E2/pITORIAL 
The spirit of seismological research has more than once been 
awakened by a great disaster. The Mino-Owari earthquake in 
Japan, which occurred in October 1891, and was the most disastrous 
in more than thirty-five years within that seismically classic province, 
gave birth to the famous Earthquake Investigation Committee, known 
as the E.I. C. Its objects were announced to be: (1) “‘éo investigate 
whether there are any means oj predicting earthquakes;” and (2) to 
see ‘what can be done to reduce the disastrous effects of earthquakes to a 
minimum.’ After more than fifteen years of research, to which the 
ablest minds of Japan have contributed, it is necessary to admit that 
it is only the last-mentioned endeavor which has been crowned with 
success. 
In 1896 the Committee on Seismological Investigations of the 
British Association for the Advancement of Science, whose founder 
and energetic secretary is Professor John Milne, made its first report 
replacing an earlier standing committee which reported upon the 
volcanic and earthquake phenomena of Japan. In the following 
year the well-known Erdbebenkommiission of the Vienna Academy of 
Sciences was founded. The value to the world of science of the three 
committees above mentioned it would be difficult to estimate. 
The disastrous California earthquake of April 18, 1906, has been 
signalized by the formation of a Committee on Seismology of the 
American Association for the Advancement of Science; which com- 
mittee, like its British cousin, is composed of fifteen members. ‘The 
gentlemen selected, who represent all sections of the country, and the 
more important institutions likely to be engaged in seismological 
research, are as follows: L. A. Bauer, Carnegie Institution; W. W. 
Campbell, Lick Observatory; C. E. Dutton, U. S$. Army, Wash- 
ington, D. C.; G. K. Gilbert, U.S. Geological Survey; J. F. Hayford, 
U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey; W.H. Hobbs, University of Michi- 
gan; L. M. Hoskins, Stanford University; T. A. Jaggar, Massachu- 
setts Institute of Technology; Otto Klotz, Ottawa Observatory; 
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