24G 



REPORT — 1898. 



Father Chevalier, who kindly sent me the above notes, remarks that 

 the most striking feature of the comparison appears to be that there is no 

 relation between earthquakes and magnetic disturbances. A slight earth- 

 quake which was felt at Zikawei on June 4, 1898, was, however, recorded 

 by a mechanical motion of the magnetic needles. In the sixteen cases 

 where something has been noted at or about the time of large earthquakes, 

 it must be observed that eleven of these refer to disturbances which 

 oi'iginated in Japan or Manila, and in nine of these eleven cases perturba- 

 tions preceded the occurrence of the earthquakes. We have here some- 

 thing analogous to what has been observed in Japan. If we omit the 

 three instances (nine, ten, and sixteen) where there have been slight move- 

 ments of the magnetic needles at about the time when small shocks were 

 recorded in Italy, it hardly appears to be a mere coincidence that the 

 Zikawei register is practically confined to records of earthquakes which 

 have originated in localities not far removed from that observatory. If it 

 were a coincidence, then we should expect to find similar perturbations 

 preceding at least a few of the remaining sixty-seven earthquakes on our 

 list. Inasmuch as certain of these earthquakes, as, for example, those 

 originating in Borneo and N.E. India, in every probability gave rise to as 

 much mechanical movement at Zikawei as those originating in Japan, it 

 seems that the instruments at that station are but very rarely disturbed 

 by the mere movement of the ground. 



Extracts from the ' Bollcttino delta Societa Siimolor/ica Italiana,^ 1895,, 



189G, 1897. 



