12 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



and discussion, especially in Europe, during the last five year.-. The 

 topic being one of vast importance in general geology also, it was 

 decided to make it the subject of special study during the summer of 

 1907, and Mr. Bailey Willis, a geologist prepared for the work by 

 previous experience and training, was detailed for the purpose, under 

 a grant from the Institution. 



It is hoped that this investigation, the results of which will be 

 issued in one of the Smithsonian publications, will aid in solving 

 questions of great importance in general geology. 



SEISMOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS. 



The great earthquake at San Francisco brought prominently to the 

 attention of scientific men and establishments the importance of 

 seismological study, and when on August 16, 1906, the earthquake in 

 Chile took place, it seemed desirable that a competent investigator 

 should be sent to that country to make a study on the spot in order 

 that the disturbance in Chile might be compared with that in Cali- 

 fornia, and utilized for the furtherance of knowledge of this im- 

 portant subject. 



Through the courtesy of the Department of State cable communica- 

 tion was had with the American minister in Chile, and it was ascer- 

 tained that the Government of Chile had appointed a commission 

 consisting of competent astronomers and geologists and that there 

 was no need of sending an observer from the Institution. The 

 American minister in Chile and Mr. Heber D. Curtis, of the Lick 

 Observatory Station, at Santiago, kept the Institution informed as 

 to the progress of the investigation. In general it seems to be de- 

 termined that there had been some elevation of the coast of Chile and 

 that on the other hand there had been found no traces of a rift such 

 as caused the earthquake at San Francisco. Brief abstracts from the 

 communications received have been published from time to time in 

 the Smithsonian Quarterly. 



Meanwhile the importance of seismological investigation, both 

 national and international, has received attention, and plans have been 

 considered for establishing stations in this country, but the Institu- 

 tion is without funds to further the object, and attempts to secure 

 special means or endowment for the purpose have as yet not met 

 with satisfactory results. 



In connection with this subject it should be said that the frequent 

 reports of observations of earthquakes at sea which reach the Hydro- 

 graphic Office of the Navy Department are, through the courtesy of 

 that Department, regularly transmitted to the Institution and are 

 made known to students interested in this subject with the hope that 

 all the data when correlated may prove of advantage in the study of 

 these great destructive phenomena. 



