4o4 STUDIES FOR STUDENTS 
the amplitude oj the east-west component was about five times that of 
the north-south component. 
The deep significance of these modern seismograms having been 
recognized, the necessity for co-ordinating the work of different 
observers at once became apparent; for, if the distance of an earth- 
quake origin from three or more stations could be determined, its 
location could naturally be fixed with much greater precision and 
accuracy. Under the leadership of Milne, the British Association 
has secured the co-ordination of the work of some forty-five stations 
well distributed over the surface of the globe, where observations are 
made upon a uniform type of instrument. All reports are forwarded 
to a central committee of the association, which makes comparison, 
and once in six months issues a report that is mailed to all the stations 
for further study. 
Japan, with its relatively small but widely extended territory, has 
at present, besides its Central Meteorological Observatory and the 
Laboratory oj the Seismological Institute of the Imperial University 
(both at Tokyo) ,seventy-one local stations provided with seismographs, 
and 1,437 other stations scattered throughout Japan. The seventy- 
one stations of the higher class receive standard time by telegraph 
from the central station at ‘Tokyo. 
In Italy the Central Office jor Meteorology and Geodynamics, 
directed by Professor Luigi Palazzo, co-ordinates the work of fifteen 
seismological stations of the first rank. For collecting information 
upon Italian earthquakes there are 150 regular correspondents well 
distributed through the peninsula and Sicily, and 650 other persons 
who have agreed to telegraph an immediate report to the central 
office when any earthquake shock has been perceived by them. Since 
1895 the data thus collected have been regularly published in the 
Bollettino della Societa sismologica Italiana. 
Germany has established some twelve stations of the first rank, 
in addition to the head station at Strassburg, where may be found the 
highest development of instrumental refinement in earthquake study. 
Here have been held the international conferences upon earthquakes, 
and here was founded in 1903 the International Seismological Asso- 
ciation. The organ of the association, the Beitrdge zur Geophysik, 
is edited by Professor G. Gerland, the director of the station, from 
