124 EARTHQUAKES. 



part of whicli is to rest on balls, which roll on inverted 

 cups fixed on the lower part of the building, which is to be 

 firmly embedded in the earth. A similar design was, 

 at the suggestion of Mallet, used to support the tables 

 carrying the apparatus of some of the lighthouses erected 

 in Japan by Mr. Brunton. The very existence of these 

 designs seems to indicate that the ordinary European 

 house, however solidly and strongly it may be built, is 

 not sufiicient to meet the conditions imposed upon it. 

 What is required, is something that will give way — an 

 approximation to the timber frame of a Japanese house, 

 so strongly condemned by Mr. Brunton and others. The 

 crucial test of the value of the Japanese structure, as com- 

 pared with the modern buildings of brick and stone, is 

 undoubtedly to be found by an appeal to the buildings 

 themselves. So far as my own experience has gone, I must 

 say that I have never seen any signs in the Japanese 

 timber buildings which could be attributed to the effects 

 of earthquakes, and His Excellency Yamao Yozo, Vice 

 Minister of Public Works, who has made the study of the 

 buildings of Japan a speciality, told me that none of the 

 temples and palaces, although many of them are several 

 centuries old, and although they have been shaken by 

 small earthquakes and also by many severe ones, show 

 any signs of having suffered. The greatest damage wrought 

 by large earthquakes appears to have resulted from the 

 influx of large waves or from fires. In every case where 

 an earthquake has been accompanied by great de- 

 struction, by consulting the books describing the same, 

 it can be seen, from the illustrations in these books 

 portraying conflagrations, that this destruction was chiefly 

 due to fire. When we remember that nearly all Japanese 

 houses are constructed of materials that are readily 

 inflammable, it is not hard to imagine how destruction of 



