588 



NA rURE 



[April i8, 1901 



evidence at the inquiry, and it is interesting to note the 

 grounds given for the various opinions held. 



Prof. Kennedy, who is adviser to the Westminster 

 Corporation, advanced the argument that if the 200-volt 

 lamp were really less efficient than the 100- volt, then 

 the consumption of energy per lamp connected to the 

 mains should have steadily increased since 1897, as more 

 and more consumers were changed over to the higher 

 pressure. But this argument is, as Prof. Ayrton pointed 

 out, quite fallacious ; if the consumer is supplied with a 

 200-volt so-called 8 c.p. lamp, which is, in reality (as in 

 an actual case quoted by Prof Ayrton), only giving a 

 candle-power of r8 and is consuming 15-3 watts per 

 candle, it will only consume 28 watts ; the consumption 

 of energy is therefore rather less than with a 100- volt 

 8 c.p. lamp giving its correct candle-power and con- 

 suming 4 watts per candle. The consumption of energy 

 per lamp in cases like this goes down, from which 

 Prof. Kennedy would argue that the efficiency has gone 

 up ; whereas, as a matter of fact, it has diminished 

 enormously, the effect appearing, not in an increased 

 bill, but in a decrease of light. As a matter of fact, this 

 is the way in which the inefficient lamps show their bad- 

 ness ; they do not maintain their correct candle-power 

 and take more watts, but they fall off in candle-power for 

 the same consumption of energy. This was exemplified 

 in the evidence given by Mr. B. M. Drake. Most en- 

 gineers and lamp-makers call the watts consumed per 

 candle by the lamp its efficiency, though, as a matter of 

 fact, this quantity is a measure of the inefficiency. Mr. 

 Drake prefers to measure the inefficiency by the com- 

 plaints received per customer, and there can be no doubt 

 that, though unscientific, this is a very good way of getting 

 at an average value. According to this standard, Mr. 

 Drake finds that the 200-volt lamp is much inferior to 

 the 1 00- volt. 



There was not wanting evidence in favour of the 200- 

 volt lamp, but the majority of the experts, certainly in 

 the cases in which the results of actual tests were given, 

 were against it. To take one other instance, Mr. Gunyon, 

 on behalf of the London County Council, gave evidence to 

 the effect that the 200-volt lamp cost more, lasted for 

 fewer hours, and was less efficient than the loo-volt ; he 

 gave the results of tests on four different makes of 200-volt 

 lamps, the average consumption of energy in the new 

 lamps coming out at 5-4, 4"i' 5*8 and 5-6 watts per candle 

 respectively, the good value (4-1) being for a foreign make 

 of lamps. These figures show that lamp-makers have by 

 no means yet got over the difficulties of the manufacture 

 of the 200-volt lamp which were pointed out by Mr. Byng 

 in a paper read before the Institution of Electrical 

 Engineers three years ago {Journal of the Institution of 

 Electrical Engineers, 1898, vol. xxvii. p. 118). That they 

 will ultimately triumph over the difficulties all must 

 hope ; that they have satisfactorily done so now cannot, 

 we think, be maintained. 



The inferiority of the high-voltage lamp is, however, 

 as we have pointed out, not the only consideration ; the 

 change is, without doubt, beneficial to the supply company, 

 and it must, moreover, be remembered that in many cases 

 the change has been all but completely carried out. The 

 Westminster Corporation have only some half a dozen 

 consumers who are still being supplied at the low pres- 

 sure ; the remainder, either through choice, through in- 

 difference, or through ignorance of their power to refuse, 

 have submitted to the change. No doubt these few 

 outstanding consumers are an annoyance to the company 

 and a source, possibly, of loss, although the company have 

 raised the price they are charging them to the maximum 

 allowable ; yet we cannot help sympathising with the 

 consumer who objects to being compelled to use what 

 he honestly, and with justice, beHeves to be a worse 

 article. 



NO. 1642, VOL. 63] 



T 



SEISMOLOGY IN JAPAN. 

 HE chief interest attached to the pubHcations men- 

 tioned below ^ is the fact that while giving us an 

 insight into the attitude taken by the Government of 

 Japan in regard to seismology, they form an important 

 link in the history of 'the modern development of that 

 subject. 



On February 22, 1880, a rather severe earthquake so 

 far excited the curiosity of the inhabitants of Tokyo 

 and Yokohama that, with the object of studying such 

 tremblings, a Seismological Society was founded. This 

 society existed for twelve years and published twenty 

 volumes. The usefulness of its work, attracting the at- 

 tention of the Japanese Government, led to the establish- 

 ment of a chair of seismology at the Imperial University, 

 and the organising of a bureau which now controls nearly 

 1000 observing stations. The next great stimulus that 

 seismology received came from the terrible disaster of 

 October 28, 1891. Ten thousand persons were killed, 

 more than fifteen thousand were wounded, and thirty 

 million dollars' worth of property were destroyed. A 

 comparison of the buildings which remained standing 

 with those which were shattered and those which were 

 utterly ruined indicated that something might be done to 

 minimise such disasters, and to accomplish this, by virtue 

 of an Imperial Ordinance, on June 25, 1892, an Earth- 

 quake Investigation Committee was established. Thii 

 body consists of some twenty-eight members selected 

 from amongst the best-known engineers, architects and 

 men of science in Japan^ Two well-known names — Prof. 

 D. Kikuchi and Dr. F. Omori— appear as president and 

 secretary. The modus vivendi, which can be seen in 

 the Parliamentary Budget, seems to have an annual 

 variation of from 1000/. to 5000/. Amongst the various 

 investigations which this committee proposed to under- 

 take we find the following : — 



To collect documents relating to seismology and vol- 

 canology ; to draw up a statistical account of seismic 

 phenomena in Japan, such, for example, as might be 

 required by insurance companies whose risks extend to 

 disasters caused by earthquakes ; to conduct geological 

 researches bearing upon seismology ; to extend ^-our 

 knowledge respecting the nature of earthquake motion ; 

 to determine the velocities with which earthquakes are 

 propagated' from point to point ; to make observations 

 on changes in the vertical and earth " pulsations " ; to 

 compare the movements resulting from given earth- 

 quakes as recorded on the surface of the earth and 

 at depths which are comparable with the depths 

 to which foundations of buildings may be carried ; to 

 extend observations on the variability of magnetic 

 elements, there being reasons to believe that these may 

 hold a certain relationship to seismic activities ; to ob- 

 serve changes in temperature at great depths ; to deter- 

 mine strength constants for building materials produced 

 in Japan ; to measure accelerations and maximum 

 velocities necessary for the shattering, overturning or 

 projection of various bodies, amongst which no less than 

 sixteen types of model houses are specified ; to erect 

 buildings specially designed to resist earthquakes ; to 

 study the effects of earthquakes on modern construction ; 

 and generally the committee undertook to make any in- 

 vestigation which may ultimately result in reducing the 

 loss of life and property which so frequently accompanies 

 violent earthquakes. 



Although only nine years have elapsed since this 

 elaborate programme was formulated, every item in it 

 has received serious attention. 



From volumes iii. and iv. we see that Profs. Tanabe 

 and Mano have worked at the strength constants ot 



1 Publications of the Earthquake Investigation Committee in Foreign 

 Languages. No. 3, pp. 103 ; No. 4> PP- 141 ; No. 5, pp. 82 ; and No. o, 

 pp. 181. (Tokyo, 1900-1901.) 



