36 REPORTS ON THE STATE OP SCIENCE. — 1919. 



points had been finally disposed of, for there was a general agreement 

 that a totally new departure, untrammelled by links with the past, 

 was desirable at this juncture. Hence no definite steps towai'ds the 

 formation of a Seisinological Section wei-e taken at Brussels, and the 

 work of the Committee will proceed as nearly as possible on the same 

 lines as before for the next year or two. 



But an important change of locality has become inevitable. On 

 the approach of Peace, Mrs. Milne decided to return to Japan as 

 soon as her voyage could be arranged. This involved the sale of the 

 house at Shide to which the Milne Observatory (partly a disused 

 stable, partly an office specially built) is attached, and it was not 

 feasible to continue the use of the observatory under these conditions. 

 As a provisional measure the instruments and apparatus are being 

 transferred to Oxford, where a Milne-Shaw machine had already been 

 set up (see last Eeport), and where the facilities temporarily accorded 

 by Mr. James Walker have been kindly continued by the newly 

 appointed Professor (Dr. F. A. Lindemann). At the moment of 

 writing this transference is not complete, and a fuller account of it 

 is deferred to the next report. 



Instrumental. 



Wireless time signals were received at Shide regularly up to the 

 time of removal of the seismographs. The transit lent by the Eoyal 

 Astronomical Society has been returned. 



The wireless receiving apparatus which had been installed at Oxford 

 before the War, but taken down on the commencement of hostilities, 

 was again set up last autumn, and signals have been regularly received. 



Milne-Sliaiu Seismogrwphs. 



One of these was set up in the Clarendon basement at Oxford by 

 Mr. J. J. Shaw on October 8, 1918, just in time to catch the big 

 earthquake of October 10. Others are completed, or nearly com- 

 pleted, but it will be convenient to defer details of their installation 

 to the next report. One of them has been installed by Mr. J. J. 

 Shaw for trial in a ' dug-out ' at some distance from his house at 

 West Bromwich, and some interesting results obtained. But of these 

 again details are defended. The past year, owing to the cessation of 

 hostilities, has brought with it so many needs and distractions that 

 this report is necessarily somewhat imperfect. 



Suggested Corrections to Adopted Tables. 



This work is proceeding. The suggested corrections are being 

 applied provisionally to obtain new determinations of epicentres in the 

 cases of well-observed earthquakes. This second approximation should 

 show how far the corrections are valid. The work is, however, some- 

 what extensive, and no report can be profitably made as yet. 



Earthquake Periodicity. 



In the 1912 Eeport of this Committee evidence was given for the 

 existence of a periodicity of nearly 15 months (there identified as 



