DISTKIBUTION OF EARTHQUAKES IN TIME. 253 



1. There have been maxima of earthquakes when the 

 moon was two and nine hours east and seven hours west. 

 At the upper transit there is a minimum. 



2. Considering the moon's position with regard to the 

 sun, at conjunction there were 32, at opposition 37, and 

 at quadrature 74. East of the meridian the maximum 

 was at least four hours. 



3. When the moon was north of the equator these 

 were 68, when south 82. 



4. A maximum of earthquakes seven and eleven days 

 after the moon's perigee. The fact that these results were 

 obtained for the earthquakes of a special small seismic 

 area renders them more interesting.' 



Frequency of earthquakes in relation to the position 

 of the sun. — The question as to whether there is a con- 

 nection between the frequency of earthquakes and the 

 relative position of the sun is to a great extent identical 

 with the question as to the relative frequency of earth- 

 quakes in the various seasons. It is a subject which we 

 find referred to by writers in the earliest ages. Pliny 

 and Aristotle thought that earthquakes occurred chiefly 

 in spring and autumn. In later times it has been a subject 

 which has been most carefully considered by Merian, von 

 Hoff, Perrey, Mallet, Volger, Kluge, and others who have 

 devoted attention to seismology. In a resume of the 

 earthquakes of Europe, and of the adjacent parts of Asia 

 and Africa, from A.D. 306-1 843, Mallet gives the following 

 results : — 





Tor Nineteenth Century 



Por the whole period 



Winter Solstice . 

 Spring Equinox . 

 Summer Solstice . 

 Autumnal Equinox 



177) Solstices 

 151 h 306 

 129) • Equinoxes 

 164 J 315 



253) Solstices 

 170}-] 403 

 150] • Equinoxes 

 159 J 329 



Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Jajmn, vol. vi. pt. 1. p. 353. 



