PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. lOg 



Seismological Observations at Toronto. By R. F. Stupart, Esq., 

 Director Meteorological Service of Canada. 



(Read February 5, 1898.) 



At the Ipswich meeting of the British Association it was resolved that the two 

 committees which were studying vibrations of the earth's crust, viz., "The Committee 

 for Investigating the Earthquake and Volcanic Phenomena of Japan " and ■" The 

 Committee on Earth Tremors " should mot be reappointed individually, but that 

 the whole subject should be referred to a new committee, consisting largely of the 

 members of the old committees, which should be called, " The Committee on 

 Seismological Observations." The new committee at Liverpool reported as follows: 

 " This Committee, however, think that it would be well in this, its first report, to 

 state definitely what it hopes to accomplish, and how far it thinks that the British 

 Association should go. It has long been an unwritten rule that the Association 

 should initiate work, but should not charge itself with its maintenance. This is 

 precisely what your Committee desires. Now that it has been proved that any 

 important earthquake is felt all over the globe, the Committee considers that arrange- 

 ments should be made for the record and study of these movements. Your Com- 

 mittee considers that such records may prove as important as those of e.g., terrestrial 

 magnetism, and, just as we have magnetic observatories in various parts of the 

 world, so, in its opinion, should there be seismological ones. But, before advocating 

 their erection, it is essential that a decision be arrived at as to the form and degree 

 of sensitiveness of the instrument to be recommended. 



This, and correspondence connected with the organization of the system, is the 

 work which the Committee desires to complete. Previous reports and the appendices 

 to the present one, show how much has been done in this direction, but the Com- 

 mittee desires to do much more. It wished to place side by side four good patterns 

 of instruments, and to compare and study their records. When this is done it hopes 

 to receive the support of the Association in approaching the Government with the 

 view to the establishment of a limited number of instruments, identical in sensitive- 

 ness, in this country, in India, and in the colonies, and of a small central office at 

 Kew or elsewhere for co-ordinating and publishing the results. As far as the Com- 

 mittee can at present judge, the equipment of each station, with complete apparatus 

 for continuous photographic record, would not exceed iioo. For the experimental 

 work of the coming year the Committee have one instrument, and can have the use 

 of another (constructed under a grant to Professor Milne by the Royal Society); 

 it wishes to purchase two others, and will have to build piers, etc., and pay for 

 photographic necessaries and an assistant to run the instruments, which, altogether, 

 would probably cost over £200. Your Committee thinks it desirable that to meet 

 unforeseen items it should have £250, but without £200 the work cannot go on." 



Early in 1897 a letter was received from the chairman of this Committee inviting 

 the co-operation of the Canadian Meteorological Service in a seismological survey 

 of the world. The Honourable the Minister having been pleased to a;uthorize the 

 expenditure of the necessary funds, a seismograph was ordered, and the instrument 

 arrived in Toronto on the morning of the day that Professor Milne gave his most 

 interesting lecture on "Earthquakes" at Massey Hall, and he was able to have it on 

 the table for the inspection of those of his audience who wished to examine its 

 construction. The instrument consists of a horizontal pendulum with a boom two 

 feet six inches long ; at the end of this boom is a plate in which is a narrow slit, 



