CATALOGUE OF DESTRUCTIVE EARTHQUAKES 053 



and Malta to Great Britain, but geographically they belong to 

 Italy. Earthquakes which have been serious in two or three 

 countries, and have originated on borderlands, may be prefixed 

 with the name of either country. When a town lias now or has 

 had in the past more than one name, I have adopted that which 

 is most familar in the English language. Where I have found 

 the name of a place or district differently spelt in three modern 

 atlases, as for example Provinces in China, and again spelt 

 differently by sinologues, so far as possible I have adopted that 

 of the authority quoted. I have not adopted it in cases where 

 .the spelling might make the name of the place unrecognisable, 

 for example a city in Japan known as Kobe is sometimes spelt 

 by sinologues as Kaube. 



For a certain number of place names in China I have 

 adopted the spelling given to me by Prof. E. H. Parker, but for 

 the majority of places in that country I have used that given in 

 a geographical dictionary of the Cities and Towns of China by 

 G. M. H. Playfair. In these we often find the suffix Fu. This 

 means a prefecture or one of the largest sub-divisions of a 

 province. In a few instances it has been difficult to identify 

 the position of a town. For example, San Jose in South 

 America may mean one out of at least 87 places. In that 

 Continent in particular, we frequently meet with many towns 

 and villages of the same name in a single country. Difficulties 

 have also been occasioned in the identification of place names 

 which during historical times have passed out of existence. To 

 criticise my spelling is an easy matter. All I have tried to do 

 has been to make a text intelligible. The atlases used have 

 been Stieler, Harmsworth, Bartholomew, and Phillip's. A 

 useful set of volumes in tracing out place names has been " The 

 Gazetteer of the World " and its companion atlas. Localities 

 which could not be found in these works have been referred to 

 Mr. John Bolton, F.R.G.S., who has very kindly solved many 

 difficulties. 



Intensity of Earthquakes. — I have indicated the intensity 

 of earthquakes by the Roman numerals I. II. III. 



I. This means that an earthquake had an intensity 

 sufficient to crack walls, break chimneys, to shatter old 

 buildings or to produce slight cracks in the ground. It implies 

 an acceleration or rapidity in the change of velocity of the 

 surface of the ground of 1000mm. or 3ft. per sec. per sec. This 

 means that each back and forth vibration of the ground 

 corresponded to the jerk we should experience on a truck which 

 commenced to move at the rate of 3ft. per sec. or when moving 

 at that rate it was suddenly stopped. When this takes place 

 the destructivity is usually confined to a town or village and 

 the radius of the area effected will not exceed 5 miles. 



II. With earthquakes of this intensity the acceleration is 

 1500mm. or 5ft. per sec. per sec, and its effect will have a 

 radius of 20 miles. Buildings may be unroofed or shattered and 



