Vol. 62.] 



OF THE INTERIOR OF THE EARTH. 



469 



case the second phase, as adopted, presents the same characters 

 as those which I had recognized at lesser distances ; and if the 

 times given do not refer to the second phase (in the sense used 

 elsewhere by me), then this phase is not represented at all in the 

 more distant records, and instead of a central core which transmits 

 the waves more slowly, there must be one which is incapable of 

 transmitting them at all, thus leading to the same conclusion, that 



Fig. 3. 



[The broken lines represent the first phase, the broken-and-dotted lines the second 

 phase, and the continuous curve the third phase.] 



the deeply penetrating wave-paths enter matter of very different 

 constitution from that traversed by the shallower paths. 



Rejecting the supposition that the second-phase waves are 

 extinguished by the central core, and accepting the more probable 

 one that the rate of transmission is reduced in it, there remain two 



