516 Reviews—Seismology in Japan. 
Tur SErsmoLocicaL JouRNAL or Japan. Vol. i. 1893 (corre- 
sponding to Transactions of the Seismological Society, vol. 
xvii.) : edited by Prof. J. Milne, F.R.S. pp. 151 
Contents :—(10) J. Milne: On the investigation of earthquake effects and certain 
experiments in earth physics, 1. (11) W. K. Burton: On the application of photo- 
graphy to seismology and volcanic phenomena, 21. (12) J. Milne: Seismometrical 
observations for the year 1890, 31. (13) J. Milne and F. Omori: On the overturning 
and fracturing of brick and other columns by horizontally applied motion, 59. (14) 
J. Milne: Earth pulsations im relation to certain natural phenomena and physical 
investigations, 87. (15) J. Milne: On the movements of horizontal pendulums (an 
abstract, with notes on observations made by Dr. H. von Rebeur-Paschwitz), 113. 
(16) F. Omori: A note on early Chinese earthquakes, 119. (17) J. Milne: A note 
on the great earthquake of October 28th, 1891, 127. 
The Seismological Society of Japan was founded in 1880 and 
ceased to exist in 1892, having in the interval issued sixteen volumes 
of Transactions, which are known and valued wherever earthquakes 
are studied. Their publication, indeed, formed the principal work of 
the Society, and, when latterly the attendance at the meetings de- 
clined from various causes, scarcely any break of continuity occurred 
when the Society was dissolved and the Transactions were replaced 
by the Seismological Journal. It will be seen that in the new work, 
as in the old, Prof. Milne is the chief contributor, and one can hardly 
wish that he should be spared the labour of much writing. But that 
the cost of its production should also fall upon him is greatly to be 
regretted, and, unless that burden is removed, it would be too 
much to expect that the publication of the Journal will be very long 
continued. 
Some of the work described in the two volumes above mentioned 
is already known in this country through Prof. Milne’s admirable 
reports to the British Association. The last paper, for example, is 
reprinted with the addition of a few lines from the report read at the 
Edinburgh meeting, and in the same volume will be found summaries 
of the papers numbered above (7), (8) and (13). A reference to the 
more important of the remaining papers will, therefore, be sufficient 
here. 
(3) It has frequently been noticed that earthquakes are felt more 
strongly on the surface than at the bottom of mines, and, for severe 
earthquakes, the commonly received opinion is supported by some 
observations made by Prof. Milne in 1884 and 1885. These have 
been continued by Messrs. Sekiya and Omori, and, in a very 
interesting paper, they have described their results so far as regards 
the horizontal component of the motion. The observations were 
made in a pit, 4 feet square and 18 feet deep, and situated only 
a few yards from the seismological observatory of Tokio University. 
The soil is hardened alluvium, and the bottom of the pit is paved 
with brick to a depth of two feet. On this were placed a pair 
of Prof. Ewing’s horizontal pendulum seismographs in H.—W. and 
N.—S. directions, so that their records could be compared with those 
of similar instruments on the surface. Between January 15th, 1887, 
and April 18th, 1889, the records of thirty earthquakes were collected, 
three of them being severe shocks, and the remainder slight ones 
