NATURE 



[July 6, 191 1 



I believe that if such a scheme as this were put 

 forward as a compromise, those who declined to 

 consider it as a way out of the present impasse 

 would put themselves in the wrong, in the 

 minds of straight-thinking people who know the 

 history of the question and the requirements of science 

 taken as a whole. 



It must be remembered that these museums, to 

 obtain their highest use, must be in close association 

 with institutions in which teaching of the correspond- 

 ing sciences is carried on, and reciprocally the insti- 

 tutions for higher teaching and research which are 

 already housed at South Kensington require museums 

 of the several sciences in the immediate neighbour- 

 hood. In view of these requirements, the removal of 

 one or other of the museums to a distant site is not 

 a practicable alternative. By the compromise here 

 suggested a real Science Museum, in its widest sense, 

 would be established, with two branches dealing re- 

 spectively with the natural history and the physical 

 and mechanical sciences, in immediate contiguity to 

 the Imperial College. It only wants a consideration 

 of the many memorials presented to the Government 

 since 1858, and of the recommendations of the Duke 

 of Devonshire's Royal Commission of 187.1. to be 

 perfectly certain that in the future the two museums 

 will be under one master instead of two. 



Norman Lockyer. 



EARTHQUAKES AND LUMINOUS 

 PHENOMENA. 



T N vol. xiv., No. 6, 7, and S, of the Bollettina della 

 *■ Societa Sismologica Italiana, we find a very long 

 paper by Dr. lgnazio Galli on the collection and classi- 

 fication of luminous phenomena observed at the time 

 of earthquakes. After an introduction, he considers 

 that which might be excluded and the difficulties first 

 met with in the formation of a catalogue of the 

 phenomena he discusses. The illustrations which he 

 gives of luminosities and other strange phenomena 

 which have appeared at or about the time of earthquakes- 

 are 148 in number. The date of the first is 89 B.C., 

 and the last March 30, 1910. These descriptions 

 occupy 184 pages. The various luminosities are classi- 

 fied under more than twelve heads, and to these are 

 added the number of times that earthquakes have been 

 associated with vapours, smoke, and odours of sulphur 

 or bitumen. 



Seismologists have known for years past that cer- 

 tain earthquakes are said to have been accompanied 

 by appearances of the Aurora Borealis, glimmering 

 lights in the sky, fire-balls, ignis fatui, lightnings, 

 corrustations and emanations from the soil, but this 

 is the first time so large a collection of these pheno- 

 mena have been brought together for their considera- 

 tion. 



When resident in Japan the present writer made 

 many experiments extending over some years on elec* 

 trical and magnetic phenomena associated with seismic 

 disturbances. He also collected material from all parts 

 of the world which bore upon, these, associations. One 

 conclusion arrived at is thai it is an undoubted Fai t 



thai at the ti 'it certain large earthquakes, as, for 



example, the one which in 1906 destroyed Valparaiso, 

 curious lights which, in this instance, were compared 

 to those of chain lightning, have been seen playing 

 across the hills in the epicentral region. Obsei Nations 

 of this nature- led the writer to make experiments al 

 Shidei in tin 1,1, f Wight, and al the King Edward 

 VII. Mine al Camborne, in Cornwall. The ol 

 was to determine whether then was 01 was < 



NO. 2175, VOL. 87] 



the lime of a large earthquake a practically instan- 

 taneous transmission of energy to distant regions other 

 than that recorded by seismographs. It was observed, 

 and still is observed, by many persons that the face 

 of a very large chalk pit at Snide exhibits, after dull 

 damp days, a flaring luminosity. In a chamber at 

 the end of a tunnel in this pit, a cylinder carrying 

 photographic paper was installed. This cylinder was 

 enclosed in a box, one end of which was a metal plate- 

 containing three holes. The plate touched a flat chalk 

 surface. The cylinder took one week to turn ; there- 

 fore parts of the paper before the holes were very 

 slowly exposed to a chalk surface about 3/ibth of an 

 inch distant. On certain weeks the results were nil. 

 Other weeks, after the development of the paper, there 

 were three dark bands corresponding to the position of 

 the holes, suggesting that the chalk had acted like 

 an extremely feeble light. Another experiment was to 

 place small pieces of photographic paper in envelopes, 

 a certain number of which had a small glass window ; 

 these were placed against the face^of the chalk. The 

 image of the windows was frequently obtained," but 

 nothing more than the effects of damp was found 

 upon the others. 



The conclusion arrived at was that the photographic 

 effects were in no way connected with radio-activity, 

 but they were probably electrical. The effects obtained 

 in the granite of Cornwall were very marked and, like 

 those observed in the Isle of Wight, varied in their 

 intensity. As to the possibility of these effects being 

 due to micro-organisms, a number of investigations 

 were made, but there were no indications that organ- 

 isms obtained from the chalk surfaces were connected 

 with luminosity. 



Whether these observations throw light upon differ- 

 ences in climate observed at different places, even 

 though they may be near to each other, is a matter 

 for conjecture, but future researches may show that 

 the well-being of living things on the surface of our 

 earth is more dependent upon its radiations than has 

 hitherto been imagined. 



I venture to refer to these experiments to show that 

 the outcome of observations similar to those cata- 

 logued by Dr. Galli have not been overlooked in this 

 country. 



The 148 detailed descriptions which he has collected 

 are used as subject-matter for twenty-six analyses. 

 For example, did lightnings, thunderstorms, meteors, 

 beams of light, luminous clouds, hot vapours, and 

 other appearances precede, accompany, or were they 

 noted after an earthquake? Dr. Galli says that six- 

 teen of these analyses are nothing but the analytical 

 risumi of the various phenomena which have been 

 observed, and they therefore possess a real value which 

 cannot be sensibly altered by any report that is ill- 

 founded or untrustworthy. The remaining; ten are 

 provisional conjectures which await the judgment of 

 physicists and seismologists. They will be confirmed 

 or contradicted by future observations. If thev fall, 

 either partly or entirely, thev will at least have the 

 merit of having put the question as to certain probable 

 causes of luminous phenomena connected with earth- 

 quakes. At the same time, as one heartily wishes, 

 ilw may suggest hypotheses which are better, 

 broader, and more synthetic lhan those the writer of 

 the paper has brought forward. 



Dr. lgnazio Galli is to be congratulated on his work, 

 which directs attention to a neglected branch of seis- 

 When a face of rock 100 or more miles 

 square is rudely pushed over another face, equal in 

 in, 1. it seems reasonable to suppose thai such an 

 adjustment should bi - ; inied by luminous and 

 other phenomena. Jons Milne. 



