432 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. I. No. 16. 



prepared a complete equipment for an ob- 

 servatorj^ to be set up in England on his re- 

 turn to that country, by means of which he 

 hoped to show that earthquakes travel 

 around the globe, and to be able to stud}' 

 them there. 



Those who have been aware of all these 

 facts, and all who are now made aware of 

 them for the first time, will, I am sure, ex- 

 perience a feeling of great regret on learn- 

 ing of the destruction by fire on February 

 17th of practicallj' all of these valuable ac- 

 cumulations of j^ears of labor, together with 

 personal effects of great interest and value 

 to Professor Milne. 



The observatorjr in which these things 

 were, and which is now gone forever, was 

 also an object of much interest in its relation 

 to the educational development of Japan 

 during the past twenty years. It was 

 erected nearlj^ that many years ago, a little 

 before the close of Dr. Murray's connection 

 with the Department of Education. It con- 

 tained in the beginning a good but small 

 Equatorial by Alvan Clark and a Transit. 

 One end of it was used as a meteorological 

 observatorj' under the direction of the wi'iter 

 during several years, being equipped with a 

 good collection of self-registering instru- 

 ments obtained mostly from London, the 

 results of the use of which were published 

 as Annual Scientific Memoirs by the author- 

 ities of the University. The transit wing- 

 was utilized by Professor W. S. Chaplin in 

 his courses in Civil Engineering, until the 

 Astronomical part of it was placed in the 

 hands of Professor H. M. Paul, who served 

 the University as Professor of Astronomy 

 for several years, beginning in 1880 . When 

 a few years later the Engineering College 

 became an integral part of the University 

 and the whole was located in the Kaga 

 Yashiki, the observatory was turned over 

 to Professor Milne, an addition to it was 

 built and he made a Seismological ' Labora- 

 tory and Bazaar ' out of it, residing in a 



part of it. It was a comfortable bungalow 

 sort of a structure, located in the Kaga 

 Yashiki, just in the rear of the row of dwel- 

 lings where, fifteen j'ears ago, lived, begin- 

 ning at the entrance to the Compound, 

 Fenollosa, Mendenhall, Braun, Cooper, 

 Morse, Chaplin, Ewing and Atkinson, all 

 Professors in the Universitj' and exhibiting 

 a mixture of American, Spanish, German, 

 English and Scotch blood which illustrates 

 the disposition of the young-old nation to 

 get what it wants wherever it thinks it can 

 find it. When it became the home of Pro- 

 fessor Milne it became the source of a de- 

 lightful hospitality which many ' globe trot- 

 ters ' of all lands have enjoyed, and thous- 

 ands besides his scientific fiieuds will sjnn- 

 pathize with him in his great loss. 



In a recent letter from Professor Milne 

 he says : 



" Just now you and Paul maj' be breath- 

 ing all that is left of the old observatory 

 and my belongings." 



He sends me a characteristic and graphic 

 account of the occurrence, 'prepared,' he 

 says, ' for maiden aunts and relatives,' fi-om 

 which the following extract will, I am sure, 

 be of interest to all readers : 



' ' As nearly all the transactions of the Seismological 

 Society were packed up to go to Europe, a few that 

 had middle places in the boxes may be saved, but I 

 doubt if even out of 2500 copies I shall get more than 

 two or three hundred. All my old earthquake books, 

 some of which even dated from 1500 to 1600, but 

 which were perhaps more curious than useful, seem 

 to have gone. One function they had was to inspire 

 the globe trotter, or travelling clergyman, with respect 

 for a science that was apparently so ancient. Ationgst 

 them there was a jioem called 'the earthquake,' A. 

 D. 1750, but I know that l)y heart. The new 

 books were volumes of bound pamphlets in all sorts 

 of languages which I had slashed out of the publica- 

 tions of all sorts of societies. Perhaps the burning 

 of them was a visitation for my Goth-like behaviour. 



Instruments were fused or vaporized. Sixteen 

 specially constructed clocks which would turn drums 

 once a day, once a week, or drive a band of paper for 

 two years, together with seismographs and horizontal 

 pendulums, self-recording thermometer's and barome- 



