258 EAETHQUAKES. 



where the greatest number have been recorded for the 

 summer. 



Altogether, out of twenty-two examples, there are only 

 six exceptions to the rule. These exceptions altogether 

 occur among records many of which are ancient, and 

 are, therefore, more open to error than lists which have 

 been compiled in modern times. 



Because small earthquakes are seldom noticed by 

 persons out in the open air, it might be expected that 

 the number of earthquakes observed in warm countries 

 at one portion of the year would be equal to those 

 observed in any other season. Such an argument, how- 

 ever, would hardly apply to most of the records which 

 are quoted, as they refer to destructive disturbances. 



If, however, we take the records made in tropical 

 countries from the table just given, we see that in such 

 countries there have been almost as many observations of 

 earthquakes at one season as at any other. 



Another fact which might be adduced against the 

 rule that the greater number of earthquakes occur during 

 the winter months would be the comparison of a table of 

 earthquakes recorded previous to the nineteenth century. 

 By doing this we see that for certain countries the winter 

 rule is inverted, and that the greater number of shocks 

 are felt during the summer. 



Notwithstanding these objections to Perrey's conclu- 

 sions, the balance of evidence is in favour of his general 

 result, and we may conclude that during the colder 

 portions of the year we may expect more shakings than 

 during the warmer portions. Comparing the number of 

 earthquakes of winter and autumn to those of summer and 

 spring, they are to each other in the proportion of 4 : 3. 



A fairer way to examine this question, and to deter- 

 mine what is probably the present state of seismic 

 activity in our globe, would be only to consider the earth- 



