THE “tonal Muse 
GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE 
VOLUME LVIII. 
No. VI.—JUNE, 1921. 
Founders of Seismology.—lII. Robert Mallet. 
By Cuarues Davison, Sc.D. 
HILE Michell’s interest in geology lasted until at least 1788, 
he made no further known contribution to the study of earth- 
quakes. He must have been aware of the disastrous Calabrian 
earthquakes of 1783, but he would no doubt regard them as timely 
illustrations of his theory. The eighty years which followed 1760 
were, indeed, somewhat barren as regards the progress of seismology. 
Among the more important contributions during this period were 
Dolomieu’s report on the Calabrian earthquakes of 1783, Darwin’s 
memoir on the connexion of certain volcanic phenomena in South 
America (1838), and the well-known chapters in Lyell’s Principles 
of Geology (1830). 
About the year 1840 a new period began, a period of rapid 
progress, during the first forty years of which the outstanding 
figures were those of Alexis Perrey in France and Robert Mallet 
in England. A brief reference should, however, be made to the 
work of David Milne (afterwards Milne Home) on the earthquakes 
of Great Britain, and especially on the remarkable series of Comrie 
earthquakes, which began in October, 1839, and lasted for the next 
six years.t 
The work of Alexis Perrey was almost concurrent with that of 
Mallet, Perrey’s lasting from 1841 to 1875, and Mallet’s from 1845 
to 1878. Perrey was professor of mathematics at Dijon. Except 
for his seismic bibliography (1855-65) and his papers on the 
relation between the frequency of earthquakes and the age of the 
moon (1853, 1861, and 1875), he devoted himself to the heavy 
and uninspiring task of cataloguing earthquakes. His catalogues 
were of two kinds, chronological and geographical. The former 
consist of lists of earthquakes in all parts of the world for each 
year from 1843 to 1871. The regional catalogues, seventeen in 
number, cover the whole of Europe, with the exception of Russia, 
Scandinavia, Denmark, and Germany outside the basin of the 
' Edin. New Phil. Journ., vol. xxxi, 1841, pp. 92-122, 259-309; vol. xxxii, 
1842, pp. 106-27, 362-78; vol. xxxiii, 1842, pp. 372-88; vol. xxxiv, 1843, 
pp. 85-107; vol. xxxv, 1843, pp. 137-60; vol. xxxvi, 1844, pp. 72-86, 
362-77. 
VOL. LVIII.—NO. VI. 16 
