March 26, 1903] 



NA TURE 



491 



EARTHQUAKE IN THE MIDLANDS. 



"P ARTHQUAKE shocks were felt at many places 

 *-■' in the midland counties about 1.30 p.m. on 

 Tuesday. The reports which have been received up to 

 the time of going- to press show that the counties of 

 Derby, York, Stafford, Cheshire, Notts and Leicester 

 were affected by the disturbance. Two shocks were 

 felt at most places, one a few minutes after the other. 

 Though no very serious damage was done, the rum- 

 bling- noise and the vibrations due to the earthquake 

 caused much alarm, and people ran from their houses 

 into the streets. We give below a summary of the 

 reports which have appeared in the daily papers, and 

 the report of an interview with Prof. Milne, published 

 in Wednesday's Daily Mail. 



Derbyshire. — Derby. Shocks felt at 1.10 p.m. Duration, 

 5-10 seconds. Houses shaken, windows rattler], and crockery- 

 overturned. Rumbling- noises heard. Second shock at 1.29 

 less severe. — Matlock Bath. Two shocks at about the same 

 time as Derby. Duration, about 45 seconds. Slight 

 rumbling sound. — Alfreton. Three shocks. Many build- 

 ings shaken and cracked. Chimney overthrown. — ,4s/!- 

 bourne. Chimney overthrown. — Buxton and Bakewell. 

 Pictures and ornaments displaced by vibration of walls of 

 houses, and crockery overthrown. 



Nottinghamshire. — Nottingham. Time about 1.30 p.m. 

 Duration, 5-6 seconds. Large buildings in centre of citv 

 seen to sway. 



Yorkshire. — Sheffield. Slight shocks felt. — Dore. Time, 

 1.30 p.m.-i.40 p.m. Houses shaken, bells rang, windows 

 and crockery rattled. — Baslow. Rumblings heard and 

 houses and objects shaken. 



Staffordshire. — Burton-on-Trent. Two shocks felt at 

 1.30 p.m. Windows violently shaken, and crockery and 

 furniture rocked by prolonged vibrations. — Stafford. Time. 

 1.40 p.m. Two shocks. Vibration of ground felt, and 

 objects overturned. — Uttoxcter. Time, 1.32 p.m. Dura- 

 tion, about a minute. Tables and chairs moved several 

 inches. Doors and windows rattled. Bells rang. — Hartley. 

 Time, 1.40 p.m. Duration, 30-40 seconds. Tables and 

 chairs rocked, and many objects overthrown. — Leek. Time, 

 1.35 p.m. Rumbling noise heard, followed directly after- 

 wards by vibration. Second shock of greater intensity felt 

 a few seconds later. Shocks also felt at Stoke, Longton 

 and Ridsgrove. 



Cheshire. — Northwich. Time, 1.30 p.m. Decided move- 

 ment. Objects displaced. — Comberbach. Chairs rocked as 

 though heavy traction engine was passing. 



East Lancashire. — Blackburn. Time, 1.15 p.m. Crockery 

 overthrown. Second but less severe shock at 1.35. 



Prof. Milne's Views. 



" My seismograph photographic films are not yet de- 

 veloped, but they will be to-night, and I shall see whether 

 vibrations of this shock reached as far as the Isle of Wight. 

 It is very doubtful whether they did, because my instru- 

 ments are not constructed to record the exceedingly rapid 

 vibrations which we get from local shocks. 



" The probability is that this earthquake is similar to 

 those which from time to time have had their origin in 

 Leicestershire and the Severn Valley, the last of which was 

 on December 16, 1896. That occurred about 5.30 a.m., and 

 about Hereford did a considerable amount of damage in 

 shattering buildings. In fact, its destructive effect was felt 

 even as far as Birmingham, while people were awakened 

 at Alderley Edge, Manchester, and in towns further north. 

 The vibrations extended eastwards, certainly as far as 

 London. 



" This latest earthquake probably means that there has 

 been some adjustment or slight slip on the line of a pre- 

 existing fault or fracture in the earth's crust. Careful 

 observation of the times at which this has been felt in 

 different parts of Great Britain will no doubt lead to the 

 determination of the extent of such fault, and thereby help 

 the work of the Geological Survey. 



" A very feeble trace of the last Severn earthquake was 

 obtained in the Isle of Wight, but it was difficult to dis- 

 tinguish between what were earthquake and what artificial 



NO. 1743, V OL. 67] 



disturbances. In order to make this distinction in regard 

 to local shocks, it will be necessary for some enthusiast to 

 isolate himself in the centre of a district like Dartmoor, and 

 live the life of a hermit." 



NOTES. 



The investigation of the properties of radium salts has 

 led to many remarkable results, among which those con- 

 tributed by MM. P. Curie and A. Laborde to the current 

 number of the Comptes rendus are not the least remarkable. 

 They adduce evidence to show that radium salts give off heat 

 continuously. The experiments were made in two ways. 

 Two small bulbs, one containing 1 gram of a radiferous 

 barium chloride containing about 1/6 of its weight of radium 

 chloride and the other containing a similar weight of 

 ordinary barium chloride, were placed under similar thermal 

 conditions with a junction of a thermocouple in each bulb. 

 The bulb containing the radium preparation proved to be 

 i°'5 hotter than the other, and this temperature difference 

 was maintained. An independent confirmation was obtained 

 with the Bunsen ice calorimeter. At the moment the radium 

 j bulb was introduced, the mercury, which was previously 

 stationary, commenced to move along the tube with a per- 

 fectly uniform velocity, and on the bulb being taken out the 

 mercury stopped. From these experiments, which are given 

 as preliminary and only roughly quantitative, the authors 

 conclude that a gram of pure radium would give off a 

 quantity of heat of the order of 100 calories per hour, or 

 22,500 per gram-atom per hour, a number comparable with 

 the heat of combustion in oxygen of a gram-atom of hydro- 

 gen. The disengagement of such a quantity of heat cannot 

 be explained by the assumption of any ordinary chemical 

 transformation, and this excludes the theory of a continuous 

 modification of the atom. The heat evolution can only be 

 explained by supposing that the radium utilises an external 

 energy of unknown nature. 



Reports of the following volcanic eruptions and earth- 

 quakes have appeared since we went to press last week : — 

 Vienna. Violent earthquake shocks were experienced during 

 the night of March 19 and early in the morning of March 20 

 in the Semmering district and the Miirz Valley, in Styria. 

 March 21. St. Thomas. Mont Pelfje emitting dense clouds. 

 March 22. 5t. Thomas. There was a violent eruption of 

 the St. Vincent Soufriere. Kingstown was covered with 

 a dense black cloud, the sun being completely obscured. 

 Three inches of sand and rock fragments have fallen at 

 Georgetown and Chateau Belair. Barbados. Complete 

 darkness caused by fall of volcanic dust from the 

 Soufriere. Dominica. Frequent loud detonations heard 

 to the 'south-east, and clouds of dust seen to west- 

 ward. Kaiserslautern. At 6 a.m., and again at 2 p.m., 

 violent earthquake shocks were felt almost everywhere 

 in the south of the Bavarian Palatinate from Landau 

 to Worth. Cuneo (South Piedmont). Earthquake shocks 

 felt, but no damage done. March 23. Grenada. Eruption 

 of tin- Soufriere began 6.30 a.m. ; immense clouds, compara- 

 tive absence of lightning a feature ; no injury beyond heavy 

 fall of sand and small stones two to three inches at George- 

 town ; quieted down during afternoon. March 24. Earth- 

 quake in the Midland Counties (see adjacent column). 



The West African Company's steamship Sokoto, which 

 arrived at Plymouth on March 20, reports having en- 

 countered a sandstorm. The report reads as follows : — 

 " The vessel was enveloped for eight days in a sandstorm 



