238 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 



The value of the Indian and Perth telegrams was most clearly demonstrated on 

 the occasion of the shocks under the Indian Ocean in March last. The epicentre 

 maj' be estimated provisionally at 1-0° S., 91-0° E., more than 90° from European 

 stations. 



The illness of Mr. J. J. Shaw required his absence from England for a much longer 

 term than was at first expected ; but happily he was able to return to West Bromwich 

 in June and to resume his devoted seismological work. 



Miss E. F. Bellamy, owing to the necessity for a serious operation, was absent from 

 Oxford for a number of months, but has been back at work again since May. 



International. 



The International Scientific Summary has been continued as below, though it was 

 feared that, owing to the failure of funds, the printing could not at present be carried 

 beyond the end of 1924. A timely grant of £150 from the Royal Society has, however, 

 cleared otf the debt incurred, and we can go forward once more. Altogether the 

 Royal Society has now contributed £375 towards this printing, which could not be 

 carried on by means of the international funds provided owing to the fall in the value 

 of the franc. It is hoped that the new Statutes to be made in 1931 may restore the 

 resources of the Int. Geod. & Geoph. Union to their original magnitude. 



There was a successful meeting of this Union at Prague (1927 September 1-8). 

 We heard (in the Seismological Section) a very interesting account from Prof. Imamura 

 of the changes in level which precede earthquakes, and suggest some hopes of antici- 

 pating them. M. Nikiforov of Leningrad attended as a visitor (since the U.S.S.R. 

 has not yet joined the Union) and showed a map of numerous actual and proposed 

 stations extending from Leningrad to Vladivostock. It was also pleasant to have 

 for the first time a representative from Denmark. Stations are now at work, not 

 only at Copenhagen (55° 41' N., 12° 27' E.), equipped with Wiechert, Galitzin, Mihie- 

 Shaw and American torsion seismometers, but at Ivigtut in S.W. Greenland 

 (61° 12' N., 48° 11' W.) ; and a third will be erected at Scoresby-Sund on theeastcoast 

 of Greenland at 70° 29' N., 21° 57' W. 



A large Committee was appointed to deal with the question of revising the tables 

 of P, S, and other waves. The former officers were re-elected (President, H. H. 

 Turner ; Vice-Presidents, E. Oddone, H. Fielding Reid, J. Galbis ; Secretary, 

 E. Rothe) and Prof. Salamon of Prague was also elected a Vice-President. After 

 the formal meeting there were two very pleasant excursions, one to the western and 

 the other to the eastern parts of Czecho-Slovakia. 



Instrumental. 



Mr. J. J. Shaw wiU make his Instrumental Report at a later date. 



The Superintendent of Kew Observatory writes on July 21 : — 



It is a well-known difficulty in maintaining a seismograph for recording the 

 vertical component of the earth's motion that the elasticity of a suspension spring is 

 liable to considerable changes when temperature is varying. With the Galitzin 

 vertical pendulum a change oif 1° C. in the temperature of the apparatus was sufficient 

 to put the instrument out of action. At Strasbourg a spring made of elinvar, an 

 alloy with a low-temperature coefficient for elasticity, has been in use for some time. 

 We have been able to obtain, from the Acieries d'Imphy, a spring made to the 

 specification drawn >ip by Mile Dammann for the Strasbourg installation. After 

 preliminary tests at the National Physical Laboratory the spring was taken into use 

 on May 22", 1928. The spring is found to yield continually under the load, but the 

 effect of such temperature changes as occur from day to day in the seismograph room 

 is almost eliminated. 



Arrangements have been made for the transmission from India through the Air 

 Ministry of coded messages giving details of important earthquakes recorded at 

 Bombay. When a report has been received from Bombay it is broadcast with the 

 synoptic weather report of the Meteorological Office. The additional information 

 has proved useful in locating earthquakes such as that which occurred in the Indian 

 Ocean on March 9. 



