564 



NA rURE 



[April 13, 1905 



from the regions north of Kashmir, but two days 

 before the first shocli was felt in India the Punjab 

 stations reported the arrival of storms bearing large 

 quantities of dust and ash. Natives arriving at Simla 

 from the interior declare that a volcanic eruption has 

 occurred in the hills in Bashahr State. 



The earthquake was clearly registered by the seis- 

 mograph in the observatory at Gbttingen, and a 

 record was also obtained at the Royal Observatory, 

 Edinburgh. The record began with some very 

 minute tremors about i a.m., while the larger waves 

 began about eight minutes later. The maximum 

 disturbance was recorded about 1.30, and was 

 followed by one of almost equal severity a minute and 

 a half later. From that point the tremors were 

 gradually reduced until 4.43 a.m. The difference of 

 time between Edinburgh and Dharmsala is about five 

 hours. Seismograms recording the earthquake were 

 also obtained by Prof. Milne at Shide, Isle of Wight, 

 and at the hydrographic station at Pola. 



.\ severe earthquake shock, lasting six seconds, was 

 felt at Bcnevento, Italy, at 8.20 p.m. on April 9, and 

 fresh shocks were experienced at Simla on April 10 

 and II. 



The following particulars of the effects produced 

 by the earthquake in various parts of India have been 

 extracted from the extensive reports which have 

 appeared in the daily papers. 



Dharmsala. — .All houses and buildings throughout the 

 entire station, including cantonment and bazaars, totally 

 destroyed, with loss of many lives. About 80 per cent, 

 of the population killed or injured, and from 20 per cent, 

 to 30 per cent, in the neighbouring villages. 



Kangra Valley. — Kangra and Jowala Mukhi and other 

 villages in Kangra Valley reported totally destroyed, and 

 many hundred lives lost. Every building, without excep- 

 tion, in Kangra and Bhawan in ruins. Of a total popu- 

 lation of nearly 5000 in Kangra town it is believed that 

 only about 500 remain alive. Similar state of affairs in 

 most other villages in the neighbourhood. .\t Palampur, 

 in the Kangra district, all the houses, including the 

 Government buildings, reported totally destroyed, and 

 many hundred lives lost. 



Lahore. — h succession of violent shocks caused a panic. 

 The inhabitants rushed from their houses to seek safety 

 in the open. Almost every house suffered by the earth- 

 quake, and much serious damage was done to public and 

 private property, and twenty-five people were killed. The 

 shock created an extraordinary uproar at the zoological 

 gardens. The shrieks of the pea-fowls were heard all over 

 the station, while crows and other birds flew in alarm from 

 the swaying trees. 



Mussooree suffered severely. Two slight shocks were 

 felt during the night of April 3. A succession of shocks 

 began at 6.10 a.m. on April 4, the first, which lasted three 

 minutes, being tne severest. In all eleven shocks were 

 felt. Every house in the city more or less injured. Several 

 small landslips occurred, and many casualties reported. 

 This is the fourth severe earthquake that has happened 

 at Mussooree, and the second worst as regards its effects. 

 Four or five slight shocks were felt during the night of 

 April 4-5. 



Simla. — Much damage done to buildings. The Vice- 

 regal Lodge is so badly damaged that the re-building will 

 occupy several months. Other estate houses have been 

 seriously damaged. Delhi. — The shock was severely felt, 

 and damage was done to buildings, but no reports of injury 

 to monuments. A further shock occurred at midnight on 

 April 4-5. Agra. — A violent shock lasting several 

 minutes, and travelling from west to east, was experienced 

 at fi.io a.m. No reports of injury to architectural monu- 

 ments. 



Jnlandhar. — Much damage done, .imritsar. — Extensive 

 damage, and several lives lost. Atnbnla. — A large number 

 of houses thrown down. Srinager.— Much damage, and 

 severnl lives lost. .lfnrf;,-i.— Serious damage. .Sialkot.— 

 Not a house escaped damage of some sort, but no lives 

 lost. Dalhousie. — Property damaged, but no deaths. 

 NO. 1850, VOL. 71] 



Kashmir. — Communication interrupted by landslips and 

 accidents to telegraph lines. 



Slight tremors appear to have been recorded at Calcutta 

 and Bombay, but no decided disturbance was felt. 



PROF. PIETRO TACCHINl. 

 T^HE death of Prof. P. Tacchini on March 24, at 

 -'■ the age of sixty-seven years, has caused much 

 regret among men of science interested in celestial 

 and terrestrial physics. Italy has thus lost a re- 

 presentative man of science who especially devoted 

 himself to the cause of astronomy with zeal and 

 patience. For many years, as director of the 

 Observatory of the Collegio Romano, he proved 

 himself an indefatigable observer of planets and 

 comets; but recently this position has been filled by 

 Prof. Millosewich, and Prof. Tacchini had been known 

 as the director of the C"entral Office of Meteorology 

 and Geodynamics. But the especial work with which 

 his name will ever be connected has been upon lines 

 that have long commended themselves to Italian 

 observers. Secchi made his reputation in the domain 

 of spectroscopy and solar observation, and the example 

 he set has been followed with no less eagerness and 

 success by the distinguished astronomer whose death 

 we have now to regret. .Ml that related to sun-spots, 

 faculae, or protuberances had a fascination for 

 Tacchini, and for years past our columns have borne 

 witness to his continuous devotion to this subject. 

 He was particularly interested in the heliographical 

 distribution of solar phenomena, and every three 

 months, in the pages of the Mem. degli Spettro- 

 scopisti Italiani or the Comptes rendus, he recorded 

 the variations and gave comparative tables showing 

 the growth or decline of solar activity as testified by 

 these outbursts. Researches carried on so long and 

 so industriously cannot but prove of eminent service, 

 and we may well hope that the work he inaugurated 

 will be carried on with equal zeal by his successors. 

 Prof. Tacchini's work in this direction well deserved 

 the Janssen prize which was awarded him by the 

 Paris Academy of Sciences in 1892. 



To a solar observer of such ardour, eclipses of the 

 sun especially appealed, and he took part in several 

 expeditions to observe these phenomena. He was 

 present on the Caroline Island reef, where he associ- 

 ated himself with the French party organised by 

 Janssen. Again in Egypt, and later on in 1886, he 

 visited the American continent for the purpose of 

 observing the great eclipse in that year. On this 

 occasion he showed, by comparing the forms and 

 appearances of the prominences seen during the 

 eclipse with the images ordinarily seen in the spectro- 

 scope, that it is only the vaporous cores of these 

 objects which are rendered visible by the usual 

 methods of observation. In many other ways he 

 showed not only his skill as a spectroscopist, but 

 his anxiety to promote astronomical knowledge. He 

 l;iboured long and diligentlv in the cause of science, 

 and left a reputation that his countrymen will cherish; 

 while his memory will be held in esteem by the 

 astronomers of many nations. He was elected a 

 foreign member of the Royal Society in 1891, and was 

 awarded the Rumford medal of the society. He was 

 also a foreign associate of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society in 1883, and many other societies have been 

 proud to enrol his name among those of their 

 honoured fellows. 



The progress of solar ph\ sics is largely due to Prof. 

 Tacchini's unreniittine- l;\l)ours ; and the numerous 

 papers published by him on solar phenomena stand 

 as an enduring monument of work done by a pioneer 

 in n fruitful field of scientific inquiry. 



