REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, 



Etc. 



Seismological Investigations. — Thirty-first Report of Committee 

 (Prof. H. H. Turner, Chairman ; Mr. J. J. Shaw, Secretary ; Mr. 

 C. Vernon Boys, Dr. J. E. Crombie, Dr. C. Davison, Sir F. W. 

 Dyson, Sir R. T. Glazebrook, Dr. Harold Jeffreys, Prof. H. 

 Lamb, Sir J. Larmor, Prof. A. E. H. Love, Prof. H. M. Macdonald, 

 Dr. A. Crichton Mitchell, Mr. R. D. Oldham, Prof. H. C. Plummer. 

 Mr. W. E. Plummer, Rev. J. P. Rowland, S.J., Prof. R. A. Sampson. 

 Sir A. Schuster, Sir Napier Shaw, Sir G. T. Walker, and Mr. F. J. 

 W. Whipple). [Draicn up by the Chairman except where otherwise 

 mentioned. 1 



General. 



As a sequel to the death of Mrs. Mihie in 1925, as annouticed in the last Report, the 

 Bum of £1,000 bequeathed to this Committee by John Milne (provided that his widow- 

 should have the use of it during her lifetime) has been paid to the Chairman of the 

 Committee, and is at present on deposit at the Westmirster Bank, Oxford. The words 

 of the Will are as follows : — 



' And from and after her death (i.e. Mrs. Tone Milne) my Tnistees shall stand 

 possessed of my residuary estate and the income thereof upon trust to pay thereout 

 the sum of £1,000 to the fund created by Matthew H. Gray, of Lessness Park, Abbey 

 Wood, in the County of Kent, to be used by the Chairman of the Seismological Com- 

 mittee of the said British Association by the Trustees of that fund for the encourage- 

 ment of the study of earth physics and its attendant subjects (the said sum to be paid 

 free of legacy duty and the receipt of the said Chairman or Trustees for the time being 

 to be a sufficient discharge of such legacy).' .... 



The occasion suggested a reconsideration of the Trusteeship of the Gray Fund, 

 into which the Milne Bequest is by this clause to be paid, and Messrs. Murray, Hutchins 

 and Co. (the sohcitors to the late Matthew H. Gray) suggested to the Committee that, 

 to save the trouble and expense connected with the change in Trusteeship when any 

 member of the Trust dies or retires from it, the Official Trustee of Charitable Funds 

 should be asked to be Trustee of the Gray Fund. The approval of the Committee for 

 this course is practically assured, though replies from one or two members of it have 

 not yet been received. 



Dr. Crombie has again generously provided half the salary of Mr. J. 8. Hughes. 

 The provision of the other half by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research 

 was terminated in September 1925. 



We have again to acknowledge the help of Fordham University, New York, in 

 sending telegrams on the occasion of important earthquakes, which havemuch facilitated 

 the identification of epicentres. A notable example is that of the earthquake near 

 Crete on 192G June 20d. i9h. 46m. 20s. The Oxford film was developed on Sunday 

 morning, June 27, and the receipt of telegrams from Fordham and West Bromwich 

 made it possible to telegraph that afternoon an approximate epicentre. A message 

 from Helwan next morning added considerable precision. The occasion was, un- 

 fortunately, one where the loss of life and the nature of tlie damage done (e.g. to the 

 Candia Museum) gave special importance to the earthquake. 



In Dr. C. Davison's History of British Earthquakes, noticed in the last Report, the 

 little town of Comrie is conspicuous as an earthquake centre. An opportunity offered 

 for visitmg Comrie last August, as mentioned below ; and it was foimd that the earth- 

 quakes had ceased, rather to the chagrin of the inhabitants. But there were renewed 

 shocks on February 22 and February 23. 



