REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE 



Ktc. 



Seismologicai Inyesti&ations.~T wenty-seventh Report of Com- 

 mittee (Professor H. H. Turner, Chairman; Mr. J. J. Shaw, 

 Secretary; Mr. C. Vernon Boys, Dr. J. E. Crombie, Sir Horace 

 Darwin, Sir F. W. Dyson, Sir E. T. Glazebrook, Dr. Harold 

 Jeffreys, Professors C. G. Knott UMd H. Lamb, Sir J. Larmor, 

 Dr. A. Crichton Mitchell, Professors A. E. H. Love, H. M. 

 Macdonald, and H. C. Plummer, Mr. W. E. Plummer, Professor 

 E. A. Sampson, Sir A. Schuster, Sir Napier Shaw, Dr. G. T. 

 Walker). Drawn uji hy thp Chairman except where otherwise 

 mentioned. 



General. 



The Committee has again to deplore the loss of one of its most eminent 

 members in Mr. G. W. Walker, who was Director of the Eskdalemuir Observa- 

 tory from 1908 to 1912. He took a keen interest in the work of the Committee^ 

 and in its twenty-second Report (1917) put forward his startling suggestion of 

 a considerable depth for earthquake origins, to which he recurred in a paper 

 to the Royal Society shortly before his death [Phil. Trans. A 222, 45-46). 

 Recent work has provided evidence tending in the direction he indicated, as is 

 mentioned later in this Report. 



The clerical work at Oxford is still being carried on in the ' Students' 

 Observatory,' since the tenant of the house purchased by Dr. Crombie's benefac- 

 tion declares himself still unable to find other quarters. But the loss of the 

 expected greater convenience has not been allowed to interfere with the progress 

 of the work. 



At the meeting of the International Union for Geodesy and Geophysics in 

 Rome, May 2 to 10, a Section of Seismology was constituted, of which Professor 

 Rothe of Strasbourg was elected Secretary and Professor Turner (Chairman 

 of the Committee) President. Mr. J. J. Shaw (Secretary of the Committee) 

 acted as English Secretary throughout the meeting. 



The French expressed a strong desire that the Central Bureau should be 

 located at Strasbourg under Professor Rothe. Accordingly the President made 

 this proposal from the Chair, though he would for certain reasons have preferred 

 Oxford. But the most important of these reasons was the desire to maintain 

 the continuity of the work started in England by Milne, and carried forward 

 since his death by other members of this Committee; and this desire was 

 essentially satisfied when the President was requested to continue the issue of 

 the Bulletins of the Committee, and further to make them official bulletins of 

 the Section of Seismology : 10,000 francs a year being set aside out of the 

 funds of the Union towards the cost of them. It was understood that since the 

 year 1917 has already been started in the name of this Committee, the conversion 

 should commence with the bulletins for 1918. This arrangement is accordingly 

 submitted for the approval of this Committee, and of the British Association 

 and Royal Society, which have hitherto borne the expenses of this work. It 

 should be explained, however, that the sum voted (10.000 francs annually) will 

 not meet the expenses of computing and printing the bulletins as at present. The 

 first instalment of 10,000 francs just received represents 193/. in English money. 

 The British Association and the Royal Society have recently contributed 100/. 

 and 300/. per annum respectively, making more than double the contribution 

 which the Section of Seismology found itself able to afford at present. It is 

 possible that the Section may increase its contribution in the future, but at 

 Rome there was a general desire to go forward for some years without increasing 

 the financial demands on Government if possible. Hence not only will the 100/. 

 a year (permanently put at the disposal of the Seismological Committee by 

 the British Association from the Caird Fund) still be necessary, but an additional 

 100/. a year will only keep things going as they were : and there is still no 

 provision for a Director of the work. The whole situation is. however, now 



