EFFECTS PEODUCED UPON BUILDINGS. 125 



this kind has come about. To a Japanese, living as he 

 does in a house which has been compared to a tinder-box, 

 fire is one of his greatest enemies, and in a city like Tokio 

 it is not at all uncommon to see during the winter months 

 many fires which sweep away from 100 to 500 houses. 

 In one winter I was a spectator of three fires, each of 

 which was said to have destroyed upwards of 10,000 

 houses. 



Although it would appear that the smaller earthquakes 

 of Japan produce no visible effect upon the native 

 buildings, it is nevertheless probable that small effects 

 may have been produced, the observation of which is 

 rendered difficult by the nature of the structure. If we 

 look at buildings of foreign construction, by which are 

 meant buildings of brick and stone, the picture before us 

 is quite different, and everywhere the effects of earthquakes 

 are palpable even to the most casual observer. Of these 

 effects numerous examples have already been given. Not 

 only are these buildings damaged by the cracking of walls 

 and the overturning of chimneys, but they also appear to 

 be affected internally. For instance, in the timbers of 

 the roof of the museum attached to the Imperial College 

 of Engineering in Tokio, there are a number of diagonal 

 pieces acting as struts or ties intended to prevent more 

 or less horizontal movements taking place. Those which 

 are rigidly joined together with bolts and angle irons 

 have apparently suffered from their rigidity, being twisted 

 and bent into various forms. The buildings in Tokio, 

 which are strongly put together, being especially designed 

 to withstand, earthquakes, appear to have suffered but 

 little. I know only one example which at the time of 

 the severe shock of 1880 had several of its chimneys 

 damaged. 



The ordinary houses in Italy, though built of stone and 



