EFFECTS PRODUCED UPON BUILDINGS. 123 



also built of timber. These are built up of such a multi- 

 tude of pieces and framed together in such an intricate 

 manner that they also are capable of yielding in all 

 directions. The European buildings are, of course, made 

 of brick and stone with mortar joints. Some of these, as 

 the buildings of the Ginza in Tokio, are not designed for 

 great strength. On the other hand, others have thick 

 and massive walls and are equal in strength to those we 

 find in Europe. 



The third type of buildings are those which are built 

 in blocks ; and these blocks being bound together with 

 iron rods traversing the walls in various directions are 

 especially designed to withstand earthquakes. A system 

 somewhat similar to this has been patented in America, 

 and examples of these so-called earthquake-proof buildings 

 are to be found in San Francisco. 



Speaking of Japanese buildings, Mr. R. H. Brunton, 

 who has devoted especial attention to them says that,* ' to 

 imagine that slight buildings, such as are seen here (i.e. 

 in Japan), are the best calculated to withstand an earth- 

 quake shock is an error of the most palpable kind.' After 

 describing the construction of a Japanese house in pretty 

 much the same terms as we have used, he says ' that with 

 its unnecessarily heavy roof and weak framework it is a 

 structure of all others the worst adapted to withstand a 

 heavy shock.' He tells us, further, that these views are 

 sustained by the truest principles of mechanics. In order 

 to render buildings to some extent proof against earth- 

 quakes, some of the heavy roofs in Tokio have been so 

 constructed that they are capable of sliding on the walls. 

 Mr. Brunton mentions a design for a house, the upper 



* See ' Constructive Art in Japan,' by E. H. Brunton, C.E., F.R.G.S., 

 F.G.S.t Transactions of Asiatic Society of Japan, December 22, 1873, 

 and January 13, 1875. 



