1896-97.] Mr Thomas Heath on the Calcutta Earthquake . • 481 
Note on the Calcutta Earthquake (June 12, 1897), as 
recorded by the Bifilar Pendulum at the Edinburgh 
Royal Observatory. By Thomas Heath, B.A. (With 
Two Plates ) 
(Read July 5, 1897.) 
On the 12th of June a disastrous earthquake occurred in North- 
Eastern India. The violence of the shock was first felt in Calcutta 
(at least, the first report of it reached us from that quarter), and 
spread with destructive violence, north-easterly through Assam 
along the valley of the Brahmapootra, and north-westerly along 
the course of the Ganges and the base of the Himalaya Moun- 
tains. We may form some idea of the violence of the shock from 
the disastrous effects produced by it. From Calcutta it is reported 
that few houses have escaped without damage of some description, 
that part of the Cathedral spire has fallen, and that many public 
buildings have been injured. At Darjeeling many houses were 
destroyed, and the district left without railway communication. 
In Bengal the destruction of property was apparently not so great ■ 
but in Assam the shock is reported to have spread ruin far and 
wide, and to have been attended with serious loss of human life. 
The destructive energy of the earthquake appears to have been 
exhausted within the area thus briefly indicated. The undulatory 
movements set up by it in the earth’s crust have, however, been 
detected at great distances from the centre of the disturbance, and 
already from three stations in Western Europe reports are to hand 
showing that seismographic apparatus have recorded the pheno- 
menon beyond any possibility of doubt. These stations are 
Grenoble in South-Eastern France, Prof. Milne’s Seismological 
Observatory in the Isle of Wight, and the Royal Observatory on 
Blackford Hill.* Doubtless in time we shall hear of similar records 
obtained at many other places. 
I trust it will interest the members of the Royal Society if I 
* Professor Tacchini announces that the earthquake was also recorded at 
Rome. 
