely in sailing vessels, 

 the motive power of which was the wind applied 

 to the propulsion of vessels by masts, yards, and 

 sails, and this early training made him a thorough 

 master of managing vessels in all circumstances 

 of wind and weather, and although during his 

 service after returning from the Arctic in 1854 he 

 was employed in vessels that were furnished with 

 auxiliary steam power, he was always pleased 

 when he could navigate his vessel under sail alone. 

 One instance of this may be given. When at 

 Malta in the Newport in 1869 the chief engineer 

 of that vessel, who was anxious not to go to sea 

 on the day named because he wanted to attend 

 some function on shore with his wife, asked to be 

 given forty-eight hours to take off the cylinder 

 covers. Captain Nares, as he then was, replied : 

 " By all means." The chief engineer was jubilant, 



