Die Frage der Periodizität der Erdbeben: eine Darstellung des gegenwärtigen Standes der einschlägigen Untersuchungen

Abstract

OF those who have studied earthquakes, few have escaped the lure of earthquake statistics, or failed to attempt the detection of some influence, external to the earth, in determining, or at least influencing, the time of occurrence. For some it has been an introduction to seismology, to some also the end of their activity in this field, to others merely an incident in a wider treatment of the subject, but sooner or later the call comes to all, and is always fraught with danger. Figures have a fascination which may be fatal; once involved in them the temptation is great to try them in one way after another until some definite conclusion seems to have been reached. The literature of the science contains many examples of such misdirected labour, often simply useless, sometimes misleading, much of which would have been avoided had those who knew their earthquakes been also acquainted with the principles of statistical investigation, or those who were familiar with mathematics understood the character of the data with which they dealt.

Die Frage der Periodizität der Erdbeben: eine Darstellung des gegenwärtigen Standes der einschlägigen Untersuchungen.

Von Prof. Dr. Ernest Tarns. (Sammlung geophysikalischer Schriften, No. 5.) Pp. ix + 128. (Berlin: Gebrüder Borntraeger, 1926.) 9.60 gold marks.