JOU RNAL 



ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



Memoir on Indian Earthquakes. By Lieut. R. Baird Smith, 

 Bengal Engineers. 



Among the various Committees established by the British Associa- 

 tion for the investigation of subjects of general scientific interest, one 

 has been appointed to register Earthquake shocks in Great Britain, 

 and its labours have already been made public in several Reports to the 

 parent body. From the discussions consequent on the presentation of 

 these Reports, it appears, that in the opinion of well qualified judges, 

 results of but little comparative importance can be anticipated from ob- 

 servation made in localities, where the disturbing forces act with such 

 feeble intensity as in those brought under the notice of the Committee, 

 and it is therefore considered desirable, that similar observations should 

 be made abroad, in tracts of country where greater energy characterises 

 the disturbing powers, and where the effects of these are exhibited 

 on a larger and more important scale. Several such tracts are to be 

 found in India, and a few of the most remarkable convulsions ex- 

 perienced throughout them, are already familiar to scientific men. 

 But no systematic effort has yet been made to record and analyse the 

 various phenomena of Indian Earthquakes, and the narratives of these 

 are scattered throughout the pages of various works, without connec- 

 tion and without method. To collect from every available source, all 



No. 136. New Series, No. 52. 2 m 



