A Study of Recent Earthquakes

Abstract

IN this copiously illustrated volume Dr. Charles Davison, whose seismological investigations, especially those relating to British earthquakes, are so well known, gives a popular account of the results which have been arrived at by modern seismology. The method in which he treats his subject is one that appeals to the general reader. Rather than grouping seismic phenomena, as we should expect to find them in a text-book, the author has given a concise history of eight disturbances, each of which has a special interest. The Neapolitan earthquake is of interest from an historical point of view, the Ischian earthquakes illustrate the relationship between volcanic and seismic activities, a Japanese earthquake is described on account of the fault line which was produced at the time of its occurrence and the numerous after-shocks by which it was followed, whilst a British earthquake oillustrates the growth of a fault. From the work of Robert Mallet upon the first of these earthquakes, which in 1857 devastated a district to the south-east of Naples, and when upwards of 9000 people lost their lives, the scientific world learned that out of ruins much might be learned respecting the direction and intensity of the movements which had caused them. Although his methods of investigation, as, for example, those relating to the determination of the depths of seismic foci, may have been modified by new observations, Mallet directed attention to new problems for the solution of which he employed scientific methods.

A Study of Recent Earthquakes.

By Charles Davison Pp. xii + 355; 80 illustrations. (London: Walter Scott Publishing Co., Ltd.) Price 6s.